7.65 French Long from 32 S&W Long

[Phil]

Had the guys at the shop make me a tool to convert 32 Long cases to rimless for the 7.65 French Long. I copied the rim and extractor groove from a couple of French factory rounds. Made a mandrel to fit the case interior and the guys made me a clamp to clamp the cases to the mandrel. Works slick as all get out. Now all I have to do is trim them and I'm ready to go. Beats buying way overpriced factory cases!

Cheers,

Phil

[KCSO]

That is how I make my 30 Remington rounds. I use a collet chuck made to fit the 30-30 case but the clamp is a neat idea.

[scrapcan]

Phil,

There is more than just your cas conversion mandrel tools in that picture. Nice cutter tool that you have ground for cutting the extractor groove. Also a bit of tooling on the chuck.

thanks for sharing the photo and wish that tool was setting in a shop at my house. No telling what kind of trouble I would get into.

[9.3X62AL]

Phil--

RCBS/Huntington's has a shell holder for the 7.65 French pistol round. I guess that makes two of us that load the 32 Super Auto now.

[Phil]

Hi Deputy Al, I ordered that very shell holder this morning. Of course, its backordered at Midway. Measuring everything, the 32 Long/Mag dies seem that they will work ok.
What do you shoot in yours? I've been thinking of trying the Hornady 85 grain HP, and the group buy Lee six cavity 120 grain FN boolit. Loading data seems to be rather scarce. I was thinking that a guy might start at 32ACP mid range dope and work up. The only problem is, work up to what? No need to really hot rod the thing, I have better guns to hot rod. Just want something that will work reliably.

I've had two of the things, both A models, and they were both fitted tighter than lots of target guns I've seen. Thats what gave me the bug to see how good I could really get one to shoot.

manleyjt, the cutter was made on a wire machine. Both ends of the tool blank were cut so if anything ever happens to one end I'll still have a good end. The tool was made with a flat top so if it ever needs touched up you can just grind the top a bit and be good to go. The other end is at 180 degrees so regrinding one end won't affect the other end. Cuts brass like hot butter. Yeah, a lathe is a handy thing to have in your garage. I use it mostly for fitting barrels and truing actions. But, it seems that I keep it busy doing about anything that needs to be done. I've cut lots of reloading dies down, made trim dies, on and on. Just a handy tool to have.

I saw one of these pistols listed at Checkpoint Charlies last night for over $500! I think it was nazi marked though. Wish I'd have bought a ton of that factory ammo when it was almost giveaway back in the sixties or seventies.

Cheers all,

Phil

[45 2.1]

Yeah, that case conversion works fine. The thing is when you fire them in that French auto. The case rims will get eat up in very short order. I did this back in the 80's with a couple of a friends Frenchies. The extractor is set up for those original steel case rims and for this to work right you will have to balance that spring out so it doesn't eat brass case rims. It eats up the Old western scroungers case rims somewhat less also.

[9.3X62AL]

Phil--

I'm using a lot of brass I found in Shotgun News several years ago that was made from 32 S&W Long brass as you have done. I started with top-end 32 ACP data, Bullseye--Unique--231. These loads almost functioned the pistol with the Hornady .312" 85 grain XTP and Lyman #313249. +5% got things running pretty well, +10% was better. The specs for the cartridge show 1115 FPS with 85 grain bullet as service intensity, so I suspect +20% of 32 ACP powder weights could be safe--but I haven't tried it in my "A" model. They are cool-looking little critters, kind of like a SIG P-210 that shrunk in the wash. The 32 S&W Long/Magnum die set works well for this caliber, as does the 32 ACP set.

You might try ordering that shell holder direct from RCBS/Huntington's, if Midway doesn't have an ETA for the tool.

[Phil]

Hi Al,

Yes, the A model looks like a non sanfordized Sig. The shell holder is due in about the middle of the month, I'm ok with that. I'm going to make a trim die so I've got time to wait anyhow. Thanks for the load dope, I think we're on the same page on that. I just wanted to confirm with someone who had actually been shooting one. All I ever shot in the one I had years ago was the very cheap GI stuff.

45 2.1, I made up about 35 cases just to see how they worked and make sure everything was ok before I make up a couple hundred only to find out that something needed to be done differently. I did section a case after I machined it to make sure there was plenty of web left. Looks like it will be ok on that score.


Cheers,

Phil