Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 32-20 for deer?

Got my eye on a Marlin 32-20 cal and would like opinions on weather this round is suitable for deer and if so, what range?

Not IMO but others will certainly dissagree. I really like the 32-20 but not for deer.

I had one for several years and shot a few coyotes and feral hogs with it. I took it deer hunting a few times while I was living in Colorado and Nebraska , but never got a shot at a deer that I wanted within what I considered to be effective range. For deer, it is probably adequate out to 75-100 yds, but 50-75 was more comfortable to me.

I carried it lion hunting a few times, as it carried well in a scabbard, and most lions are shot at ranges measured in feet as opposed to yards. One of our guests used it to bag a lion that treed in a tall Chihuahua pine, high enough that he wasn't comfortable trying with a pistol. I eventually gave it to my daughter to use as a wall hanger.

They are easy to load for if you can find good cast bullets. I never got into bullet casting and relied upon a friend in Kansas who spends most of his winter time casting bullets in his farm shop.

I have a good friend who killed a good sized doe at about 15yards with a 32-20 in a revolver.Even he considered it mostly a stunt.
Poachers kill deer all the time with 22LR and 22Mag. Just because it can be done doesn't mean we should do it on a regular basis.
If you can shoot well,the distances are fairly short,and the shots fairly open,it will succeed almost all the time,but is still probably not a really good choice.There are few sounds that bother me more than the sound of a wounded deer bawling in the woods.

I have an old Savage .32-20 that has taken a couple of "meat does". Strictly head or neck shots at 50 yds. or less. I have it scoped and zeroed for 50 yds. The load is 95 gr. jacketed soft point at around 1,300 fps.

I shot a small doe fallow deer with my Marlin27-S once, through the lungs went 55yrds. laid down and died, but dont know about whitetails . If so Id keep all shots at 50yrds. or less. John

My cousin took his first deer, a nice little basket-racked 8, with a .32-20 at about 30 yards.

The rifle was re-retired after that.

The .32-20 will kill deer; but unless it's absolutely all you have, I'd not suggest hunting with it.

What Vanimrod said should be considered as gospel.

It don't fare too well when you compare it to deer rifles. But put it next to a compound bow (I've heard people take deer with them.) and it looks like a deer harvesting machine.

If you hunt with it like a archer does, sitting in a tree and waiting for a close shot, why not? I have shot a number of herd reduction does with the 22 Magnum, using head shots, so I can't see why a 32-20 wouldn't do as well on head shots.

Jeff

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

257 Roberts;

Please, put the coffee down and step very slowly away from the computer... you're scaring me.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

If you reload the 32wcf back up to respectable velocities with 100-115 gr bullets it will do the job, but given the anemic stuff that is available as factory loads now days it will do it, but not very well.

Its not coffee.

Sure you can kill a deer with it or a .22 but why should you unless it is eat or die time. It has about the same power as a .30 carbine which I wouldnt use on deer either unless I was desperate. Use it for small game and coyotes like it was intended.

<laughing>

257 Roberts, that explains a lot... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Rember that the Jorden Buck No.2 in the world was killed witha 2520 still theres better deer rounds out there.

Someone (who apparently wants to remain anonymous) PM'ed me and asked if I did not own a saddle gun in a more effective caliber to carry lion hunting. Indeed I do, and my usual saddle carry is a Winchester 94 in .25-35. However, years ago Craig Boddington wrote an article in one of the Peterson publications listing his choice for the very best cartridge for each of the North American game animals. For the mountain lion, his choice was a .32-20!

I thought it a little unusual at the time, but after a near fiasco with a cattle-killing lion that "treed" on a rock pinnacle, leaving us only a 50+ yard shot with a .32 H&R Magnum with fixed sights, I decided to carry my .32 Winchester Special.

The first opportunity I had to do this, I was caught short-handed with only a few cartridges loaded up, so I elected to carry the .32-20. Since it had been carried by the previous owner in a saddle scabbard for many years, it had a lot less finish remaining than the .32 Special, and I ended up carrying it most of the time until I retired it. It worked the one time that I asked it to, and I decided that it had earned a rest.

In Colorado it is not a legal caliber for deer and I wouldn't use it if it was. Yes it's been done but that doesn't make it a good idea. It just doesn't have enough power in my opinion.

Unless your family is starving and that is the only gun you have. There is just so many better options for deer size game!

Camper

When the 25-20 and 32-20 were young they were certainly considered adequate deer rifles and in the iron sight era they did alright at the ranges their bullets could be placed well at. But then there were loadings available that made todays look a little anemic. Also back "then" an all around cartridge was one that you could shoot either a deer or a rabbit without excessive meat destruction.