32LC to 32SW Long

[John Allen]

Has anyone reamed a chamber from 32 long colt to 32 SW long? Is it even possible? I have a ballard that I thought about doing this to so it would be easier to reload for as 32 long colt is pretty impossible to find.

What do you guys think?

Thanks John

[texassako]

I looked into it since I have a .32 Rimfire roller converted to centerfire. It will clean up the .32 LC chamber, unless it was cut long. It probably will not clean up a worn or pitted throat since they are the same length. The extractor would need modifying as well for the larger rim. I never bothered since my bore sucks and I just use it with round balls in .32 Short Colt cases.

[pietro]

.

The S&W cartridge is fatter than the Colt cartridge - I would just shoot the readily available (Winchester makes about 3 runs a year) .32 Short Colt in it - what I used in the #4 Remington roller I converted from RF to CF by reworking the RF firing pin to CF & centrally drilling the breechclock face for the FP tip (no other work req'd).


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[reed1911]

Well, it really depends on the current chamber. If it was cut properly and not worn yes, it should clean up with the a .32 S&W Long reamer. Your best bet is to make a chamber cast first and take it from there. It is the least expensive part of the job and will tell you if you will be able to clean it up with the reamer which will be the expensive part of the job. If your chamber can be cleaned up I would rent the reamer (4D is a good place I've used). Get a live pilot reamer and pilot to match your bore size. You'll need to make sure you get the first 1-2 inches of the bore too when you make the cast so you know what pilot to get too.

[Outpost75]

The bore and groove diameters of the Colt are nominally a tight .30 caliber and the heeled bullet was much smaller than the S&W. I would not be inclined to do a simple rechambering of a gun built on a soft iron, weak blackpowder action, because extruding the larger bullet down into the tight bore you will run the pressure up. I'm not sure I would want to try this with a Ballard unless the existing barrel slugged .310" in the groove or larger.

In a strong action, as long as you use a gradual forcing cone angle to ease the transition of the larger .314" diameter .32 S&W Long bullets into the probably .307" or tighter Colt groove diameter, you will then be OK, because the pressure rise will probably not exceed the design limits of the action.

I inherited an Army & Navy Cooperative Society rook rifle in .300 and chose instead to have John Taylor reline and rechamber that rifle, which had a badly pitted bore, to use common .32 S&W Long ammunition. John used a .32-20 liner and .32 S&W Long reamer having a throat based on CIP chambers commonly used in European center-fire match pistols, such as the Walther GSP and the Pardini. The gun shoots one-hole groups at 25 yards with Fiocchi wadcutters and 2-1/2" groups at 100 yards with PMC 98-grain LRN factory loads and is almost entirely silent.

124704

[Chev. William]

There is the Alternative; to reform .32 S&W Long, or the others of the same diameter, down to .32 Long Colt diameters.

I have found that it is reasonable to do at home and there is a man that occasionally sells Reformed cases, and suitable heeled Bullets (299153), on Gunbroker.com so Brass and Bullets are available.

My own experiments on reforming have gone as far as using .327 Federal Magnum Brass to make .32 Extra Long RF, converted to CF, cases. Bullets are available such as the Lyman "299153" or Accurate Molds "31-090A" series (my own version is a "311090A" that is cast for me by "Matt's Bullets").

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[John Allen]

Thanks all, I am going to try and size down some 32sw brass first.

[Clark]

125837I loaded up 51 rounds last night of Starline 32 S&W Long brass that was converted to 32 Colt Long brass by a guy on gunbroker.
http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=32+long+colt+brass

That guy is a pleasure to do biz with.

I load 78 gr Rimrock bullets in backwards, and they work like heeled bullets.

[bouncer50]

125837I loaded up 51 rounds last night of Starline 32 S&W Long brass that was converted to 32 Colt Long brass by a guy on gunbroker.
http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=32+long+colt+brass

That guy is a pleasure to do biz with.

I load 78 gr Rimrock bullets in backwards, and they work like heeled bullets. I have one of those old Colt pistol to. I been wondering how to reload for it without buying a heel mold. Yours is a great idea to try THANKS

[leftiye]

See the current thread on .32 long chamber reamers.

[trapper9260]

125837I loaded up 51 rounds last night of Starline 32 S&W Long brass that was converted to 32 Colt Long brass by a guy on gunbroker.
http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=32+long+colt+brass

That guy is a pleasure to do biz with.

I load 78 gr Rimrock bullets in backwards, and they work like heeled bullets.

I see your post on this and like to know how did it shoot and also how much on center did it go and how far where you ?

[Clark]

My marksmanship with open sights in a small handgun is so poor, my results would have no meaning.
I tried 2 gr of Bullseye and it was too wimpy.
I tried 3 gr of Bullseye and it kicked too hard.
So I loaded at 2.55 gr, and it seems ok.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The trouble is that there have been two versions of the .32 Long Colt, which might more realistically have been called two different cartridges. The original virtually was the old .320 Revolver, with a .314in. heel bullet. Later it changed to a .299in. inside lubricated bullet which depended on a hollow base to make it engage with the rifling. I don't know if any firearms were made with a groove diameter to match the .299 bullet, but I doubt it. The .314 original might have been loaded to a good standard of accuracy, but I doubt if the "improvement" could, and with the typical pocket revolvers which chambered the round, I should think few people ever noticed.

My 1892 Marlin would have come with a spare firing pin, no longer present, to shoot centrefires, which in early production would have meant the .32 Long Colt, although Marlin probably sold the cartridges under their own name. Mine, however, conforms to a Marlin table of 1905, by having .307 groove and .302 land diameters, for the new .32 Long Rifle rimfire. This got a new name because the case was lengthened to cover the lube grooves, and optimum accuracy with .314 or .299 Long Colt probably went out of the window.

I think just about any rifle, including the Ballards, could be safely rechambered for the .32 S&W, as long as you didn't try to load it into a .32 H&R Magnum. Modern .32S&W brass is probably much more effective in reducing impact on the breech face than .32LC used to be. Whether it is worth reducing the originality of a valuable antique is another matter, when you can get or make cases for the original chamber. The same argument (both parts) would apply to a "modern" solid frame Colt, such as the Police Positive. But there are many thousands of .32LC revolvers which simply can't afford to lose any of the cylinder thickness they have.