Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30 WCF vs 32 Win Special ?

Have come across two Pre-64 Winchester 94 carbines. Both are in mechanically sound condition but are aesthetically rough. Both have been used by the same hunter since they were new.

One is in 30 WCF (30-30) and the other is in 32 Winchester Special.

There's a ton of ammo for both -- all in 170 grain.

How many years will I have to hunt with both before figuring out which one is the better deer rifle ?


Would ask the original owner but he passed away before the rifles came to my attention.

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Don`t know how long it would take to decide, but I`m still shooting dads old 32 spcl I started with back in the mid `60s and have no 30-30 yet..........

If you are a cast bullet shooter you will like the slower twist of the 32 provided it has a good bore to start with. In theory you can get a tiny bit more oomph from the 32 but in practice it's a meaningless difference using jacketed bullets. With cast bullets you can drive similarly designed bullets of identical hardness 100-200 fps faster from the 32 and maintain good accuracy.

Yup. The original owner died without knowing, and so will you. Likewise any deer you hit with them.

Remember the old Winchester ads for those rifles? The 32 Special was touted as "For those who hunted both deer and bear"!

I have killed deer with both the 30-30 and 32 Win Spl and i can't tell a dime worth of difference between the killing power of the two . In my opinion they are essentially the same. The 30-30 would be much easier to find ammo for but if you load your own then either would be a good buy.

I have both and the only difference that I have found is that ammo for the .32 Special is cheaper. Even though I have dies and brass, I keep running across boxes of factory ammo in hardware stores and Mom and Pop groceries for $7-$8 a box. So I plink with factory stuff in the .32.

I"d love to have both of those. Not that I know, but looking at the rounds, should be no difference to speak of.

This question brings back old memeories. The very first "which is the better round argument" I ever got into was over these two rds. I was about 11 yrs. old.
The other guy owned a .32 Win Spl and pointed out the tiny muzzle energy difference as his proof....
The only thing I've found is that .30/30's shoot reasonably well even if their barrels are badly worn. .32 Win Spl barrels don't. If it were mine, I'd buy the .32 and turn it into a .25-35. Have a hankering for one. E

No longer than it takes for you to get in a debate with someone else on the relative merits. It tends to firm up a fella's opinion.

When I was a kid the .32 Special and the 303 Savage both had a rep for being more powerful than a 30-30.

The .32 Special had a reputation for wearing out the barrel faster too.

I wouldn't know. I was using a 32-20 and two different 25-35's.
I got a 300 Savage when I was twelve and that ended the need for other lever guns.

Hammer1-

When reloaded with black powder and cast bullets, the 32 Win Special is the better deer rifle. Winchester designed it that way, say JB & other writers.

--Bob

The 30-30 gets the nod for me just because it's easier to find ammo, and Buffalo bore has some new high energy loads. Both fine rounds IMO.

http://www.levergun.com/articles/special.htm

This is a fun article about the .32 Special that addresses the poor accuracy issue, plus more.

I have a '49 Marlin RC in .32 Special that I really like, but I also have a '50 336A with the 24" barrel in .30-30. I'm not selling either one.

Well with the .32 not commonly found anymore we don't have to worry too much about which of these two cartridges is better. We are freed up to agonize instead over such important things as the vast differences between the .270 and .30-06!

I vote .32 Special. What with bullets getting so scarce, it makes sense to go with cast bullets.

Naw, just joking. The .32 is a fine round but makes very little sense even with cast bullets these days. It made a lot more sense when you could buy black powder for MUCH less than smokeless, but that hasn't been the case for many years now.

I cut my young deer hunting teeth on a Winchester lever in 32. Pretty special gun to me. I thought I was John Wayne at age 10 packing that puppy for blacktail deer in the coast foothills of Northern CA. But then, at 11, I was packing a Model 70 in 30-06 like the big boys, and I was in hog heaven. Never did think that rifle had recoil..........

I have a really old one (1904). I killed an old doe with it on Dec 31 2003- wanted to sneak it in before the rifle turned 100.

Penetration was impressive, meat damage minimal, and the deer fell down and died. Pretty much like the one deer I killed with a 30-30! :-)

....As others have said, I too believe you'll find not a dimes worth of difference in killing power between these two cartridges, not a dime, in EITHER direction.. I do agree the 32 is perhaps the better gun for cast bullets, but the 30/30 is much the better for plentiful & easily found ammo.

....I personally would choose the 30/30 every time between these two, and go up to the 35 Remington if I sought a similar class cartridge with a shade more wallop up close at brush range.

My personal experience with both shooting 170 grain bullets is there is less difference than there is between a 270 and 280.

But, when I was in my early teens I well remember getting dressed down by older and wiser hunters for even thinking that the 32 special wasn't more powerful by a goodly amount. And when these 32 special owners started getting obnoxious "Ole Charlie" would remind them that if they wanted a real rifle they would get a 40-82. Of course he had one and I have pretty much wanted one ever since also.

I can remember back in the early 60's I worked all summer to buy my first deer rifle. I got a Winchester catalog from my uncle who had a gun shop in Monroe Oregon and I agonized over if I wanted a 30-30 or a 32 Special. I know I wanted a Winchester 94. I ended up buying a 30-30. It was a rifle, not a carbine and I later had Ward Koozer rebore it to 444 Marlin. Made a nice but hard kicking gun with the curved butt plate.
I few years back when my brother in law passed away he left me his '94 carbine in 32 special. It is a little rough on the outside but still shoots good.
I wonder if Winchester had brought out the 32 Special in 1895 instead of the 30 WCF (30-30) if we would have a 30-30 now.
Below is suppose to be from a 1903 Winchester catalog.