A gift from my uncle

[tarheel]

My uncle gifted me with this rifle yesterday, a Marlin Model 94 CL Classic in 32-20. I might just have to try it out on a whitetail this fall though I wouldn't trust it to be ethical much beyond 100 yds. Does anyone have any history or experience with this old caliber?

 

[bobbydean]

I love old rifles. Can you find shells?

 

[noharleyyet]

Cool gift tarheel.

 

[hank4elk]

My uncle left me his Win. model 92 in 32-20.
Said to do what I want with it. Sell it, trade it or keep it ,but I had to promise to go on "That NM elk hunt we never got to go on together".
He died the next day and I traded it to a collector friend for a new pistol & the cost of an elk tag & hunt.
I went elk hunting the next fall. Been hunting elk ever since,and I moved to NM.

You can find Cowboy Shooting rounds for it still.
A bit light for most deer hunting outside of 75yrds,IMO.

PS,I still have another Win 94 30-30 he taught me to hunt with & took my 1st deer and his hat collection,tools & some art of his around the house.

 

[MThuntr]

Available ammo (looks like midway has plenty) is lethargic due to the older pistols and rifles still being shot. The low energy of factory stuff probably makes it a 50 yard rifle. I saw a few guys on another forum loading this round to 2000+fps but using newer rifles which should make it better suited to deer. At any rate it would be fun to shoot.

 

[tarheel]

Available ammo (looks like midway has plenty) is lethargic due to the older pistols and rifles still being shot. The low energy of factory stuff probably makes it a 50 yard rifle. I saw a few guys on another forum loading this round to 2000+fps but using newer rifles which should make it better suited to deer. At any rate it would be fun to shoot.

Paco Kelly on Leverguns.com has worked up a number of loads for modern rifles as high as 2300 fps, several around the 2000 mark and that should do fine for the smallish whitetails I'll be encountering in this area. This is a new build (1997) so the modern steel should be up to it as long as I don't push it to the extreme. The rifle came with 2 boxes of pistol ammo and 2 boxes of WW rifle loads which are hotter but not approaching what handloads can accomplish. Now to see if I can find a set of redundant dies for working up my own loads. Even if I don't hunt deer with it there is always small game and punching holes in cans.

 

[hank4elk]

Wish I had it this morning checking the windmill. Would be fun on the prairie dogs,or at least better than the single shot 22...lol

I took a blacktail with a 218B one year,20ft.
I see alot of old 32 special, 44 & 45-70 shells around the old homestead.

 

[Southwind]

A great rifle made more special by being a family rifle. You should hunt it, I feel like those that passed them to me are with me while I hunt.

 

[tarheel]

A great rifle made more special by being a family rifle. You should hunt it, I feel like those that passed them to me are with me while I hunt.

I'm the same way about family guns. When I go turkey hunting or ducking with my Dad's 12 Rem I tell my wife that Dad and I are going hunting. Bought a Win 70 in .243 from a close friend who was dying from liver cancer and a few years later worked up a good load, headed to Wyoming and called his widow in Ft. Collins to tell her that I was taking him antelope hunting. Since part of his ashes had been scattered at Jackson Hole we both wound up in WY at the same time so yes, we were hunting together, at least in spirit.

 

[kiwi hunter]

used one for a while on pigs then gifted it to a friend,,if i still had it it would be on the wall

 

[LCH]

Nice rifle, sounds like a good uncle.

 

[1_pointer]

Very nice!! I'm sure it would work well enough on whitetails. If you're worried, just "bowhunt" with it. I'm sure some of these Level 3 loads would be enough for a well placed shot on a whitetail

http://leverguns.com/articles/paco/3220wcf.htm

If you're too worried about it on deer, I'd load with a cast bullet fairly light and give the squirrels hell!