.32-40 Ballard

The .32-40 Ballard / 8.1x54mmR, also known as .32-40 Winchester is an American rifle cartridge.

Description
Introduced in 1884, the .32-40 Winchester was developed as a black powder match-grade round for the Ballard single-shot Union Hill Nos. 8 and 9 target rifles. Using a 165 gr bullet and 40 gr of black powder (muzzle velocity 1440 ft/s, muzzle energy 760 ftlbf), the factory load gained a reputation for fine accuracy, with a midrange trajectory of 11 in at 200 yard. It was available in Winchester and Marlin lever-action rifles beginning in 1886. Both the .32–40 Winchester and the .38-55 Winchester were chambered for the Model 1894 Winchester when it was introduced to the public in 1894. It stopped being a factory chambering around 1940.

It can be used for varmint and predator hunting, including coyotes and wolves. H. V. Stent has said that for a time the .32-40 Winchester and .38-55 Winchester were considered by some hunters to be usable for moose and elk at woods ranges, but sales of the Model 1894 in .30-30 Winchester (.30 WCF), a cartridge introduced a year later, soon outpaced the two because of its higher speed, higher energy, and flatter trajectory.

More recently, the .32-40 Winchester in a Model 1894 built in 1905 was successfully used by John Royer, from Pennsylvania, to show that it can still be used on whitetail deer at close range. He wanted to keep the shot within 75 yard. The range at which the .32-40 Winchester is suitable for deer is a matter of debate. Its common muzzle energy of less than 800 ftlbf is equal only to current 150 gr and 170 gr grain flat nose or round nose loadings of the .30-30 Winchester (in a 20 in barrel) at about 200 yard, which is often considered to be the maximum range of the .30-30 Winchester. However, it has been said that in a modern rifle it can be loaded to equal the .30-30 Winchester up to 300 yard.

In 2020, a Model 1894 Winchester rifle made in 1912 chambered in .32-40 Winchester was used by David J. LaPell in the Adirondack Mountains of New York to shoot a whitetail buck at the distance of approximately 60 yards. The bullet was a handloaded 170 grain Hornady Jacketed soft point.

The .32-40 Winchester also served as the basis for Harry Pope's Wildcat cartridge called the .33-40 Pope.