question about 32 acp sizes?

[35remington]

Bore diameter versus groove diameter definition:

https://www.americanrifleman.org/art...oove-diameter/

[JWFilips]

Fatter is better! When it comes to cast!

[dondiego]

Well, I am fat, and I cast, that is good to know!

[Boolseye]

My CZ 70 slugs at .308", I size to .309" and they shoot great.
I'm going to size to .311" from now on though. Better neck tension, some cases are loose, others are fine. Don't know why there's so much variability with .32 acp cases!

[Outpost75]

Here is velocity test of jacketed bullets of different diameters in .32 ACP with same +P powder charge of 3 grains of AutoComp, measured with RCBS Little Dandy Rotor #0 in Starline cases with Federal 200 primers. This load is absolutely NOT for Beretta Tomcats or Keltecs, because you WILL crack frame, but is OK for sound STEEL FRAME Colt M1903, Beretta M1935, CZ27, CZ50, Walther PP.

DO NOT use in older Savage, original Remington 51 or any light alloy frame!

Ammunition ______________Beretta Tomcat 2.4”____Beretta M1935 3.4”

WW2 Geco Steel Cased 74-gr. FMJ__907 fps, 14 Sd_________977 fps, 11 Sd
WW2 WRA 73-grain FMJ__________923 fps, 28 Sd_________1001 fps, 15 Sd
RWS 73-grain FMJ______________896 fps, 29 Sd__________981 fps, 16 Sd
Buffalo Bore 75-grain LFN________883, fps, 6 Sd__________997 fps, 7 Sd

Hdy85XTP.312” LD#0 3.0 AutoComp+P__853, 23 Sd______976, 8 Sd
Hdy90XTP.309” LD#0 3.0 AutoComp+P__868, 12 Sd______968, 17 Sd
Nor93FMJ .307” LD#0 3.0 AutoComp+P__856, 6 Sd_______933, 11 Sd

Water Jug Expansion Test of Hdy 90-gr. XTP .309"(left) and 85-gr. XTP .312" (right) with 3.0 grains AutoComp, fired from Beretta Tomcat with 2.4" barrel. FOR STEEL FRAME GUNS ONLY, my Beretta Tomcat FRAME CRACKED after firing several hundred of these loads! I still use them in my Beretta 1935, Walther PP and Colt M1903 Type III, after replacing the standard .32 ACP recoil spring with heavier-duty Wolff .380 ACP equivalent replacements.

Attachment 192817

[OuchHot!]

Thank you very much Outpost! You just got me going on another project. Your Sd are pretty nice.

[mistermog]

Interesting. I slugged my kommer and picked up a cz70. They slugged 307 and 308 respectively. My h&r 32sw long slugged at 311.

[GhostHawk]

Well I know I am raising this thread from the dead. So be it.

Looking hard at a Vz 70 from Classic Firearms at 200$.

Will start with 100 rounds of PPU ammo pretty reasonably priced same location, and a spare mag.
Whole package with shipping and FFL will put me about 5$ over 300. Seems like fun to me.

https://www.classicfirearms.com/czec...acp-semi-auto/

I have a Cz-52 in 7.62x25.

I'm thinking I will really dig this almost brother in .32acp.

[mattw]

My CZ 70 slugs at .308", I size to .309" and they shoot great.
I'm going to size to .311" from now on though. Better neck tension, some cases are loose, others are fine. Don't know why there's so much variability with .32 acp cases!

32ACP cases do vary a bunch. US makers tend to make the brass thinner than European manufacturers. I only have 2 32ACP's, a CZ70 and a Kel-tec P32. I have settled on .3105 to .311 as my goto diameter. The CZ70 slugs out at a little over .309 and the Kel-tec is a very roomy .311. To deal with brass variances I have 2 size dies, both Lee. The first is a standard size die and is used on the Euro brass and some newer W-W brass. The second is a -.002 sizer that I use on most US brass, this allows them to have a reasonable amount of neck tension on the smaller diameter cast boolits. I sort my brass by headstamp and load by boxes of the same headstamp. I have become very fond of G.F.L. (Fiocchi) brass, it holds up well and seems to be more consistent to me.

