mild round ball loads for 32 & 38 S&W... anyone play ???

[Gun_Nut_2k1]

I still haven't found a holster maker that has replyed to me about a holster or two for the tiny 32 S&W framed guns... the last top break picture I posted is my Safety Police snubbie & a J Frame paddle holster, which "works"... but the little gun really swims around in a J Frame holster... I'd like to get a bit fancier one for my 3.5" barrel engraved 32 for dressier BBQ type uses & plainer more utilitarian one for that 32 snubbie, if anyone knows someone who can make holsters for the small frame guns reasonably ???

I hope I am not out of line here as I just registered but I make holsters. Infact I made a couple for a friend on just the same gun with a longer barrel. PM me if you like and we can talk.







This is a crossdraw based on a 1940s design.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Thanks for the offer ( & I will keep you in mind for future work ), but I have since found several vintage holsters, that fit several key pieces of my collection, & have been in contact with several forum members on another forum, that are custom holster makers, & they are encouraging me to start making my own... to get my feet wet, I've been restoring an old Heiser tooled leather holster that I got in a box of 8 assorted holsters that I paid $20.00 for the whole lot... that so far has been going well enough, that I've begun to expiriement with altering a couple others I have that fit other guns ( namely a full sized Dan Wesson 44 mag snubbie, & a Ruger Alaskan in 454 Casull ) these are very heavy but small guns, so I'm expirimenting with a different ( I've never seen this style or type ) of belt loops before, that should offer more support for the heavier guns, & am altering one holster I already had, & another I found in that box of 8, that fit... but anyway, after I get my feet wet this summer, I expect I'll be making my own holsters by the time winter gets here, as I have more spare time during the winter months

[Gun_Nut_2k1]

after I get my feet wet this summer, I expect I'll be making my own holsters by the time winter gets here, as I have more spare time during the winter months

It is a lot of fun and rewarding work. Just go slow and remember not to rush. let the dye dry, wait for the glue to set, etc. Feel free to PM if you have any questions. Good luck and have fun.

[Shooter6br]

This is mine

[Magnum Wheel Man]

Thanks... I'll take all the help I can get...

nice 32 Long...

I've bought several more since I 1st posted this... I counted 24 - 32 & 38 S&W's, along with a couple with a couple old 22's after this looks like unfired 22 US Revolver

[Multigunner]

I have a little .32 Iver Johnson Safety Hammerless.
Its a rebuilt, sort of anyway, basket case.
I'd found it disassembled and covered with rust in a plastic bag in a basket of assorted junk at a gunshow.
I got it back into semi safe shooting condition, but while I've fired factory .32 S&W in it I don't entirely trust it.

I had made up a few BP loads with home made wadcutters made by cutting the base off some cast .311 bullets. This worked okay.
I did buy a box of the round balls meant for the .31 Cap&Ball revolvers, I plan to make a few light RB loads one day.

I've used .36 (.375) round balls pounded through a 23/64 hole in a steel slab to size them to .359 as light ball loads for a .38 Special snubnose. I used about 0ne grain of Bullseye which gave about the same velocity as the same lead ball from a Wrist Rocket sling shot.

I use old leather eyeglass cases as inside the pants holsters for small frame pistols. I found few at a salvage store years ago. They usually work fine for small frame autos and revolvers. The steel spring pocket clip holds them securely enough.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

thanks for the replys... thought since this thread found new life, I'd show you what I've been up to lately...

this is my new favorite... a S&W model 1.5 32 S&W spur trigger... the interesting thing about this one, is that it had the barrel shortened & re-nickeled long ago the muzzle & replaced front sight match the barrel, which matches the rest of the gun as far as wear... this was ( & still is ) a 1st class gun a 100 years ago, so it likely belonged to a gangster or gambler, a big city detective, or a high class hooker ??? anyway, I had this old 25 acp holster, & it fits the lil spur trigger like it was made for it... the gun is tight & shoots like new... this one was tested with my round ball loads & has been worked up to 76 grain cast bullets, & shoots nicely...



I didn't have any "original" snubbies in 38 S&W ( & wanted a couple short barrels for chrony testing ) so, I had this U.S. Revolver that was pretty run of the mill, shortened to a snubbie...



we filed lines in the sight rib to obliterate the original 1/2 name & patent dates, after shortening the barrel, & re-stamped the top U.S. Revolver, these were made by Iver Johnson, & in case I ever swap out the grips for something after market, I wanted to remember that this was a U.S. Revolver



just after ( I liked my S&W 32 spur trigger so much ) I found this spur trigger in 38 S&W, that works much better than it looks, so we shortened the barrel on that to match the 32... I don't have a pic of that since completed, but it's now ready for refinishing... it's not pitted, so I'm himming & hawwing between a re-nickel, or a master blueing ???



I found a nice Heiser holster for my engraved 32 for BBQ use...

[DIRT Farmer]

You could look at buckshot a 5lb bag will last a while.
I have a H&A 32 long that I carried for a trap line gun. I ran my traps at night and a .319 rb in a 32 ( short) case with a sprinkle of red dot, I don't rember how mutch would dispach a coon and not get the CO called on you. It worked well.

[evan price]

I'm working on gallery loads myself.

I picked up an old H&R 732 snub-nose revolver in .32 S&W Long.

I already had a baggie of 32 Long brass from the Nagant revolver.

I am using Hornady #0 buckshot in the 5# box. These are about 49 grains in weight, and made of antimonious lead like magnum shot.

