Range Report -- Colt Police Positive in .32 Long Colt

[Harry O]

I finally got everything together and took it all to an indoor range to try them out. The guns were both Colt Police Positives in .32 Long Colt, one built in 1908 and one in 1912 or 1913. The exterior of both is in Good condition, but the mechanicals are in Excellent condition. Both have 4" barrels and square-butts. The load was Lyman 299155 80gr hollow-base bullets I cast myself, SPG lube, and 1.9gr of Bullseye. That is on the lower end of what I have seen published. I may try increasing it slowly. The range was 7 yards offhand.

The groups were better than I expected. The older Colt had tighter groups, but the newer one was not too bad. Neither the guns nor the handloads had any problems firing. The trigger pulls are fairly heavy (both single and double action), but they are crisp. Both guns shot a little low and a fair amount to the left. I intend to wait until I decide on a load before working on the fixed sights.

I still need a heel-base bullet to try. I inserted a Lyman 311316 into the case and the portion for the gas-check fit the 32LC case pretty well, although the bullet was too long and heavy for this cartridge. I did some looking at charts of available moulds. I noticed a 311419 that looked interesting. It is 88gr with a flat nose and a gas-check. That jogged my memory. I have one of them that I bought cheap several years ago. I played around with it in a .32 S&W Long, .32ACP, .32Magnum, and 32-20 at the time, but it did not work any better than the bullets I already use, so I put it away. I intend to cast some with this mould tomorrow to try with this gun.

Things are coming together much faster with this one than when I was working out the problems with the 41 Long Colt. It should be interesting.

[dubber123]

Glad you got a couple old timers out shooting again. :) I'd wait a bit before messing with the sights. Low left is a pretty common trigger control issue, and heavy triggers make it worse. My last fixed sight gun seemed to shoot about 1.5" left at 25 yds. it does have a drift adjustable rear, but I really hoped to leave it centered. After shooting it for a while, (and remembering how) it now miraculously shoots right on, all without touching the sights. It was all me.

[Harry O]

Update:

I have formed 60 cases for the .32 Long Colt, made from .32 S&W Long cases. They have to be reduced 0.020" in diameter. Used the same 299155 bullets I cast, lubed with my own SPG-like lube. This time, I used 2.1gr of Bullseye. Took the older .32 Long Colt to the range today to try everything out.

Only one of the cases failed on firing. The accuracy was not quite as good as the last time, but was close. I am not sure if that was because of the cases (formed rather than original) or the increased load (2.1gr instead of 1.9gr). Determining that will be for a future test.

In any case, I am pleased with the results. The best group for 11 out of 12 shots at 7 yards offhand was 1-1/8". The average was 1-5/8". The location of the group was about the same as the last time. The average for 7 twelve-shot groups was 0.89" left of center and 0.85" low. They were consistent with both loads. After I settle on a load, I will adjust the sights to center.

Things seem to be working out well.