32 OAL problem

[olgandalf]

I'm reloading 32 ACP for an Ortgies and for a 1914 Mauser. I don't cast, but I have a box of .312 78 gr LRN boolits from Jesse at Tn Valley that I got for my 95 Nagant, initially for 32 S&WL and then for conversions from 32-20 using the Lee set. The Mauser slugs at .309x.303 and I assumed that 3 thousandths over would be ok.
The OAL of my 32 S&B rounds is .977. Dummy rounds of that length wouldn't chamber and wouldn't pass the drop test. Dummy rounds at .905 worked, so I made a trial batch of five at that OAL with the S&B cases and 1.9 gr Bullseye. They worked but only if I resized them after seating. And that is way shorter than what seems to be recommended. I made a new batch of five with OALs from .969 to .972. I haven't tried to fire them because they won't drop in flush. The entire extractor groove sticks out, about .101. Should I just adjust the seating until the rounds drop in flush?
I am using a RCBS die set for 32 S&W and 32 S&WL (3 die carb set, part #20111). assuming you can use the 32 S&W dies for 32 AC and vice versa. Do I need to get a whole new die set or one particular die? For all I know, there's an issue I haven't considered that's glaringly obvious to everyone else.
Thanks for any help.

[dtknowles]

Have you identified where the interference is occurring? It might not be the bullet.

Tim

[10mmShooter]

Olgan,

I have a Mauser 1914, the little German Officers pistol in .32 acp(7.65). It came back from WWII with my Great Aunt who was an Army nurse, anyway mine is a 1914 design, serial number dates it manufacture to 1913 or 1914 so I treat it with great care as I only have one magazine for it, the bore is nearly perfect.

Anyway I hope this pic helps you:

I too had issues with seating depth for the little .32. My gun fired new RP 71grn ball perfectly, so I tried to match my reloads to that cartridge, well using the exact same 71 grn RP FMJ bullet my reloads worked great seated to .960 OAL. But when I use the Hornady 60 grn XTP hollow point I had to seat to .915 OAL and to function with my 79grn lead RCBS 32-77-RN I have to seat .905-.910 OAL.

This issue I had was all about the profile shape of the bullet, the stock RP FMJ is the standard shape so it works fine, but the Hornady XTP has a slightly different taper and a shorter bullet and needs to be seated deeper to not interfere with chamber.

So obviously my cast round nose have to be seated way deep at .910 or less to not interfere also considered the lead bullet is sized at .312 and the FMJ is only .311 . I really dialed back my charge of WW 231 to 1.5 grains since the lead bullet is seated deeply. Funny went the range yesterday and fired 200 rounds of the my lead round noses, no issues, feed perfectly and at 10 yards the little 100 year old pistol performed perfectly to date I have fired about 50 jacketed rounds through it and about 500 lead rounds, it will never see another jacketed round and I want to pass it on and don't want to wear out the barrel.

Caution the .32 is very small cartridge you really need to dail back the charge, you don't want the over pressure the gun. 1.5 grains of WW231 is about 700 fps and plenty of pressure to cycle the action, I worked down from 1.8g to 1.7g to 1.6g to 1.5g and had no cycling issues, I just wanted to get a charge that would cycle with the smallest charge.

87420

[Wayne Smith]

Yup, almost certainly boolit nose profile issues. Unless the boolit is exactly the same diameter at all points as the bullet you will have interference in chambering. As Shooter said, dial back the charge, although measuring less than 1gr Bullseye is a challenge, and seat the boolit deeper and shoot away. Remember that a lead boolit will create less pressure (barrel resistance) than a jacketed bullet.

[Outpost75]

Something else which must be considered is the internal taper if the cartridge case where the mouth blends into the body. If the shank of the bullet interferes with the internal case taper, it will cause a bulge adjacent to the bullet base. This is often enough to impair chambering. I use a Lee factory crimp die to profile loaded rounds to mitigate against this problem.

[olgandalf]

Gentlemen, Thanks for the assurance that shorter OAL is not, in itself, a danger. I have read warning about rimlock, but have never had that problem with either my Mauser or my Ortgies. I gradually screwed in the rod on the seater die until my dummy round would drop in the chamber with only the rim beyond flush, the way the factory rounds fit. This is .927. I re-seated the 5 loaded rounds to .927, and they would all drop in. I mis-wrote in my post. The first 5 rounds had 1.7 gr Bullseye. This batch had 1.9gr. The reason for the powder increase was that I had had stovepipe ejection every time. A cure often mentioned on this site and elsewhere was to increase the load. A number of posters reported even stiffer BE loads being ok in older all steel pistols.
10mm, According to the dated list of serial numbers I found, mine is 1914, though the grips are the bulging 1934 type. My pistol is a recent acquisition with no sentimental value, except that I liked them growing up in the 50s, seeing old black and white movies.
Today after work I tried to shoot two rounds. No stovepiping; brass ejected 10 feet, but failure to load of the second round. It was tilted up and part way in. Tried two in the Ortgies. The first loaded and fired and ejected; the second didn't load, but was jammed under the firing pin and ejector. Well.

[olgandalf]

Just finished loading 10 rounds, same 78 gr LRN same 927 OAL, but 1.8 gr Bullseye. I'll try them tomorrow. It's slow because I use an old Lyman cast Iron single stage and weigh every charge.

[olafhardt]

I have been have a similar problem with 32 and 38 s&w topbreaks, just top breaks and just short cartridges. Often they unseat the brass from the bullet when I try to eject a loaded round and they missfire. I have come to think I need to seat deeper and crimp harder. I forget the grains, but I filed down a 22 short case to make a dipper for 32 SW and WW231. I believe this easier and more accurate for small loads and fine powder. Use the 1CC column on the Lee chart to get powder density in GRAINS/CC and an insulin syringe and water to verify dipper volume.

[rond]

The 32 ACP uses a taper crimp, the 32 S&W uses a roll crimp. It's easier to use the correct die set.