Ran a live .32 Rimfire pistol test, velocity, penetration & broke down a few rounds

Very interesting, thanks for posting!.

The velocities were slightly lower than I was expecting, but it is old ammo.

Still wouldn't want to be on the recieving end though.
 
Very well written article. I never knew that 32 rf had such low velocities. Did you happen to notice what condition the bore was in?
 
Ardent said:
Bores were very good, the 3 1/2" particularly good, doubt you'd find better on a .32RF. oldiron was the fellow kind enough to loan them. I was anticipating ~600fps, I think the test was indicative of that for the good examples. Tons of fun those little old guns.
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They are a hoot eh!. I see you use to own a F&W DA No. 32. They are nice guns, what possessed you to part with it?. I love mine.
 
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Tyockell18 said:
They are a hoot eh!. I see you use to own a F&W DA No. 32. They are nice guns, what possessed you to part with it?. I love mine.

[youtube]vYC5FJ8WynQ[/youtube]
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Neat video, nice seeing them in operation, nice little box of cartridges there.

Mine was just a little too hard to work with for my liking, if I started doing the Hilti cap/.32 Colt case deal and a round ball I'd likely shop for a little 'Smith 1 1/2 after this.
 
Ardent said:
Neat video, nice seeing them in operation, nice little box of cartridges there.

Mine was just a little too hard to work with for my liking, if I started doing the Hilti cap/.32 Colt case deal and a round ball I'd likely shop for a little 'Smith 1 1/2 after this.
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I have yet to do the hilti method, just got the .22 acorn reload kit, but its on the to do list.

I have always wanted a smith 1 1/2, just havent got around to it, they look like fun and a nice piece of history. Your lucky to get to play with those two.

Thanks for doing the article once again, very interesting ballistics info I always wondered about since I don't have a chrony.


starpuss said:
I Want that Gun Back! Come on man!!! Make me a Trade! i know you want that 1892 i got forsale!!!
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I just can't bring myself to part with it man. You will be first to know if it ever happens though.
 
In the old days, Indians would reload for their Henry rimfire rifles when the whites forbid stores to sell ammo to them... and we know that because after certain battles between both sides, ammo casings would be found with multiple firing pin indentations on the rimfire casings (left behind by the Indians), indicating repeated use/reloading.

What they would basically do is use a nail's head to punch out the old firing pin indentation from the inside of the casing and then fill the bottom of the casing with a new primer (sulfur compound dissolved in water and dried or something like that - one could use the tip of a "strike-anywhere" match for that same purpose today). Once that was set, they'd fill the casing with BP and put a new lead bullet on top to complete the process. Simple as that... and you have a "brand new" rimfire round!

I wonder what would happen if one were to 'reload' these old .32RF casings with fresh primers/BP and measure their FPS. That would be the best way to measure how those rounds truly performed in the old days and if they were indeed effective (my money says yes - otherwise they wouldn't have made them at all). Anywho, I bet the FPS would be MUCH better than they are with the 100+ year old stuff...

:cool:
 
762mm said:
In the old days, Indians would reload for their Henry rimfire rifles when the whites forbid stores to sell ammo to them... and we know that because after certain battles between both sides, ammo casings would be found with multiple firing pin indentations on the rimfire casings (left behind by the Indians), indicating repeated use/reloading.

What they would basically do is use a nail's head to punch out the old firing pin indentation from the inside of the casing and then fill the bottom of the casing with a new primer (sulfur compound dissolved in water and dried or something like that - one could use the tip of a "strike-anywhere" match for that same purpose today). Once that was set, they'd fill the casing with BP and put a new lead bullet on top to complete the process. Simple as that... and you have a "brand new" rimfire round!

:cool:
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I actually did just this for an experiment several months back with a .32RF short case, it worked, using a half moon nail head and plyers made it easy as the case is so short, wasn't an issue getting in there.

I used a fairly rough condition gun for the test as the priming red phosphorus is corrosive as hell. The first strike didn't set it off, second in a different spot did though.

I made a wet paste with it and let it settle in the bottom to dry and then used a straw to cut out the excess just leaving it in the rim.

Time consuming but totally do-able, especially with round ball.
 
Tyockell18 said:
I actually did just this for an experiment several months back with a .32RF short case, it worked, using a half moon nail head and plyers made it easy as the case is so short, wasn't an issue getting in there.

I used a fairly rough condition gun for the test as the priming red phosphorus is corrosive as hell. The first strike didn't set it off, second in a different spot did though.

I made a wet paste with it and let it settle in the bottom to dry and then used a straw to cut out the excess just leaving it in the rim.

Time consuming but totally do-able, especially with round ball.
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Interesting experiment, I think I read you'd tried this, unless I'm getting crossed wires in the brain and it was somewhere else someone posted about it.
 
Ardent said:
On a side note I contacted CBC/Magtech, they no longer manufacture .32 Rimfire at all in Brazil. Shame, I suppose it's officially dead, it was the source for some of the US supply runs as I understand it.
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Yeah, first they were saying, "eventually" but now no more I guess :(.

I have 150 rounds of it kicking around thankfully. Glad I was able to get my hands on it.

Most of the Dominion "CIL" smokeless loaded I have is all sure fire, fairly potent as well. Likely 60-70's era mfg'd stuff.

Time must have been crule to your ammo considering the drastic fps ranges.
 
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Ardent said:
You'll need to run some of that over a chronograph, would be neat to know what it's managing from the F&W.
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Yeah your right, I just have to find a chrony somewhere, or just stop being a cheap ass and buy one eh haha...

I have several .32RF's one with only a little snubby barrel, so it'd be interesting to see the velocity differences.

I'll see what I can do.
 
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