32 S&W Long?

[LIMPINGJ]

I am looking at going with a MGM barrel in 32 S&W Long as a 22 LR replacement. I am set up to load for it but will need to get some more brass for when kids are shooting with me. The question for any of you shooting this cartridge in a rifle is did you go with the standard chamber or did you go with making your chamber where you could use a heavier than standard boolit? MGM offers the option to send a dummy round and they cut the chamber for it. I was just wondering how others that have this chambering in a rifle cut their chamber?
Thanks

[quilbilly]

You might also consider a 9mm Luger as a replacement for 22 lr. I have had my T/C carbine 9mm for more than a dozen years and adore it. It is accurate to 125 yards at an MV of 1200 fps and costs about a nickel a shot. Of course, brass is on the ground everywhere. The 125 gr RF has a lot of "authority" on coyotes or anything else under 100#. I had the barrel made for an off-season, "walking around" rifle.

[richhodg66]

What is an MGM barrel?

Been wanting to do this with a Savage 219 .30-30 that has a ruined barrel. I was just going to have it relined. I've been thinking lately that .38 Special may be a better option.

[swamp]

MGM= Match Grade Machine. They make Contender and Encore barrels. I have 2 of their barrels. A 30-40 and a 7.62x39. Very happy with both.
The x39 is a 16" Contender and great with cast.
swamp

[LIMPINGJ]

quilbilly I considered the 9 mm but have always been partial to rimmed cases in single shots. A Remington 580 or RIA 22TCM rifle converted to 32acp or 9mm would be nice but cost more than a new barrel for the Contender I fear.

[Outpost75]

My .32 S&W Long rifle has the minimum SAAMI chamber body for the .32 S&W Long with the same ball seat and throat as the SAAMI dimensioned chamber for the 7.62x39 with a ten inch twist of rifling which stabilizes the 31-155D Accurate bullet subsonic using 6 grains of Alliant #2400

157660

[GARD72977]

Since you are not wanting extra capacity there is no reason for custom cut chamber. The main reason I would want a custom chamber is to ensure the lube grove is in the neck of a BN cartridge.


Sounds like a very interesting caliber. I would do a fast twist for 90-105gr bullet for a 22lr replacement.

We spend a ton of money for economy. Gota love reloading.

Be honest is this really for the kids?

[Tracy]

Sounds like a very interesting caliber. I would do a fast twist for 90-105gr bullet for a 22lr replacement.


The standard 1:18-3/4" .32 Long twist will stabilize 90-105 or even 120 grain boolits just fine.

[Wayne R. Scott]

I did this with the standard chamber in .32 S&W from MGM for my Contender Carbine. I had them use the 27" barrel. It makes for a very quite rifle. I can say for certain that it will kill squirrels. At 25 yards 5 shots make one ragged hole in target.

[Outpost75]

My .32 rifle with the 155-grain Accurate bullet shoots about an inch at 50 yards for 5-shot groups with iron sights. Energy approximates .38 Special +P and it completely perforates and exits 30 inches of gelatin tissue simulant.

[LIMPINGJ]

Outpost75 I will send your description of your chamber along with my order. With a heavy boolit in a long barrel with small charges of powder we should have some quite shooting rounds.
Wayne how does the Contender feel with that long of barrel? I have a 20 inch 6.5JDJ barrel and it makes for a very light carbine.

[BAGTIC]

My .32 rifle is a .32 H&R. I did not want more power. I wanted a cheap to load (minimal powder and lead consumption), quiet gun for small game & plinking. Use of the Magnum case lets me use smaller charges of faster burning powders such as Red Dot at higher than .32 Long pressures. Because rifle barrels are longer the muzzle pressures are still quite long and report almost non existent. Also my .32 handguns are all .32 Mag compatible.

[Wayne R. Scott]

Wayne how does the Contender feel with that long of barrel? I have a 20 inch 6.5JDJ barrel and it makes for a very light carbine.

I have this Contender restocked with a Boyds laminated thumb hole stock and to me it balances very well.

I have another Contender with the T/C walnut stock and a T/C Custom Shop 23" barrel in .25/20 Win. The .25/20 seems muzzle light to me when shooting offhand.

My thinking on getting the 27" barrel was that if it was too long I could have it cut down and re-crowned. I don't know how to add barrel length if it is too short.

[Outpost75]

....My thinking on getting the 27" barrel was that if it was too long I could have it cut down and re-crowned. I don't know how to add barrel length if it is too short.

With subsonic loads the 27-inch barrel will be very quiet, like standard velocity .22 LR, "silent without suppressor"

[Wayne R. Scott]

With subsonic loads the 27-inch barrel will be very quiet, like standard velocity .22 LR, "silent without suppressor"

Exactly, I live in a state that thinks suppressors are evil.

