I must say this has been one of the more edifying threads to come along in while.
I too have a soft spot for .32 "bunny rifles" , and have a Stevens 44 too that may get turned into one (actually a 414 Armory with a bad bore), but I'm not ready to abandon .22rf's so it may get relined instead.
I have a Martini Cadet on the chopping block that I would love to have a half dozen interchangeable barrels made for: Hornet, 5.6x50R, .32 Long, .22 HiPower, .25-20, and .357 Max. But unless Daddy Warbucks writes me a big check that's not happening.
As for cheap/free lead, it's still out there. I was having new tires installed recently and came away with two 5 gallon buckets of wheelweights for $20/ bucket. Two weeks ago a friend laid 70 pounds of Linotype on me. All that translates into about 200 bazillion 50 grain .22 bullets. (All that on top of the roughly half ton of lead I already was sitting on.) Be persistent, think outside the box, and be ready to get your hands dirty, and the lead will find its way into your gun barrel.
