Need help developing .32 S&W Long load

[MatCat]

I'm happy to hear that you have learned something about your powder choice.

It would appear that 231 is very position sensitive even in a very small case.

Top powders for .32 SWL are Bullseye,Red Dot,Green Dot and Unique.

Bullseye has no issues with position even with loads of less than 2 grains.

OAL is important as well as a firm crimp even with plated. You should tighten the crimp until you only see half of the case mouth. This will form an annular ring around the bullet and will not damage the plating.

OAL should run 1.250"-1.300"

As far as seeing pressure signs this is never going to happen unless you overcharge a case. Pressure is in the 9,000 psi range for the long.

Speer #14 lists 700-X loads of 1.5-1.7 grains with a 98 grain HBWC.

Try the Missouri 100 grain flat point or a wadcutter cast or swagged. The Missouri bullet has a shoulder to crimp into and WC bullets can be seated flush with the case mouth. Much better choice than the plated for this caliber. I know broken record.

irh

The 231 might not be that great for the .32 but it is working fantastic for .45 ACP for me .

[MatCat]

Fantastic news, I found a work around for this powder / bullet combo... a wad! I was doing some researching around and I found some people using toilet paper as a wad, so I gave it a try, I loaded 3 different loads, one at 2.3 grain which originally I thought was too weak, I tested it by firing straight down into the same piece of wood pictured above, even though the bullet had the same exact powder charge as the one sticking out of the wood initially the bullet went a good 3 inches into the wood! The subsequent tests where at 2.4 grains and both did just as well, and all reliably while aiming straight down. The toilet paper wad seems to burn up in the process and I don't notice any extra dirtyness from it.

[hambam105]

MatCat:

What part of Califonia do you live? I have some reloading manuals from the 40's and 50's. I'll look and see if I can find some real loadings for you.

And I think the erratic problems you experienced were due to crimp. It is impossible to get a real crimp on a plated bullet. It is how the bullet is made, nothing to do with powder charge or die adjustment.

Good work finding the wad. In the olden days of Annie Oakley with live indoor on stage shooting guns show, a reloading trick they used back then was to use a wad of some sort to facilitate powder burn rate.

[MatCat]

MatCat:

What part of Califonia do you live? I have some reloading manuals from the 40's and 50's. I'll look and see if I can find some real loadings for you.

And I think the erratic problems you experienced were due to crimp. It is impossible to get a real crimp on a plated bullet. It is how the bullet is made, nothing to do with powder charge or die adjustment.

Good work finding the wad. In the olden days of Annie Oakley with live indoor on stage shooting guns show, a reloading trick they used back then was to use a wad of some sort to facilitate powder burn rate.

I am WAY up in the boonies, I live about 20 minutes east of Willow Creek in Trinity County.

I am using the factory crimp die, it does eat into the plating a little, probably not ideal for accuracy but I knows its necessary, trust me next round of bullets for this caliber will be cast with crimp groove :P.

[hambam105]

I have two way old reloading manuals tucked-away...someplace. When I find one of them I'll copy the pages that relate to your caliber.

Oregon Trail Bullets isn't too far from you. Their bullets are expensive. But they do a good job providing the correct bullet for old time clunkers.

[divingin]

I would suggest that you get some HB wadcutters or at least some cast bullets.

Keep a brass rod handy in case you do stick a bullet. It can and does happen when you least expect it.

HBWC's in 32 are pretty hard to come by these days. I've gone to 98gr BBWC.

A brass rod is handy to have in any case, so if you have a shooting bag or box, you should carry one anyway. Works for beating out a stuck bullet or case, or getting a roll pin back in position. If you end up not needing it, often someone else will.

My load for my Pardini is 1.2gr of 452AA (which isn't made anymore; it was a tad slower than Bullseye, but faster than Unique. A tad faster than 231 as well, as I recall.) Loading bevel base wadcutters, I put the nose of the button just proud of the case mouth (any further out and I get magazine jam problems.)

Be aware that because of the small case size, small variations in powder, seating depth, and even case volume can have a pretty major effect on performance. Be careful, and pay attention to what you're doing.

Oh, and don't expect this cartridge to act like a 38, as it likely won't.

jky

[MatCat]

HBWC's in 32 are pretty hard to come by these days. I've gone to 98gr BBWC.

