Dave Markowitz
Member
This afternoon I won an auction for a pretty nice looking S&W Model 1905, 4th Change in .32-20, with a 4" barrel. The seller is local and I plan to pick it up tomorrow morning.
Gunbroker auction pic:
It's 1920s production, made after they started heat treating the cylinders. I am not planning to hot rod the gun but would like to load ammo in the 850 - 900 FPS range if that's reasonable.
Powder-wise, I have Bullseye, Red Dot, Unique, HP-38, and Autocomp on hand. I've been up on load data and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it, since I've wanted a .32-20 for awhile.
I have some Starline brass along with some bullets, both 96 grain RNFPs from Desperado Cowboy Bullets some and 120 RNFPs from Matt's Bullets. I don't have a suitable mold yet. I also have a set of Lee dies and a Lee factory crimp die on order.
For those of you with this model, do you find that it shoots closer to point of aim with the ~100 grain or heavier 115 - 120 bullets, and at what distance?
As an aside, since Pennsylvania banned the use of centerfire calibers for small game hunting around 15 years ago, this will be restricted to target shooting and plinking. I could shoot varmints with it but that would be frowned upon in my subdivision, to put it mildly.
Gunbroker auction pic:
It's 1920s production, made after they started heat treating the cylinders. I am not planning to hot rod the gun but would like to load ammo in the 850 - 900 FPS range if that's reasonable.
Powder-wise, I have Bullseye, Red Dot, Unique, HP-38, and Autocomp on hand. I've been up on load data and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it, since I've wanted a .32-20 for awhile.
I have some Starline brass along with some bullets, both 96 grain RNFPs from Desperado Cowboy Bullets some and 120 RNFPs from Matt's Bullets. I don't have a suitable mold yet. I also have a set of Lee dies and a Lee factory crimp die on order.
For those of you with this model, do you find that it shoots closer to point of aim with the ~100 grain or heavier 115 - 120 bullets, and at what distance?
As an aside, since Pennsylvania banned the use of centerfire calibers for small game hunting around 15 years ago, this will be restricted to target shooting and plinking. I could shoot varmints with it but that would be frowned upon in my subdivision, to put it mildly.