I don't have .32 Long dies, so I am using my Lee .32 ACP dies (no need for them, since I sold the KelTec .32 I had, and a Scout is thrifty after all...)

When adjusted right, they work for this application. I have to have the seater/crimper die turned almost all the way out of the press but the seater stem turned in as far as it will go to seat and crimp. It winds up swaging the round ball into a sort of elongated spheroid shape as it is seated in the case mouth, and the roll crimp seals the lead onto the brass. No need for grease or anything here. It almost looks like a wadcutter when loaded into the case, the seater leaves a mark on the nose.

IIRC I am loading to 1.040" OAL.

I tried first IMR 800-X powder because I already have a load for .25 acp using 800-X. Started at 2.5 grains 800-X and worked my way up to 4.0 grains. At 2.5 there was flakes of unburnt powder and the cases were sooted up solid, but there was almost no recoil or report to speak of. By 4.0 grains 800-X, it sealed the case nicely and there was a good report, but not much kick. This was about 1/2 the case full of powder. I don't have a chrono so I didn't want to get crazy with it. 800-X is a good medium speed powder but it meters like trying to fit dimes through the powder measure. Very uneven powder throws (just like Unique) and I had to throw, measure, reject, rethrow a few times until it was going evenly. Not fun especially considering the small .32 Long cartridge volume... And I thought I coulld do better with a faster powder and get it all burnt in the 2.5" barrel of the H&R 732.

So, I tried my old standyby, Titegroup, which is a very fast powder like Red Dot or Clays. Started with 2.0 grains Titegroup- The 2.0 grain loads burnt completely but were very sooty. It got better as I went up the ladder. At 3.0 grains it wasn't bad. At 3.5 grains, it sealed the .32 chamber, wasn't sooty, and sent the pellet out with some authority. Again, no chrony, so not gonna go any hotter, but had no pressure signs, no sticky brass, no flat primers. Looked normal to me. I already load 3.5 grains of Titegroup for .38 Special with 158-gr LSWC and it meters well for me so no changes to the powder measure. This was actually a nice shooting load. Accuracy at 8-10 paces was inside a paper plate, I could cover the holes with my palm.

The light loads would not penetrate light sheet metal (an old toaster) just left little round dents. The 4.0 of 800-X went into the toaster. The 3.5 grain Titegroup loads went through both sides of the toaster... I recovered a pellet from a light load and it had fit into the rifling nicely. I recovered a pellet from the 3.5 Titegroup load and it was flattened like you would expect. Consider again, no pressure signs at 3.5 gr Titegroup, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it shoots...but, the H&R 732 is all steel with a side-open cylinder, not top-break. I wouldn't think that a cast frame black powder top-break would like it for long.

That's my results so far, I suppose pictures are in order sometime. Roundball loads are a step back I suppose, but cheap and fun, and in a pinch, I could reload them without more than a pair of pliers I suppose, or a brick and a piece of rod..

[Three44s]

Interesting thread!

I got into RB loading several years ago and invested in a 2 cav Lee in .433 for my .44 mags

I later discovered LLA and need to go back and refresh my work with the RB's.

At that time I was using the Wonder Wads that are popular with some BP shooters. If you let those loads get too warm (as in sitting in the sun) ...... the lube will sweat into your smokeless powder and give you squibs.

One thing about those wonder wads however: Leading gets the heave hoe!!!

I worked with other various wadding techniques and often smeared some regular cast bullet lube on the wad and seated in behind the RB.

Regards

Three 44s

[Magnum Wheel Man]

I've got a really accurate 32 S&W round ball load, & have since moved on to light cast bullets in the guns that can handle them ( in 32 ) so I'll be loading a light & accurate target round with the round balls, & keeping a harder hiting cast bullet load... still working on best 38 S&W loads for round balls I got from MASSCASTER... & want to get a light cast bullet load for the 38 S&W as well... still waiting on some cases from Starline... only have 100 so far, so that slows me down as far as expirementing was looking at doing a 45 round ball load for an old Belgian bulldog style revolver, but while the gun functions, I don' think it's up to enough shooting to develope a load for

[lonnydk]

I bought just this year, a Lee double cavity .360 and a .311 round ball moulds from Mid-South Shooters Supply. Great fun!

[Oyeboten]

I have not tried making any Round Ball Cartridges for .38 S&W, but, I did make some up and tried 'em, for .45 Colt.

I was scared to use smokeless, since I was using Double Ball, and I did not know how to judge the Loading Density, were the lower Ball to drop down too far.

So, I used 3f BP.

The Double Ball Rounds make one neat Hole in a Paper Target at 10 Yards...and, clocked 662 FPS out of a 7-1/2 inch Barrel Bisley Colt reproduction, and, 500-ish FPS out of an old Colt 'New Service' 2-1/4 inch Barrel 'Snubby'.

Balls weigh about 140 Grains each...so, it was a 280 Grain package, projectile wise, with about 18 Grains of BP being used, and mushed down 'good' for compression.

Fun!

[Shooter6br]

I use lee 90 g or Lee 93 RN with a light load of Universal The sights are horrible, at 10 yrs I just point and shoot. With a light load of Universal 880 fps with 90 g It falls in the 380 auto short barrel energy range. I keep mine in the living room in a metal candy box .Will not replace my Sig 250 45acp but ...........

[Alferd Packer]

Like a step into a time machine

[Wayne Smith]

I have my grandmother's 32 H&R shorty and load a piece of buckshot over 1gr Bullseye. Haven't chroned it. I have noticed that the buckshot I have is not consistent in size - I run it through a Lyman .32 bullet sizer I have and load it that way.