New member with questions.....

[Woodsman 22]

Hello everyone;

As the title says, I am new to casting bullets (but not to shooting). One of my questions is, what is a "top punch" used for and how is it used? My second question is how heavy a bullet can be used to reload for the .32 acp cartridge? I shoot a Bersa .32 "Thunder" pistol among others. I have found only one mold available for the .32 acp cartridge and that is a Lyman mold, round nose profile and 75 grain in weight. Is 75 grains as heavy as you can go with this little cartridge? Those are my questions.
I have bought a set of Lyman mold handles, a cast iron lead melting pot, lead dipper, bullet lube, a Lee Classic Turret press, 9mm dies, 9mm Makarov dies, lube, and most of the basics (oh, and I have a Lee 9mm mold/handle set which is not very impressive compared to that Lyman handle and dies). This is what I have so far. If anyone has any suggestions as to furthering the equipment inventory, please let me know. I would value any answers to the questions that I posed above. I am glad to havefound this online resource - it looks really comprehensive! Thanks in advance for any bits of wisdom you may care to pass on to me.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

1. A top punch is used, on lubesizers (E.g. Lyman 4500, RCBS LAM II) to push on the boolit nose, pushing the boolit into the sizing die.
2. Don't know.

[Woodsman 22]

Thank you Nocturnal Stumblebutt! I appreciate any info in answer to my questions.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

as far as advice, the Lee molds may not be as "impressive" as Lyman, but they are extremely affordable and work well, thus allowing you to experiment with different boolit designs for significantly less money, so don't shy away from Lee molds.

[saint_iverson]

To add to what noc said, a top punch should be of an appropriate size and contour as to not mar or deform the boolit. What is happening is the top punch presses the boolit base first into the sizing die for sizing and lubrication.

If you have the wrong "shape" for the nose, or size, you with blunt a round nose or "ring" the top. Will try to attach a pic.

[saint_iverson]

55625

The 9mm on the left was sized with a top punch (TP) designed for a tuncated cone (TC) or SWC boolit

[Bent Ramrod]

As to the second question, it isn't so much a matter of boolit weight, it's the length that governs whether it is going to work or not. You are limited to an OAL by your magazine and feed system. Any added weight will either make the nose more squarish, like a SWC, and might cause feeding problems, or lengthen the part of the boolit in the case, which will cut down powder space and raise pressures. You can offset this problem by reducing the powder charge, but then you may slow down the velocity to the point the rifling twist won't stabilize the longer boolit. Any .32 boolit design heavier than yours is also likely to be sized for a .32 S&W revolver, which means you may have to size it down a few extra thousandths to get it to work. There was the obsolete Ideal 311227, which was 90 grains, for the .30 Mauser (I think), which might show up on E-bay from time to time. This would have to be seated in deeper, but it is a round nose.

It would basically be a lot of cut and try to get a heavier boolit to work in your .32 auto. There probably wouldn't be a lot of ballistic gain in the effort, but I can't say for sure.

[MtGun44]

Actually a top punch pushes a boolit BASE FIRST into a sizing die.
It should fit the nose so as to not damage it.

Bill

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

Actually a top punch pushes a boolit BASE FIRST into a sizing die.
It should fit the nose so as to not damage it.

Bill

Correct, I mean't to say that the top punch pushes the boolit, on its nose, down into the sizing die, thanks for the correction.

[MtGun44]

Minor point, but didn't want to confuse the new guy.

Bill

[rintinglen]

RCBS makes a similar mold to the 311-252, their number is 82021 their 32-77RN, IIRC.
Ranch Dog, bless his soul, used to offer a truncated cone 6 cavity Lee Custom mold that was similar in weight, he is shutting down, more's the pity but might have one left. I have also used the RCBS-32-84 grain mold to make boolits for my 32 ACP, but it prints far afield from the point of aim in limited testing in my Beretta Tomcat. I have a 311-419 that I'd like to try one of these days if I ever get around to buying a check maker--4 cents a peice for gas checks rubs me the wrong way.
Somebody here converted, or had converted a Lee 311-93 2R to make a 70'ish grain roundnose bullet. That might be an option if you are or have access to, a good machinist.

I use the Ranch Dog design these days, simply because it makes 6 at a time, but I made do with Lyman 2 cavity molds for quite a few years, and still use several of them a lot.