32 LCF or the 32 Colt, I found 1 case!

[mattw]

Not sure where to post this question, so it landed here. I picked up a bunch of really old 32 S&W Long brass, while sorting it I found one oddly misshapen round. The case mouth was blown out to a normal 32 S&W Long diameter but the pressure was so low that the rest of the cast stayed at the proper diameter. So... Yes! I found a real REM UMC 32 LCF that appears to never have been reloaded.

So, I would love to dummy this up for my odd cartridge collection, but I do not have a die that would size it properly nor do I have a bullet. Does anyone here have dies and 1 bullet? And, would you be willing to convert my empty to a dummy round?

Thanks Matt

[DangerousDave]

I have recently been gifted with an old colt revolver in 32colt. I will be reloading for it in the future, but am not ready to fork up the $186 for a set of dies. I would suggest you search this forum for info on that cartridge. I did, and found several people who were loading for it. Some of them went to the expense of buying dies, others improvised using what dies they could make work. There were some who didn't find it necessary to resize at all and were able to seat bullets by hand. Also the original bullet design was a heal type. Later production was more like a Minnie bullet. Perhaps you would have some luck contacting one of those guys.. Good luck to you. :)

[uscra112]

I have. I load .32 Long Colt for a couple of my old single-shot rifles.

Dave makes a good point - there was .32 Long Colt, and the .32 Long Rifle, which had the inside-lubed bullet. Case lengths were significantly different. I trim my cases to .780, which fits my guns. Let me know what you have. I'm well stocked with the heeled bullets.

This fellow is the resident expert on .32 Colt reloading on Gunbroker.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/808106864

Read his notes at the bottom of the page.

[Dan Cash]

.32 LCF ???? What is it?

[mattw]

Dan, it is a very old Colt specific round. I believe it was first used in 1875. It is a very similar case to the 32 S&W Long, but the brass is smaller diameter. The one round I have was fired by someone at some time in a 32 S&W Long and needs to be resized. I am going to measure tonight, not sure if it was the case designed for the heeled bullet or not.

[uscra112]

The F is a typo, no?

Paraphrasing Barnes, the .32 Short/Long Colt was introduced in 1875 for the Colt New Line revolvers. It duplicated the dimensions of the very popular .32 Rimfire cartridge that Remington had introduced in 1861. Only Colt used it in revolvers, but it was popular enough for long enough that Winchester was still loading the Short version into the 1970s. It used a heeled bullet, the same O.D. as the case (.313"), just like our .22s still do.

S&W in 1878 went with an inside-lubricated bullet when they introduced the .32 S&W in 1878 for their revolvers. Bullet diameter was the same, so the case had to be larger outside diameter, (.335"). This cartridge survives to this day, in many versions.

There were a good many Stevens and Remington #4 "boys' rifles" rifles chambered for the .32 Long Rimfire. Today it is common to convert these to centerfire. Marlin made a lever-gun for the Long Colt centerfire version. I have an 1878 Bay State single-shot that was convertible, and it's not uncommon to find Ballards chambered .32 Long Colt centerfire.

To avoid disfiguring these rifles by reaming the chamber for the S&W cartridge, we use the Colt cartridge. Swaging down S&W cases to .313" is easy, and you can still find the Lyman 299153 moulds.

The S&W cartridge was cleaner to handle, giving them a sales advantage, so an inside-lubricated version appeared about 1900. The case was longer, (.937" vs. .791" per Barnes). The rimfire version was called .32 Long Rifle, and Colt called their centerfire version simply .32 Colt. The undersize .299" hollowbase bullet was supposed to "slug up" exiting the case. It wasn't accurate, so nobody catalogued it after about 1920, (again per Barnes). I have original samples of the rimfire Long and the centerfire Long Colt, but have never even seen a specimen of the Long Rifle version.

[AntiqueSledMan]

Dan, just a guess here but I'd say .32 Long Center Fire.
The Marlin Model 1892 could use either rimfire or centerfire ammunition.
I'm not an expert on this but this would be my guess.
Look up .32 Long Colt, enough information available to spin your brains.

AmtiqueSledMan.

[RED BEAR]

I buy a lot of stuff by mistake i can look at an add and see things that are not there. Almost bought a 32 colt by mistake not realizing it was not sw. At a little over three minutes i was out bid. Thank goodness.