32 Winchester Special problem

[compass will]

I been casting for my Winchester 32 special. it sure shoots nice. Yesterday I was checking some new brass in it (loaded) and discovered that I can not eject a loaded bullet! I had to pull the lever screw so the bolt would slide back enough for the bullet to clear the barrel.

This RCBS 32-170-fn has a crimp groove, Is it ok to seat the boolit further and not use the crimp groove?

[docone31]

I do not crimp my castings. I am also fairly certain you can set the OAL of the load to match the chamber.
When you ejected the load, how deeply had the bullet engaged the rifling? I set my loads so there is just a tad of rifling evidence.

[runfiverun]

if they aren't being pushed into the cases and are being held okay by neck tension yep
the crimp is to keep them from going in, not out in a lever.

[454PB]

If you don't crimp,you are going to have to do some testing to make sure that the lack of crimp won't allow the boolit to be seated deeper. This would include firing the rifle with the magazine full, recoil can push the boolit deeper into the case.

[compass will]

yes, I need to crimp because its a tube mag. I will experiment with a shorter OAL.
next week I am away at Training, and I already have 100 loaded for a match on the 14th.
As long as I don't have one fail to fire, I should not have a problem. But I will take the screw driver anyway. I think it only needs to be around 1/8" shorter.

[IcerUSA]

I use a dummy round to set the OAL for my leverguns , make sure you have good neck tension on the case and try to cycle the round , if it don't cycle just adjust the seater a little untill the round just cycles , then give the seater a 1/4 to a 1/2 turn more . Your good to go then .

Keith

[beagle]

I've used a variety of bullets in the .32 Special.

Some line up and work out right with the crimp groove and some don't.

As with all levers, I always lay on a very light crimp to kind of turn in the case mouth for better functioning. I'm not too worried about setback.

If your expander is of the proper diameter to give a good fit for the bullet, you'll not have problems with setback during recoil and can make your seating dept to what you need./beagle

[stocker]

I use the same RCBS boolit in my 60 year old M64. Don't have that problem at all. Do your loaded rounds feed from the magazine into the chamber? If not have you checked the length of your new brass? If they feed from the magazine into the chamber I can't grasp why they won't retract far enough to eject unless something else is going on that shouldn't be. Are the boolits being pulled out of the case at all from tight boolit/land contact when they are chambered and thus the over all length is growing a bit on the ejection stroke?

[compass will]

I use the same RCBS boolit in my 60 year old M64. Don't have that problem at all. Do your loaded rounds feed from the magazine into the chamber? If not have you checked the length of your new brass? If they feed from the magazine into the chamber I can't grasp why they won't retract far enough to eject unless something else is going on that shouldn't be. Are the boolits being pulled out of the case at all from tight boolit/land contact when they are chambered and thus the over all length is growing a bit on the ejection stroke?

When loading, they are on an angle as they come up the loading ramp, thus they fit.
Ejecting AFTER fired is no problem since the bullet is already gone. ejecting a loaded round, the bolt pulls the bullet straight back. the back end is being held by the extractor. When the bolt reaches the end of it's travel the tip of the bullet is still hitting against the side of the chamber as the ejector spring is trying to push it to the ejection port. Only happens when you try to eject a loaded round. When I get a chance I will check to see if there is rifle marks on the bullet. Problem is I am away all next week, then will be using the 100 rounds I already have loaded at the lever gun match on June 14th. Once I have 100 emptys I will work on seating the next batch just a little lower so they can eject if needed when still loaded

[stocker]

compass will; RCBS also make an 8mm170FNGC which drops at .323. RCBS part # is 59909 I think. Different number from the 32/170 in any event. Have never seen one of these and the RCBS casting manual shows a picture that looks identical to the 32-170 so it doesn't tell me much. But, is it slightly different, and could you possibly have one of these? I can see a crimp groove further back for 8mm use even if the rest of the boolit was the same. My rifle provides ample clearance for ejecting an unfired round with the 32/170. Something either different with your rifle or the brass it would appear.

[stocker]

compass will: I was curious as to how much extra room I had to eject a live round so went down stairs and played with some dummy rounds. The tip of the boolit is about 3/16" clear of the end of the chamber/barrel end when the bolt is fully retracted. The ejector actually is trying to kick it clear while the tip is still in the chamber but there is still bolt movement rearward as it clears the chamber and continues back. It does make for positive ejection that way.

[compass will]

Thanks everyone, I will look into this in 2 weeks. Stocker, I can't use .323, it don't fit into the chamber all the way. Only .321 and .322 fit. There is plenty of room to seat the bullet a little further into the case.

All I do is shoot lever gun matches with this gun, so unless I have a round that don't go off I would never have a problem. Since I don't hunt with it, I have never need to unload live rounds from it.

I have already shot two 50 round matches and many rounds working on loads before I discovered this :)