Guess I never realized it was as dead as it is. Ammo is scarcer than hens teeth and 2x as expensive. Apparently its not coming back after the most recent shutdown/run on ammo.

Growing up my dad and a couple other family members were big fans of the 32 Special. So naturally, I have a couple.

Like most of my user calibers, I'm set for reloading, so not a huge issue, but I've been watching locally and online for ammo and it's wild. $100+ on gunbroker for a box of corelokts.

Anyone see it locally?

as you said largely dead

star line is still making brass and projectiles are still made

we have a store locally with some old oddball stuff he keeps behind the counter like 218 bee

he might have some I haven't looked lately

I sold almost 6 boxes of the Hornady Leveroution earlier this year for $35/box

I still have dies and brass incase I come across a clean Winchester.

I think my Dad has an old .32 he uses

Punch it into ammoseek website....three places selling power shok for $45-$60 per box. Obviously not corelokt, but beggars cant be choosers by the sounds of it

I can relate. Kind of like me trying to find 30-40 Krag ammo. Rare and expensive.

32 Special brass is easily made from 30-30 brass. One of the easiest cartridges to reform due to how thin they are and it doesn't have to enlarge that much.
No transitional die is needed. Just run a 30-30 brass into the 32 die, the expander ball will bring it out to size, then load and fire form.

Take it a step further; get set up to mold your own lead gas check bullets and you'll never be out of ammo for your old .32 Special.
.32 Specials and 30-30s are naturals for lead bullets as their velocity's are not that high. Lead gas check bullets work about as well as jacketed under 2000fps or so.

All of this oddball or antique cartridges are going for $3-5 per shot. I don't expect to see companies set up to make more very often. Even back 10 years ago they would only make one run a year. My advice is if you need it and see it, buy it! I had a guy about a month ago that claimed he had been looking for 30 Rem for 3 years. I told him I had 3 boxes...........so he bought ONE. I always tend to hoard boxes of hard to find ammo. I have the market cornered on 405 WCF.

I agree. As I said, I'm set up to reload and have plenty of brass and bullets. My dad mentioned he was getting low on his personal stock and I jumped online to see what was out there.

I hadn't bought or really looked for any factory ammo in a while and just found it wild that all of these older cartridges are still so scarce. I see all the ammo manufacturers talking about running 24-7, so I figured they'd be halfway caught up and be able to squeeze a few runs in of some of the more oddball stuff. Maybe if I re-invent a ballistic twin to the 32 Special, knock the shoulder down so its straight walled and give it a cool name and have a couple paid off spoon-fed outdoor writers talk it up, it'll become the next best thing and be on every shelf. Behold, the 32 Whitetail Wailer!

Buy it cheap and stack it deep boys!

And just like that, the "32 Camp Axe" was born![u][/u]

If they could figure out a way to chamber 32 Camp Axe in an AR platform it would probably be a big hit.

All these new rave cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmore, ballistically very similar to the old 6.5 Swede which has been around for 30 years.

I have my Dad's old 32 in a Marlin 336 rifle with half magazine. Got a box or 2 of shells for it and have been thinking of killing a deer with it .
He bought it not too long after getting back from Europe at the end of WWII. Thanks for bringing it up,

Zim

Hoard it if you want to have it
even common stuff like to 20ga slugs

it is 11 days out to opening day
we sighted in Sunday and I used 15 rounds figuring stuff out with light and the iron sights and just shooting ,my son swore we had more at home.

I sure thought I had an ammo can of it at the end of season last year , found 5 whole rounds tried farm and fleet , tried Walmart , checked Cabela's who said they had it but not at the store we would be near any time soon.

he did find them at another farm and fleet 40 miles away last night so he stocked me back up on them since while he won't admit he shot a bunch of them , he did buy and pay for them so I think he realizes he shot more of them having fun this summer.

all it takes is a few more people than normal buying them and a store is out.

interesting that if I can hunt with a rifle I do , guys at my sons work say they tried rifle didn't like it and went back to their shotgun which is probably why all the 20ga slugs around here are sold out locally.

I probably have some somewhere, but where? I have not had a 32 for over 15 years. But I bet there are a few boxes in one of the ammo cans unless I gave then to dad and forgot about it. But I'm also known to buy ammo that's on sale even when I don't have a gun that shoots it. Infact dud just that today .

I found .32 Special's at Buffalo Bore. little expensive, but the only one that would ship to New York

The Swede was originally chambered in an 1896 Mauser.

Yeah, I know. I meant to write 130 years. Dropped the 1.

If that is the worst thing that happens today, it is still a pretty good day. I have a Swede in a Tikka, model 70, Remington 700 Classic and a TC Encore. Great caliber!

160 how do you like the Tikka? I’ve been thinking about getting one. Got lots of brass, dies and ammo.