From left: Winchester 170-grain Silvertip, Winchester 170-grain Power Point and Hornady LeverEvolution 165-grain Flex-Tip. The Hornady round meets the strict overall-length standards for lever actions with tubular magazines.

There were myriad .32 caliber bullet molds available, and tens of thousands of them already in use, so it made sense for Winchester to appeal to those people by offering the benefits of factory-loaded smokeless ammo combined with the ability to reload using familiar components--none of which applied to the .30-30, .30 calibers generally or smokeless powder.

From the outset, the .30-30 and .32 Special were ballistically very close. Both fired a bullet of about 170 grains. The .32 could achieve its velocity with slightly less pressure, and it is possible to load it to velocities about 100 fps higher without exceeding pressure limits.

Early Winchester ballistics tables gave a velocity advantage to the .32, with an energy edge out to every practical range. A 1938 table shows the .30-30 firing a 165-grain at 2,200 fps from a 26-inch barrel; the .32 WS fired a 165-grain bullet at 2,260 fps.

For years the real and imagined differences between the two cartridges were debated around the woodstove. Some said the .32 sold more in regions where there were black bears as well as deer, others that it made a better moose cartridge. Lovers of the .32 Special defended it; denigrators sneered and insisted there was no practical ballistic difference.

What is unarguable is the fact that while the .32 WS may be no better a cartridge than the .30-30, it is absolutely no worse--that is, until Hornady introduced its LeverEvolution ammunition in 2005. Suddenly, the .30-30 was miles ahead of its younger, bigger brother.

When this new ammo made its debut, a few lonely voices asked about the .32 Special and were rewarded with uncomprehending stares. The .32 Special was dismissed along with such seriously outdated lever cartridges as the .32-40, .25-35 and .38-55. After all, they asked, how many were ever made?

Well, no one knows exactly how many .32 Specials were made, but we do know for sure that it was a lot. Consider that it was introduced in 1902 and continued as a production chambering until 1973. During that period, Winchester produced 3.5 million ‘94s. Even if only 20 percent of those were .32 Specials, that is a huge number of rifles.

Marlin Firearms chambered the Model 1893 and its successor, the Model 336, in .32 Special until the mid-1960s.

It’s not inconceivable that a million .32 Specials have been made. Even if you cut that in half, and then assume only half of those are still in use, it still constitutes a market of 250,000 rifles--a huge number by today’s production standards.

When Hornady introduced the LeverEvolution line, it had certain expectations about sales, expectations that were quickly changed by, of all things, the .35 Remington.

“We just can’t keep up with demand for LeverEvolution .35 Remington,” Hornady’s Steve Johnson told me. “And that took us completely by surprise.”

When you consider that the Marlin 336 is the only lever gun that has ever been chambered for .35 Remington, such demand suggests that a similar load in .32 Special could do very well indeed.

There are two pertinent, seemingly contradictory facts about .32 Special rifles. First, not many show up on used-gun racks; second, when they do, they are priced lower than a comparable, “more desirable” .30-30. What this suggests to me is that owners of .32 Specials like ‘em, use ‘em and intend to keep on doing so; so-called desirability is irrelevant.