I am interested in an article that Brian Pearce may have written regarding the .32 S&W Long and a separate article for the .32 H&R Magnum. I already have the combination article on loading the .32 H&R and the .327 Federal.
Also, a copy of the Ken Waters' articles on both the .32 S&W Long and the .32 H&R Magnum would be of interest.
Thanks in advance'
Dale53
As for Ken Waters, his book, "Pet Loads Complete Volume" will be of interest to you. In it there are two articles on the .32 S&W and one on the .32 H&R Magnum. Over 1,150 pages of good stuff in all!
Ithaca Gunner;
I have Ken Waters two volume set and nothing on the .32 H&R. But-t-t, due to your suggestion, I dug out the BIG volume and THERE it is. A very useful article on the .32 H&R as well as the .32 S&W Long.
Thank you, kind sir!
Unfortunately, I still have no information on the solid based wadcutter (I have a mold ordered from Mihec for a FINE lookin' double ended wadcutter) as well as an NOE mold for the RCBS 98 gr SWC.). So, if anyone out there has a copy of anything that pertains or can direct me to a source, I would appreciate it. I do have a number of loading manuals and a few have information on hollow based wadcutters. At least, that's a place to start.
Please understand, I have a SERIOUS long running contest with the Green Frog on coming up with a DEFINITIVE load for our various .32's. Big money is involved with the loser having to buy a LARGE chocolate malt for the winner. You can understand just how serious this is!!And-d-d, to show you what a good sport I am, I promise to share anything that I have learned with not only the Green Frog but everyone else (just as soon as I sample that malt, of course
)...
Thanking in advance for any help forthcoming!
Dale53
Having just gotten a M31 to go with the M30 I will be watching close.
Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.
Dale53,
If you and GreenFrog are willing to try bullets other than wadcutters, I would be pleased to send you an assortment of my 114D, 125D and 134D bullets if you care to experiment with them. I would need to fire up the pot, but that would be good, because then you would have samples of the three bullets from the same heat of metal. I would send these naked as-cast, so that you can measure, size and prep as you like. I would be interested in your results.
My objective, of course, is quite different than yours, as I am seeking the most accurate rook rifle load for use at 50 to 100 yards, which shoots well enough and close enough to the fixed sights of my revolver to have useful field utility. My most accurate revolver loads didn't always carry-up beyond 50 yards in the rifle, and I am trying to use the .32 rifle as a substitute for a .22 LR, but having performance closer to a .32-20, so nothing worse than 2 inches at 50 yards from the rifle with iron sights is acceptable and 2" at 100 yards with scope on the rifle is desired. I can't do that all the time, but am tempted often enough so as not to be discouraged.
Attachment 154178
Last edited by Outpost75; 11-25-2015 at 12:01 PM.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Dale, if you're looking for info about WC loads in .32 S&W Long, the article you want is in the Ninth edition of Handloader's Digest. This one dates to 1981, so you are forgiven if it's not in your library.
DuaneH;
I have most of the early Handloader's Digests but can't seem to find that one. If it would be possible to copy that article and send by attachment through email to me at:
rmcgee733 at gmail dot com
I would truly appreciate it.
Dale53
Outpost75;
I really appreciate the offer and I will consider at a later date. Right now, I plan to concentrate on my current and coming molds and hope to have satisfactory loads in a few weeks. I will then practice on the indoor range until the weather breaks (and on those occasional nice days in winter in the great outdoors). I plan to be READY by spring.
Before I lost the vision in my right eye, I had procured a TC Carbine in .32 H&R and just started to work with it. The work was proceeding nicely and then... At any rate, even tho' I have sent my little carbine down the path, I am still always interested in the modern "Rook Rifle" for small game. I consider the pursuit of small game with a made for the job centerfire rifle and handgun to be one of life's nobler pursuits...
My previous favorite for that sort of thing was my Marlin (modern) 25/20. Using the Lyman 225420 gas check bullet (linotype) I had excellent results and settled on three loads:
1 - Edible small game - 4.0 grs. of Unique
2- General purpose load - 11.0 grs. of RL 7
3- High Speed Load - 14.0 grs. (compressed load) of RL-7.
These loads would stay in the 10 ring of a small bore target at 50 yards (not many "x's" but tens all day). It was a MOST useful rifle for the woods loafer...
At any rate, concerning the .32's, The Green Frog had better LOOK OUT! I'm gonna be READY!
Dale53
I was going to quote feisty Ned Pepper (Robert Duval) from the biggest gunfight scene in True Grit; something about "Mighty big talk..." but you are my friend, so I'll restrain myself!
As I look at my physical condition, it dawns on me I don't have a whole lot to brag about!
Anyway, it looks like the NOE mould for a 32 HBWC should get here before Christmas if I'm lucky, so I guess I'll have to fire up my pot and get busy as well. Of course I don't have any Panama Red to lube them with, but I may resort to mixing up a batch of my old fashioned super secret Frog Guano to lube them... boy will you be in trouble then!Don't forget, I'll be shooting both Project 616 AND the Blackhawk 8 Shooter with scope. I may raise the stakes to a DOUBLE malted with whipped cream and a cherry!
Regards,
Froggie
PS Shall I limit myself to the 32 H&R wannabe Mag, or do I get to go whole hog with the 327 FM?
"It aint easy being green!"
Sr. Rana Perezi,
Attachment 154272
IMHO the .32 H&R has the correct capacity to approximate .32-20 ballistics in rifle or revolver, which comprise the ideal small game rifle. The .327 Federal is an attempt to turn the .32 into a rimmed 7.62x25 or a .357 Magnum which shrunk in the washing machine, which I feel defeats the original purpose.
