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November 19, 2006
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Here’s a current listing by, “Guns by Sally.” I find the finish much more legitimate than the M1894 Rick listed in another thread.
I am curious about just what the chambering is. The rifle is stamped 32 CAL and after that RF.
My first question is how do we know which 32 rimfire? I know there was 32 Short, 32 Long and 32 EX Long. Did they not have a stamp specific to each of these? How do we know which cartridge is correct for this rifle? Sally shows photos of each of the three cartridges but makes no mention which one fits. Or do they all fit?
My next question is the caliber marking itself. The 32 CAL stamping is quite the different stamping from the RF stamping. The RF marking almost looks like an afterthought or not even done at the same time. Perhaps a larger lot of 32 caliber barrels were made up and stamped and then later chambered to a specific cartridge and that’s when the RF was added?
Except perhaps for the .22, rimfire chamberings in the Winchester Single-Shot rifle have little appeal to me. However it appears Sally is correct that the 32 RF is on the unusual side. Until I revisited Bert’s production table in the Winter 2021 WACA magazine, I had thought the 32 RF was a much more common chambering (3 in 32 Short, 40 in 32 Long and 28 in 32 Extra Long).
By the way, I have the strong suspicion that, “Sally” is not using a recent photo of herself.
November 7, 2015
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Could it be that there was only one 32RF in 1886? Some of y’all have a nice new book that should help clear that up.
Mike
April 15, 2005
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Steve,
The “32 CAL. R.F.” cartridge marking is the early style used for the 32 Short rim fire. Later production barrels were marked “32 SHORT” or “32 LONG”.
Winchester manufactured a large number of low-wall rifles in the 32 caliber rim fire cartridges, a total of 3,905 in Short, 3,264 in Long, and 28 in Ex Long.
The “R.F.” is a separate stamped marking. Winchester manufactured “32 CAL” barrels, and then when they were chambered for a specific cartridge they added the “R.F.” or “C.F.”, or “W.C.F.” marking.
Here are some examples;
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
April 15, 2005
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TXGunNut said
Could it be that there was only one 32RF in 1886? Some of y’all have a nice new book that should help clear that up.
Mike
That is most likely the case for that rifle. Without digging through my survey file, the 32 Short rim fire was the first cartridge in that caliber offered, but was quickly followed by the 32 Long and Ex Long.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
April 15, 2005
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steve004 said
Except perhaps for the .22, rimfire chamberings in the Winchester Single-Shot rifle have little appeal to me. However it appears Sally is correct that the 32 RF is on the unusual side. Until I revisited Bert’s production table in the Winter 2021 WACA magazine, I had thought the 32 RF was a much more common chambering (3 in 32 Short, 40 in 32 Long and 28 in 32 Extra Long).
Sally is not correct. If you read my article carefully, you will see that Winchester manufactured 3,902 rifles in 32 Short rim fire that can be lettered, and I found three more that are above serial number 109999. That brings the total to 3,905 in 32 Short rim fire, with the possibility of at least a few more yet to be found.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
November 19, 2006
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Bert – I see where I made my mistake – when I read the tables in your single-shot article, I was not snapping to the fact the .32 short, long and extra long I was looking at were in the centerfire section. The numbers you refer to were of course in the rimfire table.
I do see however that my impression was correct, there were many more .32 rimfires produced.
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