anyone have a link or old manual listing this old cartridge.
I like to shoot my old lemon squeezer but @ 25.00+ a box I could recoup my die set and mold quickly.
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anyone have a link or old manual listing this old cartridge.
I like to shoot my old lemon squeezer but @ 25.00+ a box I could recoup my die set and mold quickly.
I shoot a lot of 32 S&W. I cast 313249, 86gr. soft. I load over 1.5 gr. of Bullseye. That's for my old solid frame Colts and S&W. For a sqeezer I would back off to 1.0 gr. of Bullseye. I think it is Ideal #35 that recommends that combination.
The older Lyman books and their cast books all have 32 S+W info. I started out using a 311316 in mine because it was the only mould I had. I must have shot thousands of them with loads like 1.3 BE, 1.5 Red Dot, 1.7 SR-7625. With Unique I had a "hot" lot of 2.5 gr. All these were shot from an old #4 Rolling Block. I used similar loads with the Hornady 90 gr swaged SWC and another Lyman mould of about 85 grs whose number escapes me at the moment. I've killed quite a bit of small game with the #4 and a later #6 Remington and a simple FN cast boolit that probably didn't break 750 fps from the rifle barrel.
I'm pretty sure Ken Waters has one of his usual excellent articles on the 32 S+W in "Pet Loads". In a Lemon Squeezer I'd see if the Lee Soup Can was big enough. I got lucky with my K32 as my Soup Cans are just large enough to shoot really well.
Unless you're really wanting to shoot game with your lemon squeezer, I would recommend the lee 93 gr RN bullet. If it drops too small for the revolver, a little beagling tape can solve the problem. A set of cheap dies and a pound of bullseye, and you'll be in the .32 S&W game for a loong time for not much outlay. The brass does last forever if you can keep from loosing it.
1.0 gr bullseye has done very well from my .32 S&W top break. They aren't fast, but they aren't hurting the gun either. I don't tend to think of my top break as a target gun, so I just use them for plinking and informal "fun" shooting, so the low velocity isn't a problem. I get consistent ignition, and the 90-100 gr bullets shoot to the sights pretty well over the light load of BE.
this is a 100% fun shooter @ over 100 years old and in decent shape. The gent I purchased it from said the firepin has been broken since his dad owned......in the 30s
Great thread. Actually picked up a pair of H&R top breaks 32's, one of which is black powder cartridges only.
For my neighbor's lemon squeezer I've been loading the Accurate 31-087T, as-cast and unsized, lubed with Lee Liquid Alox and 1.5 grains of Bullseye or TiteGroup.
Attachment 176516
Outpost, as always, solid advice and great data! Has anyone tried 1.5gr Trail Boss under a 78gr LRN sized .313? I'm doing that now and getting 650fps and my 3.5" Safety Hammerless groups 3-4" @ 25 yds on a steady hand day. One thing I think is really important is softer alloy. My S&W slugs .313 grooves but the soft bullet (I think) obturates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Outpost75
I would suggest NOE's 313492 Lyman wadcutter clone of 88 grains if you want a blunter bullet with more thump as opposed to the usual round nose bullet. Seating depth also approximates the round nose which means similar powder charges can be used. Go for the .315" variant. Should still have some in stock.
The little cartridge pushes things slowly enough that I prefer softer alloys as well, but I don't sweat it if I've got COWW or similar in the pot when I'm casting for it.
As I mentioned (5+/- years ago) the little Lee bullet makes a good projectile for range time with the cartridge, and has helped several guns shoot to their sights with the light loads I use. I have and use a lot of other molds as well, but I haven't found anything that works so much better that I feel the need to change my statement about it.
If you happen to have another mold in the 70-100 grain range, please try it and let us know the results. If it's too small, beagle the mold. Generally the little 32's want to shoot in spite of all the stuff they've got going against them.
For the last several years my go to "range toy" in .32 S&W (short) is an 1870's vintage S&W single action top break gun. It's accurate enough to be fun, and it's well made and fun to shoot with either light BP equivalent loads, or with real BP (for which I have an old stash of balloon head brass).
http://iownguns.com/wp-content/uploa...04/smithSA.jpg
SWEET! That looks like mine, made in 1884. Have you fired Trail Boss loads in it? Thanks for sharing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoZombies
I haven't tried trail boss in the gun. I've got a can I bought when it first came out, but I've never found "the right" load to use it in. I got more variation with trail boss than I did with the other powders I was using in the 32 long.Quote:
Originally Posted by quail4jake
How does your load do consistency-wise? I'd love to find something to use up the rest of my trail boss in, and it would go a long way on the little pea shooters.
