.32win...good or bad?

[model 70]

i am picking up a winchester model 94 in .32win this week but am not sure of what this cartridge can do. i know it it's based on the 30-30 case and am really getting the gun because it's a now discontued model 94 and i'm only payin' $200!!!

[L. Cooper]

Although there used to be great arguments about the relative merits of the .32 Win. it will do whatever the .30-30 will do. No more; no less.

[Classicvette63]

The .32 and the .30-30 are very similar. Any debate over which is better is strictly campfire material. That's seems like a good price. Around here the .32 goes for a good $150-200 more than an equivalent .30-30. Someday I'd like to pick up a .32 to add to the gun rack.

[skb2706]

For years it was my only "big game" hunting rifle.....Model 64 my father bought in 1956. Very limited bullet selection but more than adequate for 150 yd. shots at deer. Back 'in the day' I used mine for elk hunting here in CO.....this was before elk got to be alot tougher and more bullet resilient ...like they are now. It worked quite well but is seldom recognized as a suitable round any longer.
Excellent candidate for cast bullets too...............

[Gil Martin]

It is getting harder to find .32 Winchester Special rifles and the prices are going up. Last year I found one on a used gun rack and the serial number indicated it was made in 1950. I paid about the same price because I just wanted one. All the best...
Gil

[PJgunner]

At $200, you stole it. One, it has to be a pre-64 rifle and two the round was dropped from the line sometime, I believe in the 1950s. I recently picked up a minty M94 flat band in .32 WS and it cost me $400. I haven't shot it yet. The rifle, if the bore is in real good shape, is a best buy if you want to shoot cast bullets. The 30-30 came with a 1 in 12" twist rate for the barrel while the .32 WS has a 1 in16" twist. Why such a radical difference for two such very similar cartridges shooting the same weight bullets? very simple. People were used to relaoding with black powder. Smokelss powder was still trhe new guy in town and there were accidents. People at the time were just a bit leery of relaoding with smokelss powder. Enter the .32WS with it's slower twist. People who tried to load the 30-30 with black powder found out that the bore would foul up so badly in just a very few shots that accuracy was totally gone. The .32 WS was also a smokeless powder round that could be loaded with black powder and it used the same twist rate as the black powder 32-40 round. So, in essence, you could have the 2000 FPS of the smokeless load or the 1200 FPS of the black Powder reload. The best of both worlds for the time frame.
One thing to watch out for. A 30-30 with a worn barrel will still continue to give good groups for the class of rifle. The .32WS with a worn barrel will not. I have seen a few .32WS rifles, including one that was a special order gun, where the barrel looks like a smokestack with none of the rifling visible at all due to corrosion from an improperly cleaned barrel.
I have to order brass, mold and a lube sizing die so I can shoot the one I have. I would dearly love to have on in a Model 64 Winchester. JMHO, but they are the nicest balancing rifles Winchester ever brought out. I have two in 30-30.
Paul B.