Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99 In 32 Special

That sad circumstance came about in recent memory. While I don't remember seeing boxes of .32-40 on gun shop shelves in quantity, one could always order up ammo/brass and not have to wait for a limited run for the order to be filled. I never played with the .32-40 much, except for a brief period back in the 80's when I thought offhand Schuetzen was going to be my claim to fame. Of course, for that I only needed one cartridge case and a box full of lead bullets and a breech seating tool for a day of shooting at the range.

I'm still wondering if there is enough meat to go from .308 to .321 ?

Sure.

I'm trying to think of when I have seen a Winchester '94 or a Marlin '93 or 336 rebored from .30/30 to .32 spl. Offhand, I can't recall a single example. This would have seen a logical move for one with a worn bore.

My earlier post about re-boring 30-30 to 32 was based on what I had heard from some sources, you comments & questions caused me to rethink believing them and to do a little more research - I can find a lot of mention of the possibility of doing it, but cannot find one example of it ever having been done, and there are many, like you, questioning if there is enough material to do it correctly. I found one comparison of bore dimensions between the two and it seems to go to 32 from 30-30 one would have to just barely shave out the rifling in the 30 and then would still end up with shallow rifling in 32. None of the current shops I could find doing re-bores list 30 to 32 but will do a 35/30-30 wildcat.

So with the chamber dimensions seemingly a problem in any existing 32, and the bore size looking like a problem in a 30-30, the question still is what was it originally?

I have seen 2 94's. Both in Upstate NY. Both in the early 70's. Although god only knows when the work was done as I was a younin and just starting to become interested in guns. Honestly, I'm not even sure if they were rebored or rebarreled, I only remember they were 30-30 and now they are 32 spec. The 32 spec was thought of very highly were I come from.

I particulary remember one example when an old timer (in his 80's in the early 70's so you do the math) prouldy took his 94 off the wall behind the wood stove and handed my granfather his ex 30-30 which was now a 32 spec. My grandfather looked it over and handed me the gun to inspect and I opened the action only to have a live round go spinning across the kitchen floor.

So when we get back to the truck my grandfather calmly and patiently explained to me that any gun taken off a hook behind a wood stove in the north country, is most likely loaded for bear...

Well if it was a .32 spl. then it was a bear gun

If I were a betting man, I would say those ex. 30-30's had been rebarreled. I have seen several 94's rebarreled to .32 spl.