I use 1.5gr Trail boss which comes below the capacity of the case with the boolit seated and accuracy has been amazing but MV=650 with crazy SDs...70-100 comes to mind. So, very variable shot to shot MVs but very consistent MV avg and great grouping. go figure! I truthfully think that the recipe for success has been soft (BNH 10-12) boolits sized .313 really great lube (magma). Now I want to revisit black powder!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoZombies
Try Bullseye or Titegroup before deciding wide variations in velocity are the norm with Bullseye being preferred.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoZombies
That's a cute little sucker.
I would try Bullseye first, I doubt you can safely load enough Titegroup to get a clean burn with low spread. That has been my experience with .38 Special and .32 Auto, Titegroup doesn't seem to like low pressure whereas Bullseye really excels in this area.
For those who balk at long posts I'll get right to the point then elaborate for those who might want to read on.
My objective was to create a smokeless .32 S&W load that would put no stress on a turn-of-the-century Iver Johnson revolver. My components were 78 gr RN cast bullet (MBC #18), Starline brass, CCI 500 primer, and what would prove to be the most sensible choice among Bullseye, Unique, or Trail Boss. I didn't want to fool with BP or a substitute.
Using a dribbler with my powder scale I loaded five cases each with 1.0 gr of the three powders. The chronographed results are as follows:
Bullseye 1.0 gr -- 503 fps
Unique 1.0 gr -- 485 fps
Trail Boss 1.0 gr -- 549 fps
I found that there was no way my Redding measure would meter consistent charges of this tiny amount of Bullseye or Unique. Just a 0.1 gr variation plus/minus is 20% error. Trail Boss, being about half-again the volume of Unique, would meter pretty consistently in tiny charges. However, I felt the 1.0 gr load a little hot. I backed down to 0.6 gr which gave an average velocity of 424 fps dribbled; 401 fps metered.
This is an absolute pussycat of a load. It's not a whole lot louder than a cap gun. Not only am I certain it is gentle on the gun, it's accuracy at seven yards amazed me. (This Iver Johnson is in NRA not truly awful condition, but its bore looks like a century-old iron drain pipe. Some rifling does show though the pitting.)
BTW, that's shooting single-action, two-hand grip, focus on the tiny sights through bifocals. I'm 74.
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...pscghvzl1r.jpg
I just picked up a Iver Johnson Hammerless in 32S&W on Gunbroker today. My wife wanted a range pistol without the big grip of my 357 revolver. Dlidster, since you've only done one post since you've joined us, I will say, thank you for the detailed posting which gives me a load to start with.
Bruce
I load my grandmother's H&R top break with a sized buckshot (not at all consistent in size) and 1gr BE. The first time I took it to the range I told Mike (the range officer) what I had and he followed me down to the pistol range. I asked him why (I know him rather well) and he said "I just want to make sure it goes through the backing!"
I have shot #1 buckshot through both of my H&R 2.5 inch barreled revolvers.
Actually found it worked best squished slightly then run through a .314 lee sizing die.
Easy to load, grouped well enough on paper at 20 feet.
So then I tried some double ought sized similarly. That worked also.
Best of all thus far though were the Lee .314 tl truncated cone loaded backwards. Rear driving band just above the brass. That gave me the best accuracy of everything I have tried. That was over 2 grains of Red Dot.
Light recoil, very moderate sound, muzzle blast. A joy to shoot even for old hands.
And It put 6 rounds in a 2" stick on bullseye with plenty of room around the edges.
Two triangles, 3 top shots touching with the one in center highest.
3 bottom shots touching with one in center lowest. Perhaps a quarter inch between the 2 triangles.
I packed the old girl up and walked away. Not going to improve on that. Had a huge smile on my face, and a witness that I shot it one handed standing at 20 feet.
My witness is ex Army Ranger 14 years, 5 tours, 2 in afghanistan and 3 in the sand box.
His jaw dropped. "How did you do that?" when the target came up.
"Used the force, of course"