32 spl loads

[GunnyJohn]

I have a 32 win in a early 20s model. It is a rifle not carbine. A full 26 inches of flyright tube. Any way being pretty new to this cast bullet lifestyle, I picked up 400 give or take boolits from a guy at a gun show, cheap. They weigh in at 170 grns and are sized to .323 and are a plain base boolit, and appear to be a commercial boolit . I don't have a hardness scale, but they are harder than straight WQWW boolits that I've been casting.

So here's my question, can I get away with running them at 2k, or should I just keep them as plinkers and buy a new gc mold?

[dualsport]

You could try it, you never know. But that is smokin' compared to typical pb loads. Cowboy type commercial pb boolits in my M94 30-30 lose accuracy fast after about 1200 fps. I have read about a guy using pbs with a filler in his 30-30, claimed 1700 fps and good enough accuracy. Ranch Dog Outdoors here has a mold for you and your .32.

[excess650]

The 32Spl and 32-40 have slower 1-16" twists compared to the 1-12" found in the 30-30. It will be easier to find accurate, higher velocity loads with the 32s provided the bore condition is decent, and the boolits fit. Commercially cast bullets are HARD, and that may be good or bad. If they're a good fit in your rifles throat, it won't work against you. Unfortuantely, most of the commercial cast bullets use a lube that seems to be primarily parafin, so that may be your limiting factor. I wouldn't expect to go past 1600fps with them.

[Bret4207]

2k is probably not going to be easy but 1400 should be doable if they fit at all. 15-1600 maybe. PB designs depend even more of perfect fit than GC designs, and with commercial cast...gonna be tough.

[Larry Gibson]

As mentioned 1400 -1600 fps is probably where you'll end up with any real accuracy using those bullets. With that rifle I would definately invest in a GC'd bullet mould. If you don't want to do that I will gladly wear it out for you;)

Larry Gibson

[Char-Gar]

GunnyJohn --- You chances of being able to run any plain base cast bullet at 2K fps is slim and none. Get a new mold and the RCBS 170 GC is a good one.

A couple of years back I bought a 1959 vintage Winchester 94 Carbine in 32 WS. I cast some of the aforementioned RCBS bullets out of Lyman No. 2 alloy. I sized the .323 and loaded them over 30/H337 and went to the range.

The first group 5 shot group was .65 at 50 yards. So was the second, the third and so on. Thus ended load development. The velocity is well over 2K fps and the carbine has a nice thump on both ends.

With it's 1-16 twist barrel, the 32 WS is a rifle and round that just wants to please the cast bullet shooter. Those rifles are like a good dog.

[sundog]

I have one of the two prototype moulds that Michael (Ranch Dog) had cut for his 32 Win Spl boolit. I did some testing for him. The mould had a few 'issues', one of which was to big of a GC shank - had to fight getting GCs on. After his production mould became available, I bought one. It makes good boolits!

The prototype is now plain based. A friend of mine did the work. I've shot some of them. I doubt seriously that they will ever get the same performance as a GC boolit, and I would not even attempt to get them up to 2K. On the other hand, 2K is EASY with both the RCBS 170 and the RD boolit.

[GunnyJohn]

Thanks alot guys. I'll load up a few slow and play. As I have'nt shot the rifle in quite some time, it'll be fun. I better get some more use out of it before my gun greedy son gets his paws on it. THANKS AGAIN

[Fugowii]

I have a 32 win in a early 20s model. It is a rifle not carbine. A full 26 inches of flyright tube. Any way being pretty new to this cast bullet lifestyle, I picked up 400 give or take boolits from a guy at a gun show, cheap. They weigh in at 170 grns and are sized to .323 and are a plain base boolit, and appear to be a commercial boolit . I don't have a hardness scale, but they are harder than straight WQWW boolits that I've been casting.

So here's my question, can I get away with running them at 2k, or should I just keep them as plinkers and buy a new gc mold?

I have a pre-64 in .32 win spl and I got the following with 2230 with a gas checked RCBS 32-170-FN:

Grains 2230 Powder/Round # 1/Round # 2
23.5/1766/1675
24.0/1738/1778
24.5/1744/1845
25.0/1910/1893
25.5/1881/1898
26.0/1898/1894

I settled on 25.5 which was pretty accurate. With W/W and 2% tin they came in around 11-12 BNH after a few weeks of seasoning.

[dualsport]

GJ- I think there's a vendor here that sells boolits from Ranch Dog molds, ready to load. Might be a cheap way to experiment. My BIL has a very old M94 .32 that he has agreed to loan me for a couple months, can't wait to play with it.

[John F.]

Hi, Chargar,

I enjoyed reading your post and was curious as to which powder you used?
Could there have been a typo? I'm not familiar with 337...

Thanks.
John