Heeled bullets

[Kermit1945]

Specifically, .32 Colt Long, but some of it's probably generic. I'll endeavor to be brief, although it's not in my nature.

Background: changing a Stevens Favorite 1894 to centerfire. I've located a sufficiency of brass, plan to load BP, and expect it'll be fixed ammo--no breech seating.

I know from nothing about heeled slugs, and there seems to be a paucity of useful info popping up when searching this interweb thingie.

I've found several molds--new and pre-owned--for .32 heeled. I'm puzzling out the lubrication question. I am given to understand that the grooves inside the case are NOT lubed, but that after the slug's in place the groove(s) ahead of the case ARE lubed. Am I going the right direction here?

So what's with this design? Accurate molds design #31-090A, a 90 grain pill. Maybe this will come through for you.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=31-090A-D.png

See what I mean? No groove ahead of the case. Need a lubed wad atop the powder? Good idea anyway? Some other solution? Puzzling to a quasi-newbie embarked on a mission of learning. ANY information or search advice on heeled bullets generally is most welcome. I've done a little loading of rifle and revolver cast bullets, but this whole business involving heels is new territory. Help?

[JeffinNZ]

That boolits looks like it should be lubed like you would a normal cast projectile. Technically speaking it is wrong for a heel boolit. I have a pair of .310 moulds from CBE and but have blank heels and lube grooves top side. Lube it and shoot and let the rifle decide.

[runfiverun]

i didn't see if that mold was a hollow base or not.
if it is, it could work like that [maybe,,, shrugging]
generally with heeled boolits the heel goes in the case and everything out of the case is full diameter.
and the lube is exposed.

look at a 22 lr those are heeled boolits.
with a hollow base that swells up when fired.
they are externally lubed also, but tumble lubed.

[MT Chambers]

For lubing heeled bullets either a) use a Star and you will only have lube go in the grooves not on the heel, or
b) dip bullet of loaded round into melted lube
Use either method for BP lube or smokeless and you don't need cookies.

[Kermit1945]

For lubing...use a Star...

A what? Sorry you can't see me; I'm wearing a dunce hat.

I don't think it's a hollow base.

[MikeS]

I would think that tumble lube of some sort (LLA,45:45:10,JPW) would be the way to go with a heeled boolit. Unless the boolits were cast from pure soft lead, and hollow based would lube grooves on the heel be of any good.

I have no experience with heeled boolits, so my thoughts could be totally wrong.

[runfiverun]

a star is a push through lube/sizer.

[Kermit1945]

I contacted Accurate and got a really fast reply. It is NOT a hollow based bullet. He found this forum post for me that's by the designer.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forum/32...ew-bullet.html

It sounds to me like it took the wider riding band of the hollow base and gave it a wider lube groove to be inside the case. I'd think if cast in pure lead or way-low-tin alloy it might upset into the rifling well too. Since my big fat idea is to propel with BP, that's a good chance, methinks.

I'm trying to find a nice mild centerfire BP round that will replace the old .32 Colt Long Rimfire. Similar or even slower ballistics.

[Mk42gunner]

Kermit1945,

John sent me a few of the 31-090A boolits to try in my No 2 Remington Rolling Block. they were very accurate in front of 2.5 grains of W231. They did not lead the bore, although I don't remember what lube he used.

I haven't managed to recover a boolit yet to check if the heel expands or not; but the way they shoot it doesn't really matter. I will be ordering one of these molds when I get the money saved up.

I don't know how they will do with BP.

Robert

[gunseller]

I have not shot any 32 cal heeled boolits but I have spent time shooting 44 cal heeled boolits. The heel is not lubed only the lube grove out side the case is lubed. Do not use too soft of lube. No cookie is needed between the powder and boolit. I am loading 44 Colt rounds for use in an orginal 1860 Richards Colt. The load is 28 grains of BP under a 200 grain heeled boolit. At 25 yards the pistol and load will shoot with most modern revolvers. At 50 it is OK but beyond that it is not good. In a pistol that is more than I need but a rifle might need more. I am using pure lead. Play with 2f and 3f BP as well as different boolit weights.
Steve

[NoZombies]

To clarify a bit for other readers:

There were two different common versions of the .32 long colt. The earlier style used a heeled bullet that was outside lubed. The later versions used an undersized hollow base bullet that fit inside the case and was inside lubed. The later was not known for it's accuracy.

The 32 long rimfire and the 32 long colt were dimensionally interchangeable. A few rifles made use of this feature with reversible or interchangeable firing pins.

To give some thoughts to the original poster:

I tend to agree with common wisdom that a heeled bullet for the .32 colt is best. It may be speculative, but contemporary advertising for the change over from outside lubed heeled bullets to inside lubed undersize hollow based bullets seemed to focus mainly on the fact that the ammunition was cleaner to shoot and carry. Little was said about accuracy improvements in my limited reading.

If you use the bullet from the accurate mold, or use one of the hollow base inside lube bullets, cast them from very soft lead, and use a fairly soft BPCR lube (lots of recipes on this site)

If you use an outside lubed heeled bullet, find a harder BPCR lube, and dip the part of bullet that is exposed in the loaded round into the melted lube.

Have fun!

[carbine86]

My buddy just picked up a 12mm pinfire revolver and is trying to find a heeled bullet mold for it. Anyone know where I might find something for it? Thanks

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[TexasGrunt]

Five year old thread. Ya could have started your own.

[Chev. William]

Specifically, .32 Colt Long, but some of it's probably generic. I'll endeavor to be brief, although it's not in my nature.

Background: changing a Stevens Favorite 1894 to centerfire. I've located a sufficiency of brass, plan to load BP, and expect it'll be fixed ammo--no breech seating.

I know from nothing about heeled slugs, and there seems to be a paucity of useful info popping up when searching this interweb thingie.

I've found several molds--new and pre-owned--for .32 heeled. I'm puzzling out the lubrication question. I am given to understand that the grooves inside the case are NOT lubed, but that after the slug's in place the groove(s) ahead of the case ARE lubed. Am I going the right direction here?

So what's with this design? Accurate molds design #31-090A, a 90 grain pill. Maybe this will come through for you.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=31-090A-D.png

See what I mean? No groove ahead of the case. Need a lubed wad atop the powder? Good idea anyway? Some other solution? Puzzling to a quasi-newbie embarked on a mission of learning. ANY information or search advice on heeled bullets generally is most welcome. I've done a little loading of rifle and revolver cast bullets, but this whole business involving heels is new territory. Help?

Kermit1945,
The Accurate #31-090A heeled bullet with the lube groove on the Heel was deliberately designed that way to allow the exposed Part to be Clean of Lube. They are intended to be carried lose in pockets and not pick up dirt nor lint in the Process. In Practice they shoot well as stated by those who used the,m and reported in the 'reloading .32 Rimfire' Thread (now about 27 pages long).

best Regards,
Chev. William

[BCB]

I shoot the N.E.I. 313-95-HEEL from my Model ’92 Marlin…

It can be a bit difficult to find equipment to do the sizing and crimping. I had a sizing die made from a wheel stud used on 18-wheelers. I then used a combination of a 30-30 LFC die and a push-thru stem for a Lee sizing die to get a crimp. Can’t really explain it but it is a strange setup with nothing going with anything else!!!...

The group I post is 5 shots with open sights. I shoot the rifle one in awhile, but reloading the rounds is tedious…

I use Liquid Alox as I am unsure how on would use sizing dies…

Good-luck…BCB