If you REALLY want muzzle flash suitable for night photography, which singes the hair off your arms, makes your hand sting and your ears ring, while dazzling your eyes with spots before your eyes unless wearing welding goggles, then just get a .30 carbine Ruger, which scratches that itch for those so inclined.
The .32 H&R Magnum case is perfection for a modern revolver or rook rifle.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Complete agreement to all the above. I would be one happy camper with that PPS x 32 Colt NP in your photo.......didn't know the "Specials" came in 32 SWL/NP, I thought those were predominately 32/20 and 38 Special. Never say "never", and never say "always" when it comes to Colt or S&W nomenclature.Originally Posted by Outpost75
I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.
I guess I must be in the minority when I think my 32 should be a "go-to" gun for pretty much all handgun duties, being suitably stoked with appropriate loadings to accomplish whatever job is at hand. It may be my advancing deafness, but I don't find factory 327 FM loads (or their equivalents) to be THAT painful to the ear, and AFAIK, I've never lost any hair off of my knuckles firing one (although it may have been rubbed off as I dragged them??) Anyway, if you reread my post, I offered to limit myself to the lesser cartridge if friend Dale53 so desired, so as not to take advantage of our friendship... this is, after all, a friendly bet we share! If I am going to pay the freight for full sized 32 revolvers, I want performance on tap, so I will continue to load mild 32 S&W L target loads, enthusiastic 327 Fed Mag hunting/defense loads, and other stuff in between, maybe even using some of those almost-magnum cases that people stopped buying so quickly when it was found that Skeeter had gotten into some hyper pressure ranges to get the performance he thought a cartridge called "Magnum" should display. As we said in the '60s, "everybody to his own kick!"
Froggie
"It aint easy being green!"
Colt collectors feel free to correct me, but my understanding is that the .32-20 chambering in the Police Positive Special was discontinued post WW2. All of the postwar .32 PPs I have seen have been chambered in .32 Colt NP and I have both a Detective Special and a Police Positive Special in that caliber, of late 1960s "Rocky Hill Plant" production, as well as a similar pair of .38 Specials in both barrel lengths. The .32 PP, I am told, was an optional issue for police women who had difficulty qualifying with the .38 Special. My particular one came from a small municipal PD in south-central Virginia.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Outpost, I am far from being a Colt authority. I just unearthed my copy of the late James Serven's 1954 tome "Colt Firearms 1836-1954", and I'll see what he has to say on the subject. My understanding of the matter is far more basic--that Colt opened the frame window of the Police Positive about 1/4" longer to accomodate the 32/20 and 38 Special calibers more comfortably, labeling the result "Police Positive Special". That the 32 SWL and 38 S&W could work well in the longer frame window did away with the need for the short-frame PP platform, so at some point the PP went the way of 8-track tape decks and Colt motored on with the Special's longer cylinder window. Serven might have an end-date in his text, but I don't recall it independently. WWII might be that pivot point, dunno.
I don't paint bullets. I like Black Rifle Coffee. Sacred cows are always fair game. California is to the United States what Syria is to Russia and North Korea is to China/South Korea/Japan--a Hermit Kingdom detached from the real world and led by delusional maniacs, an economic and social basket case sustained by "foreign" aid so as to not lose military bases.
The .32 H&R Magnum case is perfection for a modern revolver or rook rifle.
+1.
Larry Gibson
Handloader Digest, 12th edition has a very good article on "The Perfect Kit Gun" and loading the 32 long.
Froggie;
You can use any one of your .32's for the upcoming contest. I will be using the 16-4 but it isn't afraid of your .327 Federal (we don't need no stinkin' .327 - we have the .32 H&R Magnificent!)!
As an aside, I look at the .32 S&W Long and the .32 H&R Mag as near perfect calibers for edible small game and range use. My 631 has been used as a side gun to my bird gun when hunting grouse and quail. It is near perfect for that purpose. It neatly takes sitting rabbits (cottontails and snow shoe rabbits) as well as the occasional sitting or wounded grouse. My family LOVED those rabbits harvested with the revolver (one hole, and no picking shot out of your teeth). Never had to shoot one twice, either. The wadcutter or 100 gr Keith style bullet does a FINE job on them. I lean toward a good wadcutter for squirrel use due to their limited range when shooting up in a tree. I have always been careful to have a tree trunk behind the squirrel but even Icould miss. The wadcutter won't be traveling a country mile and endanger someone at great distance. Further, the wadcutter is a great stopper round. I have had squirrels run off with a body shot from a .22, but NEVER with a body shot from the .32's if a good wide meplat bullet is used.
At any rate for game and range, I don't require magnum velocities. 800-900 fps is just fine with me. Now, if I chose to hunt ground hogs with the .32's, I would load up the .32 H&R Mag with a good swc at full velocity simply because the ranges are apt to be longer. Most edible small game I have taken have been within 25 yards or so. Some MUCH closer. The close ones I would take head shots, the further shots, through the slats...
FWIW
Dale53
Yes indeed. That particular article was focussed on the Ruger Single Six, but it was interesting that the author fired both .32 S&W Long handloads which approximated H&R Magnum ballistics, and factory H&R Magnums, shooting groups and velocity cutting and recrowning the barrel at intervals, starting with a 9-1/2" barrel and ending up at 4-5/8". I thought it clever that he remounted the front sight onto the long barrel at the location where it would be when he finished at 4-5/8" length, so that difference in sight radius would not influence the results. A nice piece of work.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
The article I was referring to is about a model 31 j frame S&W that the author installed adj. sights on.
I remember that article and it stayed with me for years until a friends love of .32"s and the sheer cuteness of a lonely model 31 threw a craving on me.
Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.
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