.32 S&W Long loads?

[GrizzLeeBear]

Picked up an H&R 732 at Gunbroker. 4" barrel in .32 S&W long. Ordered brass, dies and a Lee TL314-90-SWC mold.
While I'm waiting for the stuff to arrive, anyone got a good load with that boolit and Win. 231?

[beagle]

Got some loads for the .32 Long but they're for use in a Ruger Buckeye .32 Mag.

I do get good results out of the Lyman 3118 HP and the longs shoot really well in the Mag's cylinder./beagle

[Harry O]

I have used various amounts of 231 powder with 98gr lead boolits in that very same gun. Anything between 2,7gr and 3,3gr works. The lower load is fairly close to factory loading. The higher load is above what is usually published, but is not as powerful as .32 Mag loads. It works very well for rabbit or squirrel hunting.

The .32 Long works well with just about any fast powder and any lead bullet. I have used Bullseye, 231, Red Dot, and even Unique. The bullets are 77gr RNL, 90gr WC, 98gr RNFP, and even 115gr SWC. None of them were bad when it came to accuracy.

The limit is with the gun, not the load. Unfortunately, the H&R is not quite as accurate as my .32 S&W's, but it is OK for the money. It helped slightly to taper the base of the barrel (11 degree forcing cone), if you know someone who has the tools.

[Guesser]

I shoot a lot of the Lee 93 gr. round nose which drops at 95 gr. from 50/50 WW/PB. Great bullet for 32 Long in my S&W 31-1 and all my Colts. I use 2.5 grains of Bullseye or 2.8 gr. of Trail Boss. The SWC should be a good bullet. I went with the round nose as it is more traditional for the old cartridge, just sentimental, I guess.
Oh, I size .313 for all my revolvers in 32.

[Ricochet]

I've got a big batch of TL314-90-SWC cast and lubed with LLA, ready to load in 7.62x38R Nagant. Got to get a round tuit. I look at .32-20 data for inspiration.

[Glen]

I love the .32 S&W Long! For details see:

http://www.lasc.us/FryxellThe32S-WLong.htm

[beemer]

My Colt PP Special has fixed sights so I had to work with the powder charges and boolit weight to zero the sights. Sizing to the proper boolit diameter did more for accuracy in my gun than any powder or boolit style.

I have a Lee single cavity C309-113-F (soup can)that was a little large and lapped a little larger. I cut the gas check shank off the mould and ended up with a nice flat nose 100 gr. boolit. Sized to .312 with 1.7 grs of Bullseye is dead on at 15 yds at a little over 700 fps.

beemer

[GrizzLeeBear]

Thanks guys!

Glen, I just got done reading your article about 2 hours before you posted, LOL. As usual, well written and I learned a lot.

My brass, dies, etc. arrived yesterday and I found some 96 gr. Berry's .312 cast RNFP that I forgot I had. The Speer manual lists a load of 2.6 gr. of 231 with a 100 gr. JHP and states that the load can be used with the RCBS 90 & 98 gr. FN boolits. So, I decided to start there and loaded 24 rounds with that load to try out.
One thing I didn't think about though, the smallest cavity in my Lee Auto disk measure drops 3.1 gr. of 231! I had to use my trusty Lee Perfect Powder measure to get down to 2.6 grains. Looks like I'll have to order the micro disk for the Auto disk if I want to use these tiny charges.

[Leftoverdj]

Grizz, the micro disk kit works fairly well, and does even better since I altered an AutoDisk measure to manual operation. Discarding the spring and adding a lever elimnates the jerk and jolt you sometimes get with the spring.

I've switched from using 231 to AA-5 because it is easier to get consistency in the somewhat larger charges of the slower powder. The Lee DEWC works well for me which is fortunate since my pistol is a WC only Benelli autoloader.

[NoDakJak]

My standard load for the 32 S&W Long is the 311008 with 2.8 grains of ZIP. My favorite load previously was 2.8 grains of 231 but substituting ZIP cut the group sizes by approximately 50% in all six test guns. Either of these loads works very well behind the 98 grain rnfp RCBS. Hope this helps.
Neil

[paul edward]

A few years ago I loaded .32 S&W Long for a shooting buddy who owned a J frame Smith & Wesson with a 2" barrel. Being frugal fellows we just used the dies and mold for .32 Auto. My Lyman 311252 mold drops a 78 grain, .312" round nose boolit. With 2.5 grains of Win 231 it proved to be a mild and very accurate load.

Our favorite range at the time was an abandoned quarry. We usually shot offhand at paint cans or gallon milk jugs at 100 yards. I was amazed at how well that little revolver shot. Once we got the range, we could reliably hit those targets.

It did not hurt that the trigger pull was smooth and crisp.

PED

[Landric]

While I don't use 231 in the .32 S&W Long, I do enjoy it quite a bit for plinking. My pet load is 2 grains of Trail Boss with a 100 grain boolit. Out of a 2" J-frame its only running 575 fps or so, but its a lot more fun than .22 LR (IMO), and for us casters/handloaders, just as economical.