.32 Long Colt from .32 S&W Brass

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Following a thread on castboolits, I tried this out and it works.

1) Run .32 S&W into a .323" die (trying to go too much at once can result in springback and takes more force, I'm just trying to learn from the mistakes of OTHERS lol)
2) Run it into a .314" die
3) Chuck it in a lathe (or a drill press) and turn off the resulting "belt". I used a steel mandrel for inside the case so it can be tightened without worry, should be a drill bit size that can work.
4) CHECK your chamber with a loaded dummy round, chamber lengths and specs vary from gun to gun. You may need to trim.
5) Size, load, shoot.

Can turn these into reloadable .32 RF as well if you prefer.

So far I have most of the first 100 cases done, it actually goes fast once you get into the groove.

 

[tokguy]

Impressive.
Making brass is a chore is it not?
Usually seems worth it with the butt of the pistol smacks into your hand though

 

[BrotherRockeye]

I had a lot of fun building obsolete ammo back in the day. It was all about making the old irons talk again. I think I enjoyed working on them and building ammo for them as much as shooting them.

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Thanks folks; ha YES it is time consuming. Definitely no business venture

As they say, it's more about the journey, than the destination. Good stress relief, and I agree it is fun to figure it out!

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Had it out today with these .32 Long Colts and it ran flawlessly. Enjoyable little rifle to shoot, and I get a kick out of the little .32s. Accuracy was acceptable given the sights and my eyesight; but that will be the next journey. It was frigid again today so I ran 30 of these Longs through it, my 5 year old was with me and he tried it out as well - and also persuaded me to give up early I didn't double check him and he didn't have a hat or gloves, so...

At any rate, it seems to be noticeably more accurate with the longs than the shorts, no surprise given that jump in the chamber using shorts.

Here she is on the range today...I have somne of the targets but they aren't anything to write home about. Not terrible but that will be the next journey on this rifle I guess:

 

[FLHTCUI]

Nothing like spending time with the little one.
Do you have a link handy to the cartridge build ?
Best Regards,
Rob

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

The Castboolits link to the detailed build? Yessir,

h ttp://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?327620-Update-on-forming-32-Long-Colt-brass

I see from your other thread that you came into a Marlin in .32 RF/Colt - been looking for one of those myself, should be fun (leaving aside the unfortunate circumstances).

Worth adding, Jethunter (jetbullets) has the heeled 90 grain pills.

If you get to loading I can give you some loads, but the standard load in the Longs is 2.0 grains of Bullseye. 2.0 grains of Trail Boss works well too, just to get started.

 

[FLHTCUI]

NCBB, Thank You for the kind words and the information.
The gun is actually my cousins and his search has not yielded much.
I'll have to talk him into pulling the screw out and separating the gun to see what he has.
I'm sure he will be interested in the information in the link and your recent experiences.
Thank You much for the information.
Rob

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

Just a note for anyone trying this out, apparently some chambers are longer than others so CHECK yours to make sure OAL is good and the bullet isnt getting crammed into the rifling.

My particular Favorite (1894] happens to like them as-is (cases are about .910") but yours may not so just keep that in mind. I'll update the first pos.