Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots the .32-40 in a modern rifle

I've had a Winchester Traditional Hunter 1885 (Miroku reproduction) .32-40 for a good while. I generally shoot cast bullets in it, but it can be loaded to the point it comes very close to .30-30 ballictics with cast or jacketed bullets. I wouldn't be hesitant to hunt with it for deer-sized game out to the same ranges I'd use a .30-30, maybe 125-150 yards.

I started to go that route, but I had a 30-30 rebored to a 38-55 instead. It is easy to reform 30-30 brass if needed. It has a nice thump to it......sort of like a mini 45-70.

Much better cartridge for deer hunting than the .30-30 or .32-40. I've never reformed .30-30 brass to .38-55 because .38-55 brass was easy to find. May not be nowadays.

Yeah, much as I love .32-40's (bought another one last night), if building a dedicated deer rifle from scratch for shooting cast bullets, bigger is always better and the .35's and .38's trump a .32.

Every now and then I see a New Model 1885 pop up for sale and they're always really tempting. I never thought about re-boring a 30-30 until now, that might be a cheaper route.

If .32-40 is the goal I don't think its reamer will clean up a .30-30 chamber after re-boring.

This is such a cool rifle! The only .32-40 I have ever fired was an 1893 Marlin. Super nice rifle and cartridge.

My TCR 83 in 32-40 is now up for auction sale at DurysGuns.com.

And why am I selling it? I'm in my 80's now and none of my kids had any interest in my TCR collection.

Over the years I have harvested White Tails with the 32-40 using spitzer jacketed bullets in my TCR.

Years ago, I read how you could size down 8mm (.323) jacketed bullets to .321 using a Lee Sizer. I bought the Lee sizer and over the years used it to size down various 8mm bullets.

I found that my TCR shot the 150 grain Speers (or Sierra's) quite well getting near 1" in 5 shot groups, and they worked dandy on white tails.

With modern single shot rifles, load development of the 32-40 approximates the 32 special. The 32 special has functioned as a deer caliber for many many decades and has served as fodder for the hot stove crowd over the years.

As a second note, I had used the Hornady 165 FTX which is intended for the 32 Special as well. Though they did good groups, I found my sized down 150's proved tighter groups. Also, for the lever action rifles they are a good option.