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Making .32 S&W ammo -- a learning process


Nostrum Damus SASS #110702

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First, a big shout-out to Mudflat Mike who very generously gave me a handful of old brass in this scarcer-than-hen's-teeth caliber.  .32 S&W Long is fairly common; .32 S&W is very, very obsolete and nearly extinct, despite a huge number of pocket pistols out there chambered for it.  The reloading project was a learning curve.  For example, the RCBS die set is for both .32 S&W Long and .32 S&W, but as it comes in the box it is set up for only Long, don't ask me how I know.  In other die sets, sometimes you get two bullet seating plugs, one for round nose and another for flat point bullets, and that's what I thought I had gotten in this set (because, stupidly, I didn't actually look closely).  In fact, the second plug is the expanding plug for the shorter .32 S&W cartridge -- if you use the longer plug, it will (1) bottom out in the case and (2) fail to flare the case mouth because the expanding part of the plug never reaches the case mouth.  Live and learn.  Anyway, I got that all sorted out.  Then during Monday Night Football over deer chili and good red wine, my buddy says "I have an old box of .32 S&W upstairs, but there's only a few rounds and they are badly corroded -- do you want them?"  Oh boy, did I!  They were Winchester 88gr RN lead cartridges and, indeed, very heavily tarnished.  The photos show them in various states from just after I pulled the bullets to the finished product with new coated 78gr RNFP bullets made by SlipperyBullets.com nicely seated and lightly crimped in place over 1.3 gr of Red Dot, and new Winchester SPP of course.  Fun times.

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Very kewl!!

And indeed, nice work.

 

Glad I have about 30 boxes of REM-UMC and Winchester factory ammo sitting on my shelf.

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37 minutes ago, Gunner, SASS #1940 said:

Very kewl!!

And indeed, nice work.

 

Glad I have about 30 boxes of REM-UMC and Winchester factory ammo sitting on my shelf.

That stuff is like gold!! If you don't want the brass after you shoot it (sounds of laughter), you know where to send it to ....

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I rechambered my Marlin 1891 from 32 Colt to 32 S&W.  Grafs and sons listed 500 used 32 S&W Long cases on their website.  Went up and asked for them. Richard thought I was crazy but looked them up.  Sure enough,  they had them.  Bought a set of Lee dies and I was all set.

 

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Lee makes a set of dies for ..32 short.  They were hard to find, but contacting Lee directly helped me find a retailer.

 

I picked up an H&R hammerless pistol a while back.  I got everything to reload it, but Covid and then long Covid, have gotten in the way of my fun activities. 

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My smallest powder measure - the head of a .22 rimfire case, that measures out about 9/10ths of a grain of Bullseye for smokeless loads in those diminutive .32 S&W rounds.

 

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1 hour ago, TN Mongo, SASS #61450 said:

Lee makes a set of dies for ..32 short.  They were hard to find, but contacting Lee directly helped me find a retailer.

 

I picked up an H&R hammerless pistol a while back.  I got everything to reload it, but Covid and then long Covid, have gotten in the way of my fun activities. 

Well, so does RCBS -- I just needed to read the directions that came in the box that say "Hey -- Stupid -- yes, you -- swap out the expanding plug we put in the die for the one that's loose in the box if you are loading .32 S&W and not .32 S&W Long."   The smaller one is called short by some but it wasn't ever actually called that -- as opposed to the actually named .32 S&W Long cartridge.

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40 minutes ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

My smallest powder measure - the head of a .22 rimfire case, that measures out about 9/10ths of a grain of Bullseye for smokeless loads in those diminutive .32 S&W rounds.

 

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very cool.  My smallest dipper is still way too big to scoop out 1.3 grains of Red Dot and my powder measure won't consistently throw such a tiny charge with sufficient accuracy, so I lightly tap the half-full dipper into the pan sitting on the scale until it reads 1.1 or even 1.2 grains, then top up to 1.3 with the trickler.  Thankfully the side matches are not high-volume consumers of ammunition!

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I have the Lee 32 S&W short dies and like them. They even came with a dipper.

 

I use a Lee Breech-Lock hand press to reload them. Clamp it at a 45 degree angle in my Armors vice. Much easier than using my  turret press.

