Whitetail with .32-20 (on MarlinOwners)

[AJMD429]

Over on MarlinOwners.com (they've redone the site recently for those who haven't visited lately):

Guy used a Marlin .32-20 and got a nice little whitetail buck...

• http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/1894/ ... -deer.html

[44magHunter]

What......!!!!!!!!!????????

We all know you can't kill a deer with a .32-20 Win........

[6pt-sika]

The great past Worlds Record whitetail "The Jordan Buck" was killed with a 25-20 !

I have an older friend here that popped one with his little Marlin 1894CL 32-20 a couple years ago NO PROBLEM !

[FWiedner]

A coat of paint hides a lot of ugly.

[6pt-sika]

A coat of paint hides a lot of ugly.

Hmmm do I detect a less then glowing opinion of the "fine folks" at MO ?

If so I hear ya

[AJMD429]

A coat of paint hides a lot of ugly.

I didn't really mean to get that started...

I still log on there from time to time, and actually sort of like it there...!

I don't really interact with the moderators (which seem to be what folks say they dislike about MarlinOwners), and if someone is fluffing their feathers up and acting silly about something, I just click off the topic.

I mostly just look for 'newbie' levergunners with questions that I'm not too dumb to answer, so I feel I contribute something positive, and actually help someone once in awhile.

Of course I tend to provide 'answers' with links to THIS site, so probably a few eventually migrate over here.

• I'm not really trying to 'lure' anyone away from there, but since there seems to be a few who strongly dislike that site who are on LevergunsCommunity.com, (and maybe . . . some on MarlinOwners.com who strongly dislike this site . . . ), I just figure if everyone gets exposed to both sites, maybe nobody will get 'turned off' about leverguns by only being exposed to a site they find irritating.

That way . . . everybody can be happy and full of levergun-love...

[Mike D.]

Can I join MO and discuss Winchesters and their relative superiority.

[6pt-sika]

Can I join MO and discuss Winchesters and their relative superiority.

I would say go ahead and try but obviousely after a statement like that you have to delusional

Based on some of my experiences there , I would say you could stir them up a bit . However honestly I only found two folks there that I didn't care for . One was or is the moderator of his own little piece of heaven and the other was just a regular poster like you or I would be !

The two guys that own the thing were always very decent and cordial to me . As well as the majority of the other moderators . Just the one moderator in the northwest and one loud fellow from the carolinas . Well there was also a third individual in WVA that I can't say I cared for , but he and I never had a peeing contest either .

But then I don't really try to get along with folks that say "my way is the one and ONLY way"

[6pt-sika]

I must say the two most informative memebers I found on MO were and are Ranch Dog and Marlinman93 . I cannot count on my fingers and toes how many times those two helped me out with info or even parts etc .

[6pt-sika]

That way . . . everybody can be happy and full of levergun-love...

Do I detect a UTOPIAN SOCIALIST in our midst

[kimwcook]

Understanding shot placement is everything with any caliber you're shooting, but I wouldn't want to go looking for a deer with a 32-20. Now if it's all I had and I had to fill the pot, now that's a different situation.

[AJMD429]

Understanding shot placement is everything with any caliber you're shooting, but I wouldn't want to go looking for a deer with a 32-20. Now if it's all I had and I had to fill the pot, now that's a different situation.

I don't know if this guy (my great grandfather) had a choice, but I do know he used that .32-20 Marlin for deer-meat.



It's mine now ( ) and although the bore is pitted badly, I do shoot it a bit.
(I've thought about a re-line, or even a re-line/rechamber in .218 Bee or .25-20...)
Here it is next to it's own 'great grandson'...



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

P.S. (for Joe and other scopelophobes on the forum... )

...don't worry, the 'carrying handle' on the 1894 was just so I could bench-shoot it and see its potential without the 'old-eyes' factor; it shot 1" at 50 yards with gun-shop 'cowboy' reloads, so now it wears a Williams FP with a 'target' knob on the elevator, since the cartridge does have a sort of rainbow-trajectory.

[Pitchy]

Wonder what those two are thinking in that picture, either disgusted with the hunt or very content.

[AJMD429]

Wonder what those two are thinking in that picture, either disgusted with the hunt or very content.

He was the photographer (on the original you can see some sort of trip-line going to the camera), and probably trying to look 'natural' and away from the camera. My grandma accompanied him on his camp-outs, which took place where we now live, back when someone else owned it in the 1800's, and they came as guests, sometimes renting a room from the homeowner.



Most of the pictures show her reading a book, and when she later bought the place, it is my understanding she had such a library of books by then that neighbors would borrow them almost as if she ran a library from her home.

She evidently started coming here when very young.


And liked it enough to keep coming back.


..........sorry about the thread-drift. . .

[Pitchy]

Cool pics thanks for sharing, seems like things were easier in some ways in those days.

[Bill in Oregon]

Nice drift!

