Oldies but goodies

[BOSCHLOPER]

I picked up a 32 mag. Single Six "Baby Vaquero" on the clearance rack at the lgs, new old stock, about 2 years after Ruger stopped making them. From a decent rest I don't have any trouble hitting the 200 yd gongs, so it is accurate in my book. Great shooter and nice to carry. My load is the Lyman 313249 and any pistol powder on the shelf, red dot to 2400. Great gun and great cartridge.

[GhostHawk]

Tommorow!

Weather warmed up, have 100 rounds of factory ammo, and 200 of mine loaded and ready.

[GhostHawk]

Well I came, I saw, I cried, and I conquored. Mixed results.

The nickle plated one which I have been in my mind calling nickie, left me crying.

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Little blackie on the other hand took me to the top of the mountain.
Left me full of hope and potential and happy as I could be with my new toys.

Both were a pleasure to shoot, barely more recoil than a .22lr, a bit more pop, but not noisy. Truly fun to shoot.

While I was there I took one more swing at my "car" gun. A 120$ Pheonix Arms HP-22a that I have modified slightly to remove some objectionable safety features.

Like unable to open the action with the safety on. Or remove the Magazine. And of course the "can't fire the loaded round with the magazine removed".

These are not expensive guns. And not hard to work on. But I have never really been able to get it to do quite what I want. Well today it did.

[GhostHawk]

Mine is actually the longer black barrel only in silver, on a black frame.

For the first time it really paid attention and put them all in a nice group.

Just as an FYI all rounds were fired with me sitting in a chair, bracing my elbow on a small sandbag. 20 foot for all targets.

All were fired single action. Not even concerned at this point how they will shoot in double. Was just looking to get a feel for what they are capable of.

Nickie at 20 feet, aimed center of mass should put most of them into the chest.

Blackie on the other hand while not quite up to choosing which eyeball yet, is showing promise and potential for better to come.

24 rounds fired, less than 2$ to reload them. Little more oomph than a .22lr and yet not so much as to tingle my hands or ears.

Yeah, daddy's happy with his new toys.

[EMC45]

GhostHawk I had a blued one just like your "Blackie" years back. It shot well. It did prefer the lighter Lyman 311-252 to the heavier bullets, but it would group 'em well.

I am a .32 S&W-L fanatic. I was telling a buddy yesterday that I could shoot the .32s all day and not want for anything else.

My father had the silver Phoenix .22 like you have. I JB welded the swinging safety on the side of the slide. It got loose and kept swinging into position and rendering the gun "safe", and not being able to fire it. The JB fixed it. My Dad's is accurate like yours. They are fun little pistols.

[Petrol & Powder]

It has been a long time since I played with the 32 S&W long and the 32 H&R mag. but they are both excellent cartridges.
Most of my time was with a Ruger Single-Six in 32 H&R mag. Somewhere along the line I decided to reduce the number of different cartridges I reloaded and the 32 gear went away, followed by the guns. Big mistake but such is life.

My 32 adventure occurred long before I starting casting so all of my bullets were purchased from commercial vendors. I loaded the 32 S&W long with some type of round nosed bullet, I don't remember exactly what it was. That cartridge was fun to shoot. My primary bullet for the 32 H&R mag was some type of solid wadcutter, generally purchased at a gun show. The 32 H&R mag was an awesome cartridge and I really regret that I moved away from it.
The 32 revolver cartridges never held my attention like the 38 Special. Looking back now with near perfect hindsight , I realize the 32's are economical with their small demands for lead and powder.

[GhostHawk]

JB would be one way to do it.

I took the grip off, the part of the safety that lies beneath the grip is actually quite large.
One "spur" goes to the mag release, locking it when on safe. I nipped that off.

Another bigger bit goes back to "catch" the slide, preventing it from being opened when on safe. I broke that off with a pair of pliers.

The magazine disconnect was just a matter of lifting a little bar up. Then I used a paper clip stuck into place with a little hot melt glue to hold it in just the right place.

Grand total 5 minutes.

We have two of those, one for each car. Never needed them, but nice to know they are available if we do.

Really enjoyed shooting the little .32's today. Just pleasant shooting. Nice little pop, virtually no recoil, or muzzle blast. Just pop.

[EMC45]

JB would be one way to do it.

I took the grip off, the part of the safety that lies beneath the grip is actually quite large.
One "spur" goes to the mag release, locking it when on safe. I nipped that off.

Another bigger bit goes back to "catch" the slide, preventing it from being opened when on safe. I broke that off with a pair of pliers.

The magazine disconnect was just a matter of lifting a little bar up. Then I used a paper clip stuck into place with a little hot melt glue to hold it in just the right place.

Grand total 5 minutes.

We have two of those, one for each car. Never needed them, but nice to know they are available if we do.

Really enjoyed shooting the little .32's today. Just pleasant shooting. Nice little pop, virtually no recoil, or muzzle blast. Just pop.

Now I wish I still had access to my Dad's. I could do all those things and make it a little more agreeable.

I loaded 50 more rounds of .32 S&W-L. Lyman clone 3118 115gr. over 3gr. Unique. This is a heavy little sucker for the S&W-L and it shoots well.

[GhostHawk]

EMC you can find those new on Bud's for 109$ some days.

I have 2, one in each car. Both are in small zippered bags. Gun is unloaded, 2 loaded mag's and a full 100 round plastic box of CCI Mini-mag hollowpoints in with the gun.

Slap the mag home, jerk the slide back and your ready. Both cars have a small door "pocket" built into the bottom of the door panel. Both just about totally disappear, but they go nowhere.

I could carry, I can legally CC in ND with no classes, or fees, license, etc. I guess I just don't like to admit that I have to CC in Fargo ND to feel safe. But if that ever changes I will.

I think if I ever did little "Blackie" would be my #1 choice.

I have to admit I debated long and hard about load for these.
I checked all my manuals, found loads from 1.8 gr of Red Dot up to 2.6 or 2.7. But Outpost75 in one of a flurry of PM's about these said something about 2 gr of Red Dot. So I decided to start easy and see.

I have to admit they are a pleasure to shoot. I will be shooting them often.

Would like to find something reasonable with a little longer barrel and little better sights. There are lots of Ruger Single Six's out there in .32SW long. But the price is a little higher than I like.

[GhostHawk]

Been thinking about my little .32sw long that likes to shoot big patterns.
Today while mulling this over in my head my eye happened to land on a bottle marked 00 buck, about half full.

Hmmm I go, that is bigger. Wonder if that will go through a .314 lee sizer.

Hmmm, little grunt, not bad. So I ran about 30 of them.

Then took my 24 empty once fired brass, sized, deprimed, expanded, primed, charged with 2 grains of Red Dot.

Weighed a couple of those buckshot. 51 grains give or take a tenth or 2. Hmmmm.

Well lets see.

Have not shot them yet, time will tell.

They sure look purty.

Sizing put definate sides on them, flattened the base a bit. I concentrated on putting sprues towards the pusher. So they have nice hemispherical heads.

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[Thumbcocker]

Check out Frank Marshall's article on the SWOB (swaged oblong round ball). He was a fan and his articles are great reading.