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Nice job! I just did the same thing this week. I have a US Revolver Co. 32 S&W pocket pistol with 74 rounds of Remington ammo. I didn't feel comfortable shooting it with smokeless powder so I wanted to load up some rounds with black powder. I ordered a set of new dies from a guy on eBay for under $50 shipped that arrived Monday. I pulled 24 rounds apart, resized them, and reloaded them with 5 grains of FFg black powder reusing the 88 grain lead tips. Two clubs that I shoot have a stage where you only shoot two rounds from a pocket pistol so I'm not concerned with relubing the bullets with BP lube. I look forward to shooting it next spring.

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I'm shooting my 53 rounds in an H&R Premier Second Model made in 1906.  The Second Model is safe for smokeless powder so I'm okay with using Red Dot.  Still, I'm using an extremely light charge under the light 78gr projectile.  I'm really looking forward to using it in side matches.

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30-35 years ago I picked up 200 rounds of .32 S&W at a country hardware store where my mom lived.  Used them for kids shooting Ruger SS .32 H&R Mags.  Have about 35 brass left that grandkids will use.

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3 minutes ago, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Has anyone tried trimming 32 acp down to short length? Only about .07 longer. Yes, I know they are rimless, but not realy, they have a small rim. I loaded a bunch with .32 S&W short data and used them in a S&W long pistol ( they also will still make my 1903 Colt run).

I have done the same thing and they work fine.  It is very important to label the ammo.  Bullett 19707

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When I first started shooting my early S&W Lemon Squeezer,   I used a Hybrid die set consisting of .32 Long die to resize, 32 ACP dies to flare and crimp.  I made a powder scoop out of a .22 Short case, cutting it down until I got the powder charge I was looking for.  I was lucky that I was able to buy a batch of brass from Starline, so I had plenty of cases to build my stock with.

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The .32 ACP is a semi-rimmed case.  I can shoot them in my Ruger .32s. The case length is close to a .32 S&W.

I do not have a .32 S&W revolver but wonder if it would seat.

The semi-rim may not extract well but it should be enough to seat.

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Howdy Pard

 

You have my sincere admiration for the willingness to reload those diminutive cartridges.

 

9mm and 38 S&W present hassle enough for my stubby fingers. Don’t even want to think about those wee 32’s.

 

Love dem big 44’s and 45’s … and 38-40 and 44-40.

 

Keep on the sunny side and

 

Adios

 

Fort Reno Kid

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Still uninformed and naive about reloading, SDB in .44 spcl/mag is my only experience, but could you take the long cases and trim them down. 
If it is a silly question my apologies. 

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18 minutes ago, Nimble Fingers SASS# 25439 said:

Still uninformed and naive about reloading, SDB in .44 spcl/mag is my only experience, but could you take the long cases and trim them down. 
If it is a silly question my apologies. 

Some do. Many like to use this saw from Harbor Freight.

https://www.harborfreight.com/2-in-mini-bench-top-cut-off-saw-62136.html

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4 hours ago, Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 said:

We're joking about reloading .22 Shorts next.  I love a challenge.  :D

I've loaded .25acp before. Still have the dies, brass, bullets, but I haven't shot my chrome plated, pink gripped Raven pimp gun in 20 years. 

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I have never bothered to load .25 Auto,  have a couple of full and a partial old box, and oddly enough, a new box my LGS had in stock last month. Herters $24 for 50 rounds.  No date on it, but newer than what I had.   I do sometimes load 32 S&W and 32 ACP.  I used to shoot the K 32 quite a bit.  Pleasant and accurate.

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Many years ago found 500 new cases. 

Bought the Dillon setup for my 550.

Had to shorten the crimp die because it was made for .32 Long. 

I load 1.5gn of Unique under an 85gn lead bullet. 

My Lemmon Squeezer love this load.

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1 hour ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Many years ago found 500 new cases. 

Bought the Dillon setup for my 550.

Had to shorten the crimp die because it was made for .32 Long. 

I load 1.5gn of Unique under an 85gn lead bullet. 

My Lemmon Squeezer love this load.

Wow, 500 cases is a lifetime supply of these little buggers.

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