Introduced back in 1902, the .32 Winchester Special was designed to exceed the muzzle energy (ME) of the contemporary .30-30 by about 22%. The .32 Special is a smokeless powder cartridge that, along with the .30-30, was offered only in the nickel steel version of the Model 1894 rifle expressly for the increased pressure of the (then) relatively new smokeless powders. (The .32-40 was a contemporary black powder cartridge offered in a less expensive, lower pressure version of the Model 1894 not made of nickel steel.)

However, according to Winchester advertising in their 1902 catalog, the .32 Special was a smokeless powder cartridge that could also be reloaded with 40 grains of black powder. (Black powder still being in common use at the time.) Original factory ballistics with smokeless powder quoted a 165 grain bullet at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2057 fps, while a 40 grain black powder reload achieved a MV of 1385 fps.

To ease the problem of black powder fouling and because it fired a larger caliber bullet than the .30-30, the rifling twist in Winchester .32 Spec. rifle barrels was 1 turn in 16 inches, rather than the 1-in-12 twist of the .30-30. This what made it "Special."

The .32 Special could be said to be based on a .30-30 case necked-up to accept .321 inch diameter bullets. Actually, both the .30-30 and the .32 Special are based on a necked-down, bottleneck version of the rimmed .38-55 case. The rim diameter is .506 inch and the shoulder angle is about 14.5 degrees. The case is 2.04 inches long and the maximum overall cartridge length is 2.565 inches. The SAAMI maximum average pressure is 38,000 cup, the same as the .30-30.

The .32 Winchester Special has been the lifelong running mate of the .30-30 Winchester. It has never been as popular as the .30-30, but it has been popular enough to be one of the top ten best selling American centerfire rifle calibers for most of its life.

Back in about 1965 (at which time the .32 Spec. was already about 70 years old) I saw a list of the top selling factory loaded cartridges in the U.S. and I was surprised to find that the .32 Spec. was number four. I believe that the .30-30, .30-06, and .270 occupied the first three places. I remember wondering what all the gun writers and other advocates of the bolt action rifle must think when they saw those numbers. Two of the top four best selling cartridges in the country were moderate velocity, moderate caliber numbers most often chambered in lever action carbines. By then they had been making the case for high velocity and bolt action rifles for 60 years, but the consumers kept on using their .30-30 and .32 Special lever action carbines. It must have been frustrating for them.

I don't know where the .32 Special stands in sales today, but I would be surprised if it were not still in the top 20. Ammunition is widely distributed in the US and readily available. For example, Bi Mart (a big box store chain spread across the Pacific Northwest) carries both the Winchester Super-X 170 grain and Hornady LEVERevolution 165 grain factory loads.

Winchester has sold well over a million Model 94's in .32 Special and I don't know how many additional units have been sold by Marlin and others, but there are a lot of well made .32 Spec. rifles out there. In 1973 Winchester stopped chambering the M-94 in .32 Spec. It was reintroduced into the line in 1982 and it was offered well into the 1990's before again being dropped. In 2018, Winchester reintroduced the .32 Special in the Model 94 rifle and carbine. Like the Terminator in the movie, the .32 Special keeps coming back.

I bought a brand new pre-1964 Winchester M-94 in .32 Special back in 1964, one of the last 1963 models sold. I equipped it with a Lyman receiver sight for hunting in the woods. It was just about the fastest handling deer rifle I have ever owned.

I also found that my .32 Special was accurate and didn't kick too much. Recoil amounted to about 12.2 ft. lbs. in my 7 pound rifle. I liked it a lot and I deeply regret that I later sold it to help finance the purchase of a (then) just announced Remington Model 600M bolt action carbine in .350 Rem. Mag. I later regretted selling the M-600M too, but that is another story.

Today, the ballistics of the 170 grain factory load for the .32 Winchester Special are similar to those of the .30-30 Winchester shooting the 170 grain factory load. The .32 bullet has the advantage of about 5% greater ME and it makes a slightly larger hole, while the .30 bullet has a slightly superior sectional density. Recoil is very similar.

The standard American .32 Special factory loads call for a 170 grain flat point bullet a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2250 fps and muzzle energy (ME) of 1911 ft. lbs. At 100 yards the figures are 1870 fps and 1320 ft. lbs.; the 200 yard numbers are 1537 fps and 892 ft. lbs.

The trajectory of the Winchester Super-X 170 grain factory load should look like this: +4.3" at 100 yards, 0 at 200 yards and -19.2" at 300 yards. From both the energy and trajectory figures you might conclude that this is about a 215 yard deer and black bear cartridge when zeroed to hit 3" high at 100 yards, and you'd be right.

A couple of years ago, Hornady began selling a LEVERevolution factory load for the .32 Special. This uses a 165 grain FTX (plastic tipped) spitzer bullet at a MV of 2410 fps and ME of 2128 ft. lbs. At 100 yards the figures are 2144 fps and 1685 ft. lbs. The 200 yard numbers are 1897 fps and 1318 ft. lbs., while at 300 yards the figures are 1669 fps and 1020 ft. lbs. As you can see, at 200 yards the LEVERevolution load hits as hard as the standard load does at 100 yards.

The trajectory of the Hornady LEVERevolution factory load looks like this: -0.9" at muzzle, +3.4" at 100 yards, 0 at 200 yards, -13.1" at 300 yards. This makes the .32 Special an adequate 200+ yard elk cartridge in both energy and trajectory.

The .32 Special is an easy cartridge to reload. Hornady, Speer and others make 170 grain flat point bullets for the Special and Hornady sells their 165 grain FTX bullet (BC .310, SD .229) to reloaders. The Speer 170 grain flat point bullet for the .32 Special has a BC of .297 and SD of .236. The reloader can drive these 170 grain bullets to about 2,200 fps from a 20 inch carbine barrel with a variety of medium burning powders. My favorite is IMR 3031, which works very well in both the .32 Special and the .30-30.

The 10th edition of the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading shows that 38.5 grains of LEVERevolution powder will drive their 165 grain FTX bullet to a MV of 2300 fps. from a 20" barrel. (Factory load ballistics are measured in a 24" test barrel and those who own rifles with 24" barrels, such as the new Winchester M-94 Sporter, should achieve about as extra 40 fps with this load.)

In 1964, the Winchester catalogue described the .30-30 as an excellent deer cartridge and the .32 Spec. as perfect for black bear. I guess that is as good a way as any to sum it up. The .32 Winchester Special is also covered in my article Ideal Deer Cartridges.