winchester lever action '73 in 32-20

[kcw]

I have a Savage Model 23 "Sporter" in 32-20, and another in 25-20. The 32-20 came out of western PA. about 15 years ago as part of an estate settlement, some "pigtail" relation of mine. The folks that it belonged to apparently used it as the deer rifle for their women. It came with a dozen or so old photos showing various women, grandmothers and teens alike, holding it over the deer that they shot. The photos date from the early 1920's and clear thru the late 1970's . One picture, dated Dec. 49' reads, "Sue made good use of her new scope!" It shows a young woman standing over a nice 7 pointer; the Weaver 4X , .22 scope shown is still on it today.

[Pelago]

WINCHESTERS, FASCINATING RIFLES AND GETTING SCARCE, well at least good ones are, scene some real worn out ones being offered at premium prices at gun shows, we need to stop buying these inflated guns and force the sellers to reality

[RCS]

My father bought this 1873 in 1936 for $5, caliber is 38-40, barrel is a special order 30 inch (photos will not download) Original Lyman Number 2 target sight.
Winchester Factory letter states shipped in 1891.

Photo of target that I shot with this rifle at 100 yards some years ago

[smle-man]

I have a mint Colt Army Special in .32-20, it is like a pop gun when fired. Very nice to shoot. I remember the .32-20 cartridge boxes labeled 'for rifle only' - can you imagine the liability on something like that these days?

[Johnny Peppers]

Up until almost WWII Winchester offered high velocity loadings in the .32-20, .38-40, and .44-40. They also offered a loading for the Model 1892 Winchester only, and the .32-20 loading was some 400 fps higher than the standard .32-20 loading.
The Model 1892 rifle pictured was made in 1895. The rifle doesn't appear to have ever been disassembled, other than by the takedown feature which was a special order item.

[Dave]

Speaking of the Savage 23 series of rifles, I have the two .22 RF models, a Hornet, and a 32-20. I am looking for a nice 25-20 to complete the set. Seems to be rather elusive! (at reasonable price). As for shooting a deer at 32 ft., the closer you are the less penatration you will get as the bullet expands quite rapidly due to hi velocity at short range.

[JB White]

Last year I picked up a '92 in 32-20 and had a lot of fun with it. Lost interest within the year since I already had cartridges in "inventory" that performed nearly identical depending upon how I loaded up.

32-20, 32 H&R, 310 Cadet, 8mm Lebel pistol, etc etc.....

I like the cartridge and I'm fairly certain that if I didn't already have the other toys I would have appreciated the 32-20 much more than I do. In January I ended up rolling over the '92 into a 577 Snider which I've been playing with all this year.

[Dan In Indiana]

Picked up a '92 in 32-20 a while back, bore looked like a sewer pipe, maybe black powder use, don't know, took about a week of TLC to finally get a clean patch, got rid of some surface rust, cleaned many years of grunge off the wood, bluing was gone, got out my bottle of cold blue and went to work. Still looks old and well used, but at least I'm not ashamed to take it out in public. Loaded up some 100 gr. XTP with 10.0 of 2400 and it gives groups of about an inch at 25 yards. Definetly not a long range gun, but a hoot to shoot. Action is slick as a whistle with a light trigger pull, believe it's had a lot of use. Made in 1906.