I actually asked on another forum about "discreet" deer loads, even considering cast loads in a .22 Hornet for head-shooting a little meat buck without getting the neighbors all in a tizzy. Season is closed now, so the question is moot, but I think a .32-20 or even a .25-20 is "enough" deer gun under the right circumstances.
A friend who grew up in the eastern Oregon cattle country said his family ate a lot of .25-20 venison back in the '40s and '50s ...

[Canuck Bob]

I got involved in a discussion about the 32-20 as a deer rifle and mentioned i may use mine next year for doe hunting from ambush. Well people like me were labelled as unethical by some folks. The whole unethical point does wind me up some and I headed down that rabbit trail to my regret.

Often I go out into the woods for a day of loafing. I can't carry a 22 pistol here so plinking and rabbit hunting with a 444 and hunting loads gets a little bit much on occasion. Leaving a second rifle in the truck for mid-day shooting has sadly become a good chance on a stolen rifle. Its nice to have the 32-20 as a fun rifle capable of dropping a deer. I also like using a flintlock with a patched ball.

We get a similar discussion on our Canadian forum if someone dares ask if a 30-30 or 303 will kill a moose. The fact that thousands of moose die annually from these rifles in the hands of hunters, farmers, trappers, and native folk is ignored by some. While dropping the hammer at 350 yards is bragged about. Give me the deadly accurate 50 pace shot with a 32-20 on deer over the 300 Magnum 300 yard shot anyday.

[Noah Zark]

Before the 30-30 and 35 Remington caught on in northern PA, the definitive deer cartridges in these parts were the 38-55 and the 32-20. In fact, the 32-20 was the 357 Magnum in it's day before the 357 was introduced.

Noah

[AJMD429]

I got involved in a discussion about the 32-20 as a deer rifle and mentioned i may use mine next year for doe hunting from ambush. Well people like me were labelled as unethical by some folks. The whole unethical point does wind me up some and I headed down that rabbit trail to my regret.

An 'underpowered' gun doesn't bother me much - it is most likely used by someone who knows their gun, stalks or 'ambushes' close in, and won't take a 'chancy' shot.

The ones that bother me are the macho-dudes who question the ability of a .44 Mag levergun to take a deer, so just use their .30-06 semiauto ('cuz an '06 isn't always enough, and you might need a few follow-up shots'), or a 7mm Rem Mag, and take a 300-yard shot at a deer running flat-out across a cornfield, oblivious as to their backstop. I see (and hear) it all the time... Most of them seem to feel a gut-shot deer that takes two days to find is 'ok' as long as there's a nice rack of antlers, and the coyotes don't chew it up too much for a good cape-mount.

[Noah Zark]

I got involved in a discussion about the 32-20 as a deer rifle and mentioned i may use mine next year for doe hunting from ambush. Well people like me were labelled as unethical by some folks. The whole unethical point does wind me up some and I headed down that rabbit trail to my regret.

An 'underpowered' gun doesn't bother me much - it is most likely used by someone who knows their gun, stalks or 'ambushes' close in, and won't take a 'chancy' shot. The ones that bother me are the macho-dudes who question the ability of a .44 Mag levergun to take a deer, so just use their .30-06 semiauto, or 7mm Rem Mag, and take a 300-yard shot at a deer running flat-out across a cornfield, oblivious as to their backstop. I see (and hear) it all the time... Most of them seem to feel a gut-shot deer that takes two days to find is 'ok' as long as there's a nice rack of antlers, and the coyotes don't chew it up too much for a good cape-mount.

Before I was allowed to hunt in the mid-60s I had to demonstrate proficiency with my father's open-sighted, box-stock prewar Winchester 94 in 30-30, and 170 gr. factory rounds bought by my father with my own money. So I practiced with a Winchester 72 22LR rifle for literally thousands of rounds over a few years, then a couple-few hundred 30-30 rounds. When I was judged "good enough" by Dad, Grand-dad, and an uncle, I was given Dad's 30-30 and one cartridge. "If it's the right shot, you only need one," was what I was told. I went three years before I had the "right shot" and got my first deer.

With one cartridge.

Noah

[1894c]

Before I was allowed to hunt in the mid-60s I had to demonstrate proficiency with my father's open-sighted, box-stock prewar Winchester 94 in 30-30, and 170 gr. factory rounds bought by my father with my own money. So I practiced with a Winchester 72 22LR rifle for literally thousands of rounds over a few years, then a couple-few hundred 30-30 rounds. When I was judged "good enough" by Dad, Grand-dad, and an uncle, I was given Dad's 30-30 and one cartridge. "If it's the right shot, you only need one," was what I was told. I went three years before I had the "right shot" and got my first deer.

With one cartridge.

Noah
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That's a cool story--I had a friend that went through the same training when he was a kid too, actually if I think about it I used a single-shot .22 cal. and a single-shot H&R 16 gauge shot gun from my Dad. Didn't graduate to other "repeaters until I was in my late teens and by then I used my own money and got advice from Pop--go figure... :)

AJMD429 -- By the way I like the old photos of your grand-folks...no need to apologize about the "thread drift"... :)