Marlin 1889 32-20

[PatMcD]

A friend just inherited one of these, dated to 1891, and came to me for advice on ammo. I'm a little outside of my comfort zone with these rifles and giving advice. I originally thought they were made for blackpowder rounds but now see conflicting info on the internet.
My question: can he buy any 32-20 ammo off the shelf and safely fire it out in this rifle?

 

[TrashcanDan]

Call whoever makes ammo for it.
Remington makes a lead load for it out of the box. Black Hills or Buffalo Bore might be another. Whoever makes it, you get the point.
Shooting off an e-mail might get better results.
A lot of the reloading manuals I have use that disclaimer for old black powder guns "This data is not for use in older firearms originally designed for black powder", but it never defines what "older" is.

 

[DW357]

My question: can he buy any 32-20 ammo off the shelf

that’s not going to happen
I hope he reloads as finding factory ammo is going to be next to impossible

 

[Road_Clam]

You can get reloading equipment

Search results for: '32-20'

www.buffaloarms.com

Probably a lot of experience with this caliber over at the Cast Boolits forum

 

[JRT]

A friend just inherited one of these, dated to 1891, and came to me for advice on ammo. I'm a little outside of my comfort zone with these rifles and giving advice. I originally thought they were made for blackpowder rounds but now see conflicting info on the internet.
My question: can he buy any 32-20 ammo off the shelf and safely fire it out in this rifle?

That is a very cool thing for your friend to inherit. These rifles, even in ok shape fetch quite a premium, one in decent shape can go over $3,000 really fast. A clean one is easily 4 to 5k.

As others have noted, reloading is the best option, there are still a lot of companies publishing reloading data. Hornady publishes a few for sure. The ammo is sold commercially but it comes out in batches and doesn’t last long.

 

[The Anchor]

that’s not going to happen
I hope he reloads as finding factory ammo is going to be next to impossible

bullseye in Woonsocket had some a few weeks ago on the shelf, it isn't in high demand like other calibers... i have a 92 from my great grandfather that i shoot once a year, or so

 

[PatMcD]

I obviously know handloading is the best option, but he's not a gun guy and will never reload. He wants to shoot the damn gun and just wants to know IF he can find 32-20 ammo to buy, is it safe for him to do so.

 

[DW357]

.32-20 Win Ammo

In-stock best prices for 32-20 Win Ammo | Cheap 32-20 Win Ammunition - AmmoSeek.com

ammoseek.com

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Now this might not be exact but a little digging on the saami site might pull up their specs.

Looks like the 16k pressure limit would make it safe in anything sans a Flobert.

SAAMI pressures