ruger bisley single six and the 32 h&r magnum

[jhammer]

Let me start of by saying that I have been looking for one of these for years, and I finally happened to run across one in my favorite gun shop. This may not seem all that strange, but my favorite gun shop is 3.5 hours away from my home, but only 15 minutes from my family's cabin. A place that I go to as often as I can to hunt, shoot, let my dogs be dogs and all the other manly things that make life worth living.

Now the gun is a Ruger Single Six Bisley with fixed sights, a 6.5 inch barrel, and fluted cylinder. The bullet is the rcbs 32-98 swc lubed with a mixture of beeswax and vasoline, the brass is starline, the primer winchester small pistol.

My first loads where with 4 grains of unique. I was surprised at the relatively tremendous sound from such a small gun, and even more surprised to find that all of the primers were FLAT and one was pierced. Needless to say I pulled all of these down and rethought the situation.

The bullets I used were sized 0.314" for the throats of my Colt Police Positive Special in 32-20. When I measured the throats of my Ruger I discovered that they are closer to 0.3115 so I am now sizing bullets to 0.312".

My question is, does the larger bullet diameter account for the flat and pierced primers? This is a published load for a 100 grain bullet (Lee Load Manual and Alliant' s Website). My chronograph showed an average speed of 950 fps. I pulled 10 rounds apart the weight of all that powder was 39.8 grains, so there should have been 4 grains in each. I have been handloading for about 6 years, and have never had this trouble before.

Any advice would be appreciated thank-you

[DuaneH]

Your load sounds reasonable to me and I would not expect the .314 bullets to materially raise the pressure. In fact, I have used more Unique than that with the same bullet sized .314 in my single-six with no pressure signs. I would drop the load to 3.5 grs. with CCI #500 primers and work back up.

[ejcrist]

First off, congratulations on your new revolver. That certainly sounds like a nice one. Like DuaneH said, I can't imagine 4 grains of Unique causing the flattened primers since it's well within the range per the loading manuals I have. I believe I'd start by trying CCI 500 primers since they're a little thicker at the cup. I've read this and found out from experience because I have a S&W K-38 that didn't always go bang when I used CCI primers but fired consistently with Federals which I only use in this revolver now. I'd also size to .312 like you said you did after finding the throats were .3115; that'll lower pressure but .003 over shouldn't be causing too high a pressure by itself. I'd also avoid using a powder measure/thrower and weigh each charge but first make sure your scale is calibrated accurately. If you still end up with flattened primers I'd then reduce the charge and work back up, but I'm pretty sure using CCI primers and sizing .0005 over throat size will correct the situation. I'm curious to see what happens so please post when you get to it. I have a SS 32 H&R and my best load is 10.5 grains of H110 with CCI 500's for ~ 1,340 fps which is way above your load so I'm confident you're load shouldn't be causing the primer/pressure issue.

[dubber123]

Check the firing pin tip for burrs or excess "pointiness". The CCI's are harder, and will likely cure your problems, but I use Federals which are the softest in my .32 Bisley, and at a higher loading with no issues. The RCBS boolit you chose is a clear winner in mine. All my gun needed was a trigger job, Ruger did very well on my sample.

[Harry O]

I have a Ruger SuperSingleSix in .32 Magnum (an early one with adjustable sights) and just missed out on a Bisley version a few years later. Still kicking myself about that loss. In either configuration, that is a strong gun. You don't have to worry about your load hurting it. The question is why it is doing that.

Like you, I found that 0.312" bullets were the way to go. With light loads, I use the same lead bullet. In addition to snug throats, I found that the entire chamber was also snug. If you had oversized bullets, they might not have been releasing from the case easily because of the size of the chamber. I would re-try the load with correctly sized bullets.

In any case, I have used the exact same bullet you use with 4.5gr of Unique without any problems. Primers were Winchester small pistol. With jacketed Hornady 85gr bullets, I regularly shoot 7.5gr of 2400. I use Winchester small pistol magnum primers with that load. There is a slight flattening of the primer base, but nothing excessive and no pierced primers. That load would be dangerous in just about any other .32 Magnum revolver made, but I have a few thousand through mine.

[jhammer]

I will have to try the CCI primers, I think I have a 100 or so of them stashed.
The other day I took a trip to the range with some .312" sized bullet and some loads from the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual. The loads from this manual seem to be rather conservative compared to other published data, and I did not find any flat or pierced primers.
It's not that I am trying to hot rod this little gun, but I would like to see 900-1000 fps. I am planning on making this my groundhog gun.

[jhammer]

Today I tried 4 grains of unique with the cci primers and 0.312" bullets. I had no flattened or pierced primers, but didn't get very good groups.
3.5 grains of unique and winchester small pistol primers showed no signs of flattening, and gave me much better groups.
4.3 grains of AA5 also gave me very small groups, but left a lot of unburned/semi burned powder behind.
Thanks for the help guys.

[leftiye]

I too am not impressed with Lyman handbooks. Go ahead and hot rod it if you want, it can take a lot more than Lyman handbook loads. AA#9 is your friend, I have seen data using up to 10 grains (I wouldn't/won't use that much). I used 8 grains in my .32 H&R with a boolit that seats out quite long, and 10 in my .327 (data up to 13 grs.). Almost makes you wonder if you need a .327.

[jhammer]

Has anyone tried bullets sized 0.311" in their single six? I pushed a bullet sized 0.311" into all of the throats and held the cylinder up to a light. All of the throats were sealed by a 0.311" bullet, I'm just wondering how these might work.

[MT Gianni]

My bore on an older ss w/ adj. sights measures .3113. Not all sizer dies are created equally.

[dave_g]

I load the Lee 311-93-1r in 32 h&r cases with 4.0 grains of Unique in my single seven. Winchester primers. Bullets are as cast, no sizing. About .312. No problems with primers.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I too was surprised at the load crack of my Colt SA 32-20 when I shot the first round loaded with 5 grains of Unique and the 120 grain Lyman bullet. If you want to shoot the 30 caliber magnums you just have to learn to live with it and wear good ear protection.

[jhammer]

I picked up and NOE 85 grain rf mould a few weeks ago and finally got a chance to take it to the range. Sized 0.312" it is really showing some promise with both Bullseye and Unique.

[Markbo]

I size mine at .312" and use Winchester SPP exclusively and have never had any problem. I'd suggest slugging the barrel just for grins.