Forming 32-40

[Nobade]

Anybody making 32-40 from Starline 38-55? Were you able to do it with reloading dies or did you need form dies?

[Triggerfinger]

Rcbs 38-55 cb dies.

[DonMountain]

I tried it with LEE dies with many failures. Bought an old set of Pacific dies off of our favorite auction site and they have a far superior finish and I had no failures after that. The LEE dies are just machined too rough to do the initial resizing of cases. My RCBS die sets also have a superior finish and would be a set of dies I would choose for this conversion.

[bosterr]

Somebody told me if you could run the 38-55 brass into a 38-55 size die first you could eliminate the wrinkle problem when it's run into the 32-40 die. The idea is to size out dents first. I don't have a 38-55 size die but will try a 375 JDJ die and try at least re-round the neck area. My 32-40 dies are RCBS.

[EDG]

Starline brass in other straight cases is not annealed as shipped. It will form better if you lightly anneal the forward 1/3 of the case.
I just finished forming 45-90 cases down to a necked configuration and I cracked some of the cases until I annealed them.

Before forming use your expander to round up the case mouths and get rid of any and all dents. Then FL size in your .38-55 FL die.
If going straight to the 32-40 FL seems to be a problem you might use a .35 Rem or .358 Win as intermediate form dies.

[AntiqueSledMan]

I formed 30-30 into 32-40, ran them through an RCBS 32 Special Die first then through a LEE 32-40 die.
No issues, but my LEE dies are about 30 years old. The reason I used the RCBS 32 Special die is because the LEE expander/deprimer mandrel kept sliding on me while going from .30 to .32 diameter. LEE used a tapered pipe thread with a slit to clamp the expander/deprimer mandrel in place.

AntiqueSledMan.

[uscra112]

I formed 30-30 into 32-40, ran them through an RCBS 32 Special Die first then through a LEE 32-40 die.
No issues, but my LEE dies are about 30 years old. The reason I used the RCBS 32 Special die is because the LEE expander/deprimer mandrel kept sliding on me while going from .30 to .32 diameter. LEE used a tapered pipe thread with a slit to clamp the expander/deprimer mandrel in place.

AntiqueSledMan.

I despise that Lee dies feature. I tack-weld 'em once I have 'em set.

[CamoWhamo]

I have used a 32-40 F/L die as the first step to forming 25-35.

I was mainly using Winchester 30-30 brass but i did try with a couple of starline 38-55 cases and they formed into 32-40 just fine.

[Texas by God]

Will a 32-40 cartridge fireform to a .32 Special if fired in a rifle so chambered? Curious, not gonna do it.

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[Nobade]

Will a 32-40 cartridge fireform to a .32 Special if fired in a rifle so chambered? Curious, not gonna do it.

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32-40 is quite a bit longer. It shouldn't chamber unless you trim it. Once that is done it should fireform just fine.

[WALLNUTT]

I formed a couple of hundred 38 55 to 32 40 but had to anneal first to avoid creases. Many say annealing is unnecessary but only lost 1 case after annealing about a third of the case as EDG stated but didn't need a form die.

[Nobade]

Thanks for the info folks. That is a pretty big swage down, so it's good to know that it can be done.

[Green Frog]

Back when all I could get was Winchester 38-55 cases, I had good luck using a minimal amount of Imperial Sizing Die Wax on new brass right out of the box and carefully using two or three short passes with my very old RCBS FL sizing die for 32-40. As long as I didn’t get too heavy handed and go too deeply on a single pass, this worked fine, otherwise I got small, linear “grease dents” which usually ironed out on the first firing.

All of tha being said, if I were starting with new Starline brass today, I’d probably anneal it a little then pretty much follow the same technique.

Froggie