The wife is happy/she has 32 ACP to shoot

[gray wolf]

Yup a happy little lady is a happy me :p:p
This is what I got for the little pocket rocket ( 32 ACP Beretta 3032 Tomcat)
Thia summer a friend visited and gave my wife the pistol, said they did not want it anymore--believe that? came with 200 rounds of ammo. FMJ-Hydro shocks and some Horn. stp- HP. She shoots my 45ACP as good as I do and her beretta 40.
But she fell in love with this little handful of a 32. Some nice forum folks
( got to love you guy's) sent us some 75 or so grain cast, and today I got a set of Lee carbide 3 die set and an RCBS .312 sizer and top punch. and a shell holder for the lee priming tool.
The shell holder for the press is perfect fit, BUT good old Lee uses the shell holder for 30 M1 carbine for the priming tool. Soooo the shell is a little loose in the holder,and comes up just enough so the primer stays proud a little to much.
Wife Say's (OH NO ) I can't have my boolets. Hold on there girl let me think.
So I took the priming tool apart and the cam that rotates and pushes up the priming ram got a hammer and punch taken to it. Flattened it a little and made it a little taller. Perhaps it was worn a little it happens I am told --anyway I fixed the problem and it works fine. All the dies worked fine and the sizer is a perfect .312. 2 grains of tite group or 2 of bulls eye and I think she will have a good target load. It's a start point anyway.
The pistol eject the factory stuff way over your head and finds every piece of grass or rock to hide under. I tried a round with 1.8 of titegroup and got a soft eject just over my shoulder. So I think there is hope--at least she can shoot for very little money.
I think my 45 acp metal will be OK and the same lube--or I may just try JPW after sizing. Just more fun at the bench.
NOW I have to see about getting a mold. Well I just thought I would let you know how it went. If anyone wants to chime in about the 32 acp go rite ahead.

Thanks men. :cbpour:

[jim4065]

I have 3 of 'em, 2 Ortgies and a Savage. Fun little pistols, but hard to handle the shells. The .32 was The automatic pistol cartridge for awhile at the start of the 1900's - and is still a hell of a good self-defense round if you're a good shot. :drinks:

[gray wolf]

Yes the little buggers are small one tried to hide in a 45 acp case--but I got him Ha,

[lylejb]

Sounds like your a lucky man on several accounts!!

As far as the worn part, give lee a call. I know i've read (some thread here) that the cam's are available for about $2 - $3 . When you get a new one, then save the old one for "emergencies".

EDIT: just looked it up. The cam/ connecting rod is $2.50
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/parts.cgi?1264213347.3917=90230

Here's a list of parts for the Lee auto-prime hand primer tool.

[gray wolf]

great! thank you--cheep enough.

Hey did they have a used mold that drops around 70-80 grain RN. Ha,Ha,

[gnoahhh]

My .32's are a Walther PP and a Savage 1907. Fun guns. I wonder if the Colt Police Positive and M31 J-Frame S&W in .32 also in my "collection" tells how I feel about "mouse guns"! I practice/plink with CB's, but the Walther stays primed with W-W Silvertips for serious social encounters (when the .45 can't be brought into play).

[lylejb]

Hey did they have a used mold that drops around 70-80 grain RN

Sorry, it looks like 93 gr is as small as they go in 32 with a RN. It Might work, I'm not sure.

[wistlepig1]

I have a Colt pocket pistol in 32 acp and it is a real shooter. I to looked for a cast mold but wasn't sure if 90+grs would work, maybe to long? I would see if someone here might be kind enough to send you a 1/2 doz to try!!???! I think this site maybe something you will like. I load mine with 60gr Horn. Jhp's for weddings and funeral.:kidding:
http://stevespages.com/311p_1_60.html

[scrapcan]

graywolf,

glad to hear the little pills worked out. How many did you end up with in the bag? We can work on getting you some more or a loan on a mould to get you through until you can find a mould. Send me a pm.

[beemer]

I had the same problem priming with the Lee. I solved it by using my press to prime the cases. I didn't intend to load for the 32 ACP but I found a Colt PP Special in 32 S&W Long and the dies work for both. I use the Lee 311-100-R and 1.2 grs of Bullseye in my CZ-50, it's milder than factory but a lot of fun to shoot.

Dave

[NickSS]

I have a Tomcat too and love it for what it is. I shoot cast 77 gr bullets from a Lyman mold that I have had for years. They work very well for plinking and target shooting. I load 1.8 gr of WST and this is a mild load that drops the empties just behind me.

[exile]

I've got the NAA Guardian. Can't ever find the shells either, so I don't shoot it much. I will try the 1.8 grains of titegroup. I wore out the cam (?) on my Lee hand prime because I did not lube it the way they said to. I sent off for 3 of them, at $2.50 a piece you might as well get several to save on shipping. Now I lube the thing properly and have not had any further problems. Glad your wife likes the tomcat, so far the only thing my wife enjoys are the single-six and the 10-22, but I am working on some .32 H & R mag loads for the SP-101.

exile

[gray wolf]

I think this site maybe something you will like.

