Lee Loader

I've been waiting to start my reloading until the right time, so I haven't been on the forum in a while. I just acquired a '49 Marlin in .32 Winchester Special, so I'm going to have to start soon. The cost of ammo is extremely high, but even worse, not as readily available as even the .444 Marlin. I'm going to buy my reloading kit from Cabela's, not because it's the best price but because I had some Marriot miles that were about to expire and I discovered I could trade them in for Cabela's gift cards. I now have enough to purchase the Deluxe Turret kit.

I thought I would post a few pics of the Marlin. It's been restored with a case color hardened receiver and a nice blue job, which isn't always ideal for collectors, but I'm more of a shooter & I liked it & the price was about the same as buying one in fair condition, so I couldn't pass it up. It has a few handling marks since the restoration was several years ago, but still looks great to me.

Nice looking rifle and sounds like you got a good deal. I had a Win 94 carbine that I sold. It was a great deer gun and I took a nice 36 point Caribou with it. I only used factory cartridges (Winchester) Others here have used reformed 30-30 brass but I see brass and bullets are easily available in the US.

wow, I am not sure how I missed this topic....

i am a huge fan of the 32 win special in the Marlin 336. i have the exact same gun, same year but kine is scoped with a '50's scope for my old eyes. i used mine exclusively this last hunting season and took my limit of 5 bears, and 10 deer. i have brass for it, but also formed brass from 30-30.. i painted the bases of the brass I formed so I wouldn't accidentally mix it up with 30-30.. i also loaded mine with a casefull of home made BP and it worked well also.... very rugged nice guns that are tuff. i also love the short axis of the gun for heavy brush country which is very common in the rain forest of SE Alaska where I live...

you did good.. i bought mine scoped for 400 bucks from an old gentleman. a great all around gun..

Wow, that's a productive season! You got a good deal on your 336, that's a real steal for a gun in that condition in .32 Win Special.

I'm going keep the peep sight on this one. I really like that Lyman front target sight, it's almost like looking through a scope. I don't have the greatest eyes anymore but this seems to work well, at least from just looking through the sights in the back yard. I won't be able to get it to the range for another month because I had disc replacement surgery 4 weeks ago and won't be cleared for full recoil until mid to late March. I can shoot rimfire, but that's about it for now.

Great looking rifle! I don't shoot my Marlin very much, but I keep it. Mine happens to be inline for more ammo, and it is on the bench with a few others waiting for the setup of the new APP to be complete, and the mess from the addition cleaned up.

I use 32 Win Spl brass. Bought a bunch of it, a fellow on another forum was selling new brass after moving a rifle.

I have a 32 Rem very , very similar but not . They share data so they are pretty close .

(Brace for it ! )
I shoot the Lee 325-175 2R in it with the gas check shank removed at 178gr over a jacketed start load minus 2.0 gr of IMR 4350 and I hit max jacketed speeds with 2-2.5" groups in a model 14 Rem slide action sized .323 . (The Lee bullet that is . I don't use many in rifles as they are typically light )
The bullet is intended for the 8×57 but it's light for that and near perfect for the 32 Win or Rem . The nose may be too sharp for the Win/Marlin tube but sizing base first might fix that .

Paper patch is suitable if you have a .314 dia bullet for a 303 , 7.7 or Russo 7.62 .

In my search there were only 2 .321 bullets available . Sierra and Speer 170 gr RNFP at some $30/100 . I had the 8mm mould so it was just a natural path for me to follow .

Hornady makes two bullets in .321, the 170 Interlock flat nose and a 165 FTX.

Macd wrote:Hornady makes two bullets in .321, the 170 Interlock flat nose and a 165 FTX.

The Hornady Interlock is a killer, I keep at least a box on the shelf. My go-to bullet is my TLC323-180-RF.

Very nice 336 32 WinSpl!

In my 336 32WS, I like the Ranch Dog TLC323-170-RF over a stout load of H4895. Very accurate in my rifle and an excellent cartridge/bullet for large (220#+) whitetail deer.

Best,
Dan

I used the rcbs 32-170 exclusively for last year's hunting.... but I also have this ideal 323470 bullet I been thinking about playing with for the heck of it. it is a 165g bullet, so similar weight class to the 32-170. not that it would make a good hunting bullet. i like a good flat nosed bullet for hunting.. i have heard of folks using this for 303's and 8mm stuff, and I have rifles in in those calibers, just havent gotten around to trying it yet.. hard to mess with stuff you know works.

i have a strong feeling that the marlin will shoot almost anything sized correctly reasonably well... its just one of those cal's that ain't all that finicky i think... but what do I know...

AG