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Gew98
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Remington No2 in 32/20
Nov 23rd, 2025 at 11:37am
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Recently one of my good buddies came buy for a twice a year little shoot at my place. He brought a gaggle of 32/20's rifles etc. He's in his 70's and is parting with some items. Anyhow he had a Rem No2 Rolling block in 32/20 with a scope. My Son fell in love with it and he haggled him on it and bought it. We took it to a local gunsmith whom does amazing work for us over the years. He is going to rust blue the barrel and a real caseharden finish to the receiver - it will be beuatiful when he is done !.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #1 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 11:38am
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This is the kind of stellar work My smithy does. I lost most of my guns in a fire 10 years ago. He salvaged many of them - like a phoenix from the ashes.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #2 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 12:02pm
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That's a sweet little #2.
  
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bobw
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #3 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 12:05pm
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Nice #2 and your gunsmith looks to do very nice work.
Bob
  

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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #4 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 12:12pm
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He does amazing work. The Marlin Guide gun and the Marlin 94 were completely burnt. He straightens the barrels . Then heat treats receivers and such parts in a kiln he specially built for such work. He adds ground rawhide after a certain time of 1300 degree temp soak and you can watch it burn then liquify and literally enter the metal !. He has different methods on how to make it flow to or from areas he desires. Just amazing abilities and knowledge. I had a couple olf GI 1911 pistols he reheat treated  - both pre 1919 so they were never heat treated ( basically soft as colt made them ). His treatment put them on par with the 1911A1 heat treating strength.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #5 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 12:23pm
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Jimmy , Yes it is sweet. The bore is superb on it. It was not modified from 32 rimfire either. My son just had to have it . He will have a good chunk of cash in it when it's redone , but he will never let it go. I already loaded him 100 rds of 32/20. I also have a smith revolver in 32/20 I got from my same friend. It's about flat new.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #6 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 2:56pm
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Here's my 32-20 revolver to go with my rifles. It's a 3rd Model Hand Ejector Target with its vintage Roper grips. All the pieces inside are polished like diamonds. Smooth as silk to operate. Something like 110 years old now. If I only load one cartridge would it be a single shot?
  
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830singleshot
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #7 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 4:09pm
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Holy cow, what a wonderful S&W.  Fantastic shooters grade with Ropers to boot
  

J. Scott McCash&&New Braunfels, TX&&830-237-2376&&jsmccash@yahoo.com
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marlinguy
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #8 - Nov 23rd, 2025 at 5:23pm
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I love the .32-20 Hand Ejector S&W pistols, and that one is very special with the Patridge front sight and adjustable rear. Mine is a fixed sight version more common than your target version.
  

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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #9 - Nov 24th, 2025 at 4:46am
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That rifle is a beauty!  I have a bunch of #2 rifles in many chamberings including a couple 32-20s. My aging eyes tell me to put a scope on one, but I've not wanted to drill and tap for one. But if I came accross one like that, I'd be all over it!   

  
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Sure shot
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #10 - Nov 24th, 2025 at 7:00am
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Your son's rifle is fine as is,  I wouldn't refinish it. I only like to re-do parts guns or basket cases. However, it's his rifle to do with as he pleases. I will say that your gunsmith does beautiful work.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #11 - Nov 24th, 2025 at 8:22am
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I have that same revolver. Mine is in very good condition but doesn't shoot as well as I would like it to. Guess I need to spend a little time working us different loads. Fun to shoot though...


JMH
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #12 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 11:44am
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Well , here is the beautiful result of my smithy's work !. My son absolutely adores it !. He sighted it in with 4 gns unique over a 115 gn bullet. Got quarter sized groups at 30 yds. At 100yds[he was a beer can murderer !.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #13 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 11:45am
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Beautiful case hardening .
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #14 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 11:46am
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Even the buttplate !.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #15 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 11:54am
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My buddy gave my son a near new set of RCBS dies dated '89 with it too. Problem I encountered trying to reload 32/20's is the dies will not set shoulder back like unfired factory cartridges and hence when chambered in the No2 when you go to shoot hammer binds on breech bloack because it's not all the way forward. Tried a little leather mallet and two taps and she shoots fine and extracts fine. I colored two cases with a sharpie and it is the shoulder on the brass causing this issue. So I ordered a set of Lee dies to see if this rectifies it. I have had problems in the past with RCBS dies in 7,65 argentine and 6,5 Carcano where they would not set shoulder back properly and caused hard chambering. I got Lee dies and problem was solved. Though I did send RCBS dies back and they said they were in spec - I got rid of them. I had multiple rifles back then in each caliber so it was a die issue and not a one off tight chamber in a single rifle in each caliber. As much as I like RCBS they seem to have made the most mistakes on dies. Had a buddy with a new 8mm mauser RCBS die set that was so bad off it was useless. Sent it back and they sent another set - 8mm-06 , sent it back too until they got their head out of their backside.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #16 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 12:07pm
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I one the other hand, have never had other than exemplary service from RCBS. Always the dies were just fine, but I needed parts that I'd lost, wrecked or wanted something like a different  expander size or seater shape. Most of the time the parts were send quickly and very often at no charge. 
I have dies from other companies that are very good too, but in the main my die shelf looks pretty darn green. 
I just thought I'd rebut the earlier post. Sorry you had any trouble at all.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #17 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 1:00pm
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I'm a great fan of RCBS....but sometimes they have dropped the ball with me in my almost 45 years of reloading.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #18 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 6:18pm
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Wow - that is awesome! I have thirteen #2 rifles, but none look that nice.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #19 - Dec 27th, 2025 at 10:55pm
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THIRTEEN of these neat little buggers !. What calibers are they in and do you shoot them all ?.
  
