Remington 8 in .32 Rem

[9.3shooter]

After months of looking I scored a model 8 in .32 last night on Gunbroker for what I hope will be a good price. Seller had it listed previously with no bids, then didnt relist for weeks.
Meantime I kept looking and nothing else popped up other than one way over priced, refinished rifle and one 81 with enough extra holes to Fill the Albert Hall!
Then the first seller relisted for less than his first price so I bid on it and won it for $795 plus all the GB taxes etc.

Should have it in a couple of weeks, its only one state over from me. I already had dies, brass and bullets if anyone wants to know why a .32, LOL

I actually like the round, it will be a twin to my great shooting .25 Rem

Will post up again when I have it.

[Hibby83]

Congratulations on finding one you like! I look forward to hearing a range report on it.

Enough holes on the 81 to fill the Hall ehhh? Was it on GB? I'll have to look at completed auctions.

[9.3shooter]

Yeah, still there. Overall condition is pretty ratty. Price is a bit high too for condition.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1007028913

[9.3shooter]

Well I did the paperwork on the rifle on the 15th. With holiday and two weekends in between, tomorrow will be 10 business days. I was told that beginning in January, it would be a ten day wait for ALL guns in Washington, but this is still November and so far havent heard a word from my dealer about me or the rifle being cleared.

I sent an email earlier today, no answer, so tomorrow if I havent heard anything by noon I will be calling them to see what the heck is going on.

Good thing I am older now, 20 years ago this would have driven me around the bend!

[9.3shooter]

Well its finally in my hot little fists! There is a mandatory 10 day wait for all semi auto's that I forgot about, since 2019! So it cleared and my dealer says they dont bother to notify buyers when they actually clear, but only when the 10 days are up. Total wait time was 15 days with weekends and holiday.

Anyway, it looks pretty good, some copper fouling that I will deal with, but rifling looks good from one end to the other, very smooth with a patch going thru, and muzzle passes the "bullet test", so looks like it might be a shooter, made 1931.

Jacket SN matches receiver, steel butt plate. I put 4 rounds ( handloads ) into the mag and ran them thru manually with no issues. I left them long until I could see what the mag would take, these are loaded to 2.5" OAL and flew thru. WIth a mirror and light down bore, I can see the throat looks great, sharp edges, so not a burnt out throat
I will probably seat them a tad deeper just because.

Right now have some PB Blaster soaking around the business end to loosen things up for disassembly.

[9.3shooter]

Got it apart today, hardest thing to bust loose was the bushing. Soaked all night in PB Blaster and still took heat and muscle to break it loose.

Barrel nut was easy, but as I mentioned in another section and in the Want to Buy, I lost my nut washer, it spun off into the garage somewhere, I will keep looking but I know I wont find it until It doesnt matter, then it will magically appear!

Parts look good, barrel had the usual surface rust on the outside, but otherwise it all looks fine.

[9.3shooter]

Barrel code shows Nov 1929 make. Here is a pic of it.

IMG_3933.JPG (245.21 KiB) Viewed 789 times

[ranman]

Looks like you did alright on this one.

[9.3shooter]

Got some range time today with this old rifle. This is the one I lost the washer on but I stole the one out of my .25 and used it here and it works fine in both rifles.
I had a handload worked up with 170 gr Speers and 3031 powder. Took me about 10 rounds to get the sights on at 50 yards, first shot was way high and way left. Front sight was centered so it had to be moved as no windage of course on the rear. Also had to change the elevation wedge as this one had a tooth missing near bottom and didnt allow for good target placement of the shots, but I had a spare along with all its teeth and with a 6 oclock hold it was putting them in target center.
I think I see a peep sight in the future if I can find one for reasonable. Anyway, the rifle functioned perfectly, brass straight up and lands on the bench, only had two go ahead of the line and pulled them back with a broom.
It liked my load pretty well, the best 4 shot group at 50 put its shots into just an inch, the others were between 1.5 and 2" so well pleased with its accuracy, bore looks like new on this rifle.

So a great first outing, accurate, functions perfectly. Will keep looking for a new washer and now a peep sight. What a hoot!

[Roger]

Sir, I’m glad you did well with your new to you, 32 Remington M8. I’ve killed several deer with 32 Remington, and have some loads worked up 3031 and Speer bullets. I’ll have to dig around to find them but will send them to you if I can find them. I do remember though,that my best results for 32 Remington and 32 Winchester special were with hornady 32 caliber ftx bullets. However, I think those will be hard to find today. But I’ll try to check on my loads.
Thanks for your time
Roger

[9.3shooter]

I think I saw some of the FTX bullets the other day somewhere, they would be a good thing to try. I used the Speers here initially because they are semi pointed and the others I have are Hornady RN and I use those in my Win 94 Canadian Railroad Cenn. rifle where the RN is needed.

Its one of the beauty's of the Rem 8 magazine, can use any bullet you like.

Thanks!

[Roger]

Sir, I looked at some of my deer loads and some of my rifles have liked the Speer 170s over 31.5 grs. Of 3031. But some also liked 33 grs. The ftx Hornady loads were with Leverevolution powder,not 3031.My Speer manual says that 33 is near the maximum. Proceed with caution. I’ve always used the 32 Winchester Special data for the 32 Remington reloads and had fine success.
I hope this is helpful for you.
Roger

[9.3shooter]

I looked at several manuals, both old and newer and the highest charge I saw for the 170 Speer with 3031 was 34 grs and I only went to 30gr.

Best load accuracy wise was 28 and 29 grs. As I have no hunt plans for this rifle, I have no need to push it. I started at 26 grs and that ran the rifle just fine.

I will look for some of those FTX bullets. Have not yet tried Leverevolution powder, saw some at the LGS the other day.

Thanks!!

[9.3shooter]

Took the range again today, this time loads using IMR 4895, same Speer bullet. Also now wears a Lyman tang sight with the folding inner peep, works great.
Loads at 50 yds varied from an inch to maybe 1.5". This is a sweet shooter!

[Roger]

Sir, I’m glad you are doing well and having fun with your rifle. I too have had great success with 32 Remington. I’ve never understood why people don’t like this caliber, and its cohort,32 Winchester special.
Thanks for your time
Roger

[9.3shooter]

It took me a long time to warm to the .32 cal, (except for 8mm ) and before this rifle I had a Remington 141 pump gun in this cal and also still have a Winchester 94 Canadian Railroad Comm. rifle in .32 Win Special that I like.