A brass rod is handy to have in any case, so if you have a shooting bag or box, you should carry one anyway. Works for beating out a stuck bullet or case, or getting a roll pin back in position. If you end up not needing it, often someone else will.

I do infact carry a range bag with me containing many various useful things including rods. Not gonna lie in experimenting with this load I squibbed a few, BUT I am happy to say that I think I got it reliable now. Last night I made up about 30 rounds with the toilet paper wad, all of them shot great, no squib, no weak shots, even shot fairly accurate, got a 3" group at 10 yards .

[MatCat]

I now have Missouri Bullet Company #18 78 grain LRN's, found a good load with 2.65 grains of W231, still need to use TP wad for position sensitivity but it's a good load . Eventually I will get some unique or bullseye, no one locally has either or even has it available for ordering.

A little reloading timelapse I made today while loading some up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxx0HtgN4zQ

[at_liberty]

Bullet is Rainier LeadSafe 100 grain plated flat nose https://www.midwayusa.com/product/76...-bulk-packaged

Powder will be W231, and CCI SP Primer. This will be my first venture into reloading (I also got .45 ACP dies and stuff to load that as well), what I am unsure of is for this bullet how far should I seat it, and how much of the powder to start with? Will be shooting from an H&R Auto Eject (rated for smokeless), just looking for something fairly accurate to plink with.

The Lee manual shows w231 or HP38 as a powder choice for almost all of 10 bullets listed. 98 grain is the closest weight to your 100. The max COL for this cartridge is 1.280 according to the illustration, which indeed features a flat nose bullet.

The powder range for "98 Grain lead bullet" is 2.3-2.4 gr, rated at 737 to 765 fps respectively. The cc is .21 and dipper # is .17. The minimum COL listed for this data is 1.230. There is no way to know what bullet profile this refers to, but I would guess that RN is the default, especially with these little fellas. Mine are RN.

I use the 78 gr lead and feel like 100 is "heavy for caliber". The 78 is superbly accurate from a S&W 30-1 using 2.8 gr Bullseye. I use 100 for 32 H&R Magnum.

The trick for me with this caliber was getting something that could accurately measure that small a charge and work with my turret press. I wound up ordering the mini-adjustable charge bar (not the Lee), which works really well.

[MatCat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABMzE54D4NI

A fun little video I did yesterday with my H&R, all shots where 78gr LRN with 2.6gr of W231.

Also a few of the bullets recovered from the spinner target, as well as a sheared .45 :P

[hambam105]

OP,

In the real olden reloading days, they used a 'scooper' for charging the cases. You might want to look into that.

Secondly, Lee makes a real inexpensive small bench mounted press, way less than 100 bucks. If you don't reload anything bigger than that beast you have now a small Press should last a long time.

Too many guys have seriously pinched a finger in that Press you show in the YT clip.

[MatCat]

OP,

In the real olden reloading days, they used a 'scooper' for charging the cases. You might want to look into that.

Secondly, Lee makes a real inexpensive small bench mounted press, way less than 100 bucks. If you don't reload anything bigger than that beast you have now a small Press should last a long time.

Too many guys have seriously pinched a finger in that Press you show in the YT clip.

Oh yeah I have pinched my finger a few times now hehe.

[hambam105]

A small Lee bench mounted Presses would do the trick.

[hambam105]

From the LYMAN Ideal Handbook No. 39, Page 80 and page 81 Copyright May, of 1953, by the Lyman Gun Sight Corporation, Middlefield, Conn.

.32 S. & W. Long Colt N. P.

98 grain
Cast Plain Base

Powder, Bullseye,
Max grs. 2.7
Max vel. 910

Powder, Unique
Max grs. 4.3
Max vel. 1010



100 Grain
Cast Plain Base

Powder, Bullseye
max. grs. 2.1
max. vel. 745


Powder, Unique
max. grs. 4.0
max. vel. 980


I cross referenced this info from Lyman Ammunition Reloading Hand Book 41st edition, and information looks consistent.

One of these days I get a scanner and figure out how to post images & pictures.

[at_liberty]

[U]<snip>
One of these days I get a scanner and figure out how to post images & pictures.

Windows 10 "Snipping Tool" allows you to capture any part of a screen image and save it as a JPEG (.jpg), compatible with FB and the like that allow posting images. You might need a Photobucket account as a public repository, when posting a link (here) rather than a copy of the image (Facebook).