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ndnchf
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #20 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 4:13am
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Gew98 wrote on Dec 27th, 2025 at 10:55pm:
THIRTEEN of these neat little buggers !. What calibers are they in and do you shoot them all ?.


They span the range from .22 to .44. Off the top of my head there are .22 rimfires, .25 stevens, .25-20SS, .25-25 Stevens, a few .32 XL rimfires, and one converted to centerfire (.32 Ballard XL), a couple .38 rimfires, .38 smoothbore, .44 rimfire (converted to centerfire). I've shot them all except one .38 that has a real weak mainspring.  The earliest is SN 183 which is a Gem rifle. Gem is the original name before they changed to #2. It was only used for a couple months.

If you've not seen my overview of the #2 video. Check it out here:   
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marlinguy
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #21 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 10:43am
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You might want to have a gunsmith or machinist cut a small amount off the base of your .32-20 sizing die if the shoulder doesn't set back enough. That will give the die a but more adjustment to lower the shoulder. I've had this issue once or twice with some die sets and it fixes the problem.

The .32-20 is one of my favorite cartridges. I have two revolvers in it, and three rifles. An original #2 Rolling Block, a Hepburn, and a full size #1 Rolling Block rifle. I've played with some long range shooting in my rifles, and found the .32-20 hits the 18" steel at 500 yds. pretty regularly.
  

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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #22 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 10:52am
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marlinguy wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 10:43am:
You might want to have a gunsmith or machinist cut a small amount off the base of your .32-20 sizing die if the shoulder doesn't set back enough. That will give the die a but more adjustment to lower the shoulder. I've had this issue once or twice with some die sets and it fixes the problem.

The .32-20 is one of my favorite cartridges. I have two revolvers in it, and three rifles. An original #2 Rolling Block, a Hepburn, and a full size #1 Rolling Block rifle. I've played with some long range shooting in my rifles, and found the .32-20 hits the 18" steel at 500 yds. pretty regularly.

It's likely not worth grinding the die down , literally cheaper to get the Lee set and go from there. I'll save the RCBS bits off it and toss die in the junk box. Been doing that for ages when dies dont meet expectations or I wind up with used damaged dies etc.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #23 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 10:54am
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ndnchf wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 4:13am:
Gew98 wrote on Dec 27th, 2025 at 10:55pm:
THIRTEEN of these neat little buggers !. What calibers are they in and do you shoot them all ?.


They span the range from .22 to .44. Off the top of my head there are .22 rimfires, .25 stevens, .25-20SS, .25-25 Stevens, a few .32 XL rimfires, and one converted to centerfire (.32 Ballard XL), a couple .38 rimfires, .38 smoothbore, .44 rimfire (converted to centerfire). I've shot them all except one .38 that has a real weak mainspring.  The earliest is SN 183 which is a Gem rifle. Gem is the original name before they changed to #2. It was only used for a couple months.

If you've not seen my overview of the #2 video. Check it out here:  
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That's a beautiful line up and to see so many different barrel lengths too !.  I did note on the No2 my son has it has the remington address and patent info on the left side of the receiver. Does that place it in a certain time frame of manufacture ?.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #24 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 11:00am
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This is a pic of the patent info on L/S of receiver.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #25 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 1:49pm
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Gew98 wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 11:00am:
This is a pic of the patent info on L/S of receiver.


That is the most common patent markings. Your rifle is post 1888.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #26 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 2:49pm
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ndnchf wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 1:49pm:
Gew98 wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 11:00am:
This is a pic of the patent info on L/S of receiver.


That is the most common patent markings. Your rifle is post 1888.

Awesome information. Oddly I have found no serial number anywhere on it. I assume it's hit or miss with serials back then ?.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #27 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 2:51pm
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ndnchf wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 1:49pm:
Gew98 wrote on Dec 28th, 2025 at 11:00am:
This is a pic of the patent info on L/S of receiver.


That is the most common patent markings. Your rifle is post 1888.

PS , I did watch your vid on a link you posted a bit ago, was excellent !.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #28 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 8:11pm
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The serial number should be at the rear of the trigger plate like this. Maybe it was polished off?
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #29 - Dec 28th, 2025 at 9:00pm
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I looked there and you are correct - looks like 34524. It was rusty before the smithy refinished it and it's there clear as a bell hadI checked again.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #30 - Jan 3rd, 2026 at 11:36am
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Who is the gunsmith?
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #31 - Jan 3rd, 2026 at 5:12pm
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It’s a secret…..👀



Tom Klinger
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #32 - yesterday at 7:56am
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What type of scope is on the No.2 RRB?
  

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marlinguy
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #33 - yesterday at 10:51am
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stevenjay1 wrote yesterday at 7:56am:
What type of scope is on the No.2 RRB?


Looks like a Hi Lux Malcolm to me. They always put the stop ring on the wrong side of the front mount at Hi Lux. You'd think they'd know which side it goes on by now.
  

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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #34 - yesterday at 10:56am
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Babydriver wrote on Jan 3rd, 2026 at 11:36am:
Who is the gunsmith?

JB's gunshop in shepherdsville KY. He only does walk in customers. He can get very busy , but he is very good at what he does. His eyes are still good enough to do custom stocks of exquisite wood he has squirreled away but checkering is too much for him anymore.
  
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Gew98
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #35 - yesterday at 10:59am
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stevenjay1 wrote yesterday at 7:56am:
What type of scope is on the No.2 RRB?

There are no maker marks on this modern era reproduction optic. But it holds zero nicely with 115 gn bullet and 4gns of unique.
  
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Re: Remington No2 in 32/20
Reply #36 - yesterday at 9:24pm
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Thanks for the reply’s in reference to the scope.
  

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