I just turned over to my gunsmith, a Ruger Number 1 in 3006. It has a bulge? say large spot in it's barrel. I told him I wanted a 38-55, but he talked me into the 32-40. 

What size bore should the 32-40 have for cast, and what kind of throat?  My smith also makes his own barrels, some guy, most of you would like to meet.

I assume cases are still out there, or do I have to make my own? 

I collect moulds and out of my 300 I think I can come up with several for the 32-40.  Thanks for helping a newbie.

jvm,

  Bore dimensions for the .32/40 are pretty well standardized these days. I can't help you with exact dimensions since all of that caliber I own are originals and they can vary quite a bit.

  In any event bullets should be sized .001" to .0015" over groove dimension.

  If your smith is going to make the barrel for you then for cast bullets you will want it made with narrow lands. At least two groove widths for one land. Some of the old time gunsmiths went with even narrower lands than this.

  Throating will depend on if you plan on shooting just fixed ammo or will be getting into breech seating. For cast bullets in fixed ammo I like about a 1 degree throat.

   For breech seating I like the throat set up to fit the bullet I'll be using in such a way that I can breech seat with just a hand tool. But, be warned that if your gun is set up this way that fixed ammo doesn't work all that well since you will probably not be able to seat the bullet tight into the lands. Something most cast bullets seem to prefer for best accuracy.

  What most people who have originals and don't want to change them is to go to a mechanical seater for breech seating. This type seater would work well with the 1 degree throat.

  I will assume you will want to be using a 200 gr. bullet.... kind of the standard wgt. for Schuetzen shooting anymore. Twist rate for this should be 1-14".

  Not knowing your gunsmith you should be sure he is aware that new .32/40 cases will be shorter than those of several years ago, so he will have to chamber according to what length cases you have. New cases are available, but it's kind of spotty. You might try Midway, or one of the other big suppliers. .38/55 cases seem to be more prevalent at the gun shows around here, and in a pinch you can easily make .32/40's out of them by running them thru a FL die.

PETE