.32 acp

[silverman1]

Does anyone else reload .32 ACP ?
What mold do you use ?
The Lyman 84 gr.mold casts a ''lip'' or mini-wadcutter between the bullet dia.and ogive ,which hang up on the feed ramp.
The lee molds are a P poor design ,they do not have a decent ogive on them.
If i seat the bullet at MOL the slide is 1/8 infrom closing,the ogive hits the rifleing.
I have to seat the lee bullets with only 1/8 in of lead showing.
Looks like a .312 round ball set on a case.
They do not feed ,and the case bulges and will not chamber.
**** ! I allready cast 700 of them !
I have a WW1 Walther #5 ,WW1 french [spanish made ''ruby'' ,and a Walther pp,and love shooting all of them.
But am not going to re throat them,just cause LEE does not know how to make a mold.
Does making a swage die to reshape the ogive seem like the way to save these bullets? Or will I just compress the lube grooves?

[9.3X62AL]

The 84 grain Lyman mould you mention--is it #313249? If so, I use that design in 32 ACP (Walther PP) and it feeds well at .975" OAL. It also did so in a now-gone Beretta 81.

Ranch Dog has a cool 32 caliber tumble-lube design for the 32 ACP. Give it a look-see at his site.

I have a large lot of loads using #311252, Lyman's designated 32 ACP boolit. These run well at .975" OAL too.

[turbo1889]

I just had Tom at AM make me a design specifically for 32-ACP. I just received the mold a few days ago and have not yet been able to cast and load any from it but from my chamber and throat measurements from my guns it should work with only slight differences in sizing diameter and seating depth to accommodate slightly different throat diameters and depths on my collection of 32-ACP guns which are all mainly modern guns made in the last couple decades or so with no antiques or vintage in the mix.

I can't guarantee that it would work in your gun but it doesn't have an lip at the base of the nose that's for sure. It's nose design is intended to fit what I have found is the semi-common throat arrangement I have found in my collection of 32-ACP guns which seems to consist of about 0.03" to 0.09" of free-bore at major groove diameter or slightly more followed by a cone taper down to minor bore diameter with a total depth of the resulting throat from case mouth to complete rifling profile of between 0.14" to 0.20" with the major groove diameter varying from 0.311" to 0.314" and the minor groove diameter varying from 0.302" to 0.306" once again across my collection of 32-ACP guns. The feed ramp configurations also vary for the semi-auto guns (not all of mine are semi-auto pistols) with some that will feed almost anything and others which are very picky and need a specific ball nose shape to reliably feed. I got the nose as close as I could to something that would reliably feed in almost any feed-ramp.

Here is my original design schematic that I sent to Tom at AM:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6820637485_a9fc2d4cf3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/54455625@N04/6820637485/)

And here is a link to the boolit design in the Accurate Molds catalog (AM#31-087T):

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=31-087T-D.png



I ordered mine in 0.314" diameter which should work "as cast" for the guns with largest barrel dimensions and I can size down for those that need a smaller diameter to chamber.

Again, I just got the mold and haven't used it so the design isn't confirmed to work like I hope it will yet but I thought I'd give you a heads up upon seeing this thread by a fellow 32-ACP lover.

[turbo1889]

Also, just noticed that you asked about making a swaging die to reshape the nose and whether it would mess up the lube grooves. So long as you fill the lube grooves full of lube (lubra-sizer stick type lube not Lee liquid alox goo) and your swaging die has a straight section to surround the base of the boolit as well then you won't have a problem. If the grooves are full of lube the hydraulic force will keep them from collapsing. If you check out the swaging section of this forum for the threads about swaging cast boolits to change their shape or "bumping" them as they call it you will find that is the key to doing it. Namely, filling the lube grooves up with lube first before putting them through the swaging die.

[Rangefinder]

The Lee 93gr. is a bit long and causes issues with bulging when set deep enough to chamber--solve the OAL length and then the base bulges the brass and won't chamber anyway. SO, what I did was remove the sprew plate and work it slowly on my belt sander till the base was completely gone up to the bottom lube groove and then use a 5/16 bit to cut that groove into a new base. It went from dropping 94gr to an even 80gr, was able to seat to an OAL that would allow chambering without hanging up in the throat and into the riflings, and didn't bulge the base of the case. Runs like a champ now.

Here's the before and after:
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l259/hillsjim/DSCF5760.jpg

Sitting over 1.6gr red dot runs really nice, and I'm developing a load with Hodgdon Longshot at 1.8gr with reliable cycling. Don't worry about OAL and pressures so much--.32ACP is such a low pressure cartridge that you'd have to really try to cause problems. Seat to reliable feeding and chambering depth and let it ride.

Also, mine is a Ruby as well and it absolutely loves the shortened boolit over Red Dot.

[EMC45]

Great work Rangefinder!

[turbo1889]

Well didn't get to load or shoot any but I did manage to get a handful cast up at least and break in the mold:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6827307277_c59b05cd60_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/54455625@N04/6827307277/)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6827308165_7490c1654e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/54455625@N04/6827308165/)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6827307361_580539e848_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/54455625@N04/6827307361/)

[GBertolet]

I use the Lyman 311252. It feeds well in both of my Mausers, and shoots to point of aim. I like Titegroup powder the best for my loads.

[zardoz]

silverman:

Here is a little project I did almost three years ago, and still works like a charm for my Kel-Tec P32. It uses the Lee mould with the 2R ogive, but cut down to one lube groove.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=49925&highlight=32acp+project

[Rangefinder]

Zardoz>> Looks like you came away with a great shooting boolit on your project too! Well done!