WHAT???? --Been here for years--no perhaps, maybe, or could be. I loved it a long time ago.
Yes folks on the forum have got me started with some boolets--very grateful on my end.
I don't think I want the 93 grain mold. I like the 70 to 80 grain.

MANLEYJT Thank you for the offer --I can't cast here till at least April, there is a chance late march. All the casting is done outside because of the small cabin. I am a tuff old cus but I need at least 50* to sit outside. I got such bad cabin fever the dog is walking around me.
But come spring if I don't have a mold perhaps we can work it out, many thanks.
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How do you guy's feel about trimming the 32auto cases? Do they stretch?
I was thinking about the Lee lock stud and cutter and use a small drill. Are the any good.
My thought are about the case lenghts being different and the bullet seating to different places in the case and making a little more or less pressure. Also you get a different amount of flare on the case and a different crimp pressure.
It does not seem to matter on my 45 ACP those cases get shorter as we all know and I wouldn't think of trimming them. ANY THOUGHTS on some of this ??

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Lots of people down SOUTH here use a .32. They seem to get the job done. My wife totes a neet little FN 32 up there at times... Down here she has a FN 25 Baby that came from an Army Colonel. I guess European types just like fmall bores.

[MtGun44]

Gray Wolf,

If you lay out a tarp or sheet you can save a WHOLE lot of time searching for that
TINY brass. Really a time saver.

Bill

[Buckshot]

.............Lyman still offeres the 311252 don't they? Casts a 77gr RN. I bought it for light loads in my Ruger 30 M1 BH, but it is very accurate at 25 yards from my 30-'06's, and one of my M91 Argentines. Miniscule powder charges! BTW, my 2 cav drops them at .314".

...........Buckshot

[Shiloh]

But does she have ammo??

Shiloh

[Dframe]

Gray Wolf,

If you lay out a tarp or sheet you can save a WHOLE lot of time searching for that
TINY brass. Really a time saver.

Bill
I've tried that too. Works better than nothing, but those darned tiny cases hide under every blade of grass and pebble. The solution? I don't have one!
But I sure love shooting my little colts.

[AriM]

I love those little pocket pistols....I still have the one my dad handed down to me....I got fancier guns, but that little one is still the most fun to shoot...sorry to hear that the weather has you trapped in there....sounds like the thaw can't come fast enough for you....

[9.3X62AL]

The 32 ACP is a fun little round, and over the years I've owned a bunch of them. I'm down to 2 examples now--a Walther PP and a Roth-Steyr M-1908. Some observations on the caliber......

It is often A LOT more accurate than 380 ACP pistols in the same platform. I think dimensional integrity has a lot to do with that, 380s tend to run wide like 9mm Lugers.

32 ACPs tend to be more reliable in a given platform than 380s. Most existing 380s were expanded 32 ACP platforms to begin with, and some designs did not take as well to the expansion as others have.

The 32 ACP is a semi-rim design, much like the 38 ACP/38 Super. Like the 38 Super, accuracy benefits from cartridge indexing on the case mouth rather than on the rim. Cases under .675" long get tossed, they will throw fliers in a lot of pistols. I don't roll-crimp 32 ACPs, just straighten out the case mouth flare. The cases don't lengthen significantly over a number of firings, but new ones and fired factory cases can be uneven. I trim them once to .678", and I usually lose them before any have a chance to grow past max length (.680"). I suspect--as in many autopistol situations--that the pistol's extractor plays a role as a "default indexing source" for chambered cartridges to some extent. (Also note--the careful avoidance of the term "headspacing" here--despite winter's cold and wetness, such references ignite brushfires that generate far more heat than light).

I've used Lyman #313249 quite a bit in the 32 ACP, and 2.0 grains of WW-231 gives it enough OOMPH to cycle very reliably. As a factory round, the 32 ACP is greatly underloaded in this country. The factory-claimed 905 FPS with the 71 grain FMJs must get fired in a 24" barrel, because 775 FPS is about as good as it gets in real world pistols, and there's a lot of ES/sd to boot. Europeans load the caliber more to Mr. Browning's specs; some GECO FMJ I fired some years back ran 875-900 FPS from a Beretta 81 I had at the time.

I recently found a copy of Lyman #311252, as described by Buckshot. I haven't tried any loading with those castings yet, but it was purpose-designed by Lyman for the 32 ACP. We'll see how it runs.

The single-best cast boolit I've ever seen for the 32 ACP was a mould designed by Starmetal, a ~75 grain truncated cone. He sent some samples my way, and they ran like a scared rabbit through my Walther. THAT is a design I'd love to see a Group Buy get started with.

[LIMPINGJ]

Al do you have any samples of that boolit or maybe Starmetal would send a few to 45 2.1 or someone else that could draw a sample design to supmit to judge interest in a GB.