Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The Official 32-40 Hunting Thread

A few us on another forum wanted to encourage each other to hunt with our 32-40's this season so we agreed to start a 2020 thread over here. Available to any and all, no matter the action style. You might even slip a 38-55 or other obsolete cartridge kill in on us. LOL. Let's break out the old 32-40 this year and see what we can put in the dirt. I'll start with a photo of my Savage and say I haven't fired it, so I need to get busy. Post what you have and don't forget to take photos of your hunts! Great luck to all!









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Perfect! and speaking of getting ready, at first light this morning, i'll go out and run some through the chrono, set up a box at 100 yards and check zero, will take a few pics for posting to the thread later on.

Oh man - now I’m going to have to figure out how to post photos and I’m not the quickest circuit on the space ship🥴......this will be fun!

PennDog

postimage.org is your friend

It's on now PennDog, chronograph, 100 yard target group, and even a mini water jug bullet penetration test, the little 178gr flat nosed bullet at 1555 fps went lengthways through a big metal coffee can, and three one gallon canning vinegar jugs never to be seen again, got some pics too.

The little bullet sucked the sides of the metal coffee can closed on exit, penetrated straight through the rest of the jugs, I don't believe any deer or pig will hold that bullet, iirc they Brinnell at around 15, nice to have an exit hole in critters if we need to track.

Lets see if I have it???

Looks Like I do (at least in part??!) - THANKS 10guagemag!! I'll get to work on some groups with the rifle now - have some 165 grain cast bullets loaded with 5744 that shot good when I first got the rifle (a couple of years ago).

PennDog

p.s. FB2 looks like we have twins (I just posted that and saw we were thinking the same thing :D)

Looks like our rifles are twins PennDog. I'm going camping this weekend and taking the 32-40 with me. Let's get it done!

Yes, PennDog got it posted, I'm an even dimmer fuse on the circuit board, i'll have to have someones cell or email and have Wife send em for me.

Here's Gunners photos-

Many Thanks Fireball! I appreciate posting the pics.

1] 5 shots at 100 yards with a six 0'clock hold on the black dot, don't know why I was walking those shots up like that, still, that's five dead deer or pigs.
2] Cartridge name on this old 1900 year model '94 Winchester.
3] One metal coffee can and three gallon vinegar jugs reassembled after a 178gr flat nosed cast bullet punched them all, note how the bullet sucked the sides in on that metal can Gents.
4] Exit hole in last of the three one gallon jugs, had never tested this rifle or load, it penetrates straight as a string.
5] At the chronograph before range trip.

What do you make of that Gunner?

Don't know FB, but there's a term for it, you can see where the bullet entered the can, nearly blew the thing apart at the seam, then bullet exited into jugs and sucked the can flat on the way out, don't know, weird voodoo going on there, my big Sharps 45 3-1/4 will do the same thing to a 55 gallon drum filled with water.

BTW, that little bullet has a near quarter inch meplat, think of slapping your hand into a pool of water as hard as you can, seeing that coffee can, then running that bullet through a deer's vitals compressing a wall of solids in front of the bullet wont have them going far with two half inch bleeder holes, I cant wait to get into the woods.

That’s a nice rifle gunner! I’m in the middle of trying to figure out an H&R 158 in .22 Jet and as soon as I do I’ll try and get some range time in with the Savage 99 and share the results!

PennDog

Thanks PennDog, and yes, get that ear splitter handled and get on that old Savage 32-40!

An old buddy that I told about this site long ago lurks here but has never joined, he's 88 years old and saw this thread yesterday, he called me this morning laughing, FWIW, he's killed two black bears and dozens of deer with a lever action 32-40 raising and feeding his children and a few neighbors along the way, I think we can get some deer in the freezers pretty easy this season Men!

That's good to hear. I'm a bit hesitant to whack a bear with one. I prefer DRT to brush rodeos. BTDT and it's too steep, deep, and thick with poison oak here for that sheit. Normally hunt up high to avoid the poison oak, but the steep and deep gets worse uphill as the poison oak fades away. I wonder how the black bear kills went.

Ain't all that weird. Flat base bullets suck. I mean that in a nice way. Cans are designed to contain fluids, not resist vacuums. Buffalo bullets create a fair bit of low pressure behind the base as they wander along.

I didn't hear the old man complain any FB, bet he was using some sort of flat nosed cast bullet though.

Dan, hell of a deal, good to know that, the old saying I've heard about what a bullet doesn't blow out, it sucks out on exit.