The CIP chamber is tighter and the lead in is much shorter to non-existant when compared to the few US chambers I have had the chance to look at. It is my belief that the CZ70 really needs the lead in increased a small amount to allow for proper chambering of any boolets with a forward driving band. But, this could be the fault of my one CIP chambered example gun. Otherwise the CZ70 is heck of a nice pistol, aside from the DA trigger.

[gun_slinger_boy]

I'd like to resurrect this thread to offer my experience and help anyone that may find this post searching the internetz. I've reloaded many different calibers with many different bullet types for over the past 10 years+ and this is what I've found to be the case with 32 ACP. Problems with reloading this fun little cartridge will come down to either bullet diameter or case thickness (so basically both). You either need thin case thickness with a wider bullet diameter or a thick case thickness with a thinner bullet diameter.

I load 78gr cast PC bullets that mic out at .313 with Fiocchi brass that I've had for a long time. All from the same lot. This brass is visually and tactilely much thicker than American brands. If I tried to load the bullets at .313 they will not even come close to chambering in the Vz61. Wouldn't even get a quarter of the way in. That's because you can clearly see the coke bottle effect (bulge) on the case when using it in the European brass. A .313 bullet is simply too wide for this particular brass.

When first starting load development I quickly saw what was happening and knew that the bullets would have to be sized down. I started with .311 and nothin doin. .310 and still a no go. .309 was workable but still sticky on extraction of completed rounds. So it ended up being sized down to .308 for them to feed and extract flawlessly. I've never slugged my chamber/bore because I found what worked but this leads me to believe that the VZ61 or at least MY 61 has a .307 bore. We also know that European ammo tends to use smaller diameter bullets in some of their calibers.

And on my last note I'll talk about crimp. This too is also very important especially if you have a tight chamber. Even sizing the bullets down to .308, without the proper crimp it still has the tiniest bit of stickiness. This is exacerbated by the fact that you should (at least I do) flare your necks a bit more than for a jacketed bullets when using PC bullets to preserve the powder coat. There is no mystery to a proper crimp for an auto. In autos the crimp is for cleaning up the flare and NOT for bullet retention. In fact if you apply too much crimp it can allow the bullet to both set back and or jump forward slightly. A properly seated bullet should take several good wacks with a kinetic puller to come free even with zero crimp. Simply look for the SAAMI specs of the caliber you're loading and use that! For 32 ACP the case should measure .337 (maximum) right at the case mouth. I like to set mine to .336-.335 for added feeding reliably. There should be very little to no evidence of a crimp on your bullet if you pull it.

I hope this may be of some help to someone someday roaming the web in search for answers.

[JWFilips]

Interesting... why is oversize so bad in every other caliber except 32s? Heh my old h&r swL is a .311. That'd be .004 over the acp?

Well Don't know where you heard that but that is bull crap!
I shoot over size in all my cast bullet guns ! Pistol & rifle!

[warren5421]

I have 2 Bertta 1935's and 2 Colt 1903 Model III's that I shoot at 25 yards, good days off bench 2"-3" per magazine but bad days 5"-7". I carry one of the Colts from paints on, to paints off. My Colt is loaded with 2.2 gr Red Dot, Winchester small pistol primers, cast lead Hunter Supply 76 gr FP sized to .313, OAL .943. See: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-%96-0-32ACP-1

[Green Frog]

There was a recent thread somewhere discussing the fact that in some circles the International Precision (Bullseye) shooters are going from 32 S&W L wad cutters to 32 ACP. I have to wonder what land and groove diameter those guys are using, and the bullet diameter of the highly accurate factory ammo and reloads they are using would be(?) Those guys are shooting tiny groups at 25 (and 50?) meters, so you know inherent accuracy has to be a good primary concern. Are any of you, our forum readers, participating in such activities, and would you be willing to share and enlighten?

Froggie