[Outpost75]

Exactly, I live in a state that thinks suppressors are evil.

A 30-inch .45 ACP is as long as you can go and have 230-grain Federal Hydra-Shoks reliably exit the barrel below freezing. 8-)

[3leggedturtle]

A 30-inch .45 ACP is as long as you can go and have 230-grain Federal Hydra-Shoks reliably exit the barrel below freezing. 8-)
Now here's a story that needs telling. 8-) I have a 24"38 Special barrel and an 18" 45ACP. Love them both, but can tell you 3.0grs of Unique and a 148gr HBWC wont reliably clear the target either from the .38. A 32 S+WL is on my Carbine short list too.

[Outpost75]

Now here's a story that needs telling. 8-) .....

NSWC Crane, IN during 1970s. Mated together "scrapped" M1911A1 pistol frame and M40 bolt rifle receiver, cutting away receiver diaphragm so that feed ramp of M1911 frame was at 6:00 position, removed left locking lug. So you had .45 ACP bolt rifle which fed from M1911 pistol mags. Started with Obermeyer barrel blank longer than needed. Cold boxed gun and shot at zero Degs. F until we stuck a bullet. Cut barrel off behind stuck bullet and fired again until stuck bullet. Repeated. 28-inch barrel went over 100 rounds without sticking a bullet and was VERY quiet. Twist of 20" (same as Trapdoor .45-70) is more accurate than standard 16".

Ordinary ball ammo barely good enough for head shots at 100 yards. Match grade hardball much better. Zero at 50 yards, each Mil-Dot on 10X Unertl good for another 25 yards. Drops like a stone! Report is like firing Eley Tenex from your Winchester 52. Bullet smacking target makes more noise than gun going off. Velocity is no higher than firing from pistol, due to excess expansion ratio, which results in low muzzle pressure, combined with greater bore drag. Jacketed bullet velocity must be over 850 fps. WW2 British .455 won't exit barrel longer than 20", which is why DeLisle went to .45 ACP for this application.

Lubricated lead bullets and clean, lightly oiled barrel exit bore reliably down to 700 fps. with 255-grain .45 Colt slug and 4 grains of Bullseye.

[marlinman93]

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen any mention of what twist rate you barrel will have? Making a choice of chambers styles shouldn't be based simply on bullet weight, without ensuring the twist rate will also work with the weight chosen.

[LIMPINGJ]

marlinman93 from what I see on the MGM order form they only offer 1 in 10 twist like Outpost75 is using in his barrel.

[marlinman93]

marlinman93 from what I see on the MGM order form they only offer 1 in 10 twist like Outpost75 is using in his barrel.

That should stabilize a very heavy bullet. Next question is what action are you building this on? Hopefully it's a solid action that will take more pressure than most .22LR actions? With heavy bullets, even a Winchester Low wall, that's good for this cartridge, could be marginal. If it's a action typically used for CF rifle cartridges, it should be no question with the .32 S&W Long, and heavy bullets.

[leftiye]

Green Mountain used to have (may still have) .32 cal barrels for 32-20 with IIRC 1 in 16 twist. MGM might obtain one of these for you. If you want to fire heavier projectiles, the 1 in 10 twist will work much better. I don't.

[fineredmist_7]

I built my .32 rifle on a 7.62 green mountain blank. i believe it is a 1-9.5 twist. I cut the chamber for the 327 federal, but she just loves the H&R cases with the rcbs 150 cowboy mould. I shoot 9.5 grains of reloader 7. I got the idea from Ed Harris's bunny gun threads at the cast bullet association forum. He said with older lots of rl 7 he was able to get 10 grains into the S&W long case with a 150 grain schuetzen bullet. I don't remember the name of it, but I could find it.

[Jeff Michel]

Heck of a first post, welcome aboard. Nice rifle, your own action?

[fineredmist_7]

The action is a design that I came across on the homegunsmith site a few years ago. I reduced the size of the drawing and made it to fit the 327 fed case. It has proven to be pretty accurate. It will stack up those 150 gr flat points in a 1 and 1/2 circle at 75 yards all day long.

[tejano]

I am looking at going with a MGM barrel in 32 S&W Long as a 22 LR replacement. I am set up to load for it but will need to get some more brass for when kids are shooting with me. The question for any of you shooting this cartridge in a rifle is did you go with the standard chamber or did you go with making your chamber where you could use a heavier than standard boolit? MGM offers the option to send a dummy round and they cut the chamber for it. I was just wondering how others that have this chambering in a rifle cut their chamber?
Thanks

A couple of years ago I ordered a 32 H&R barrel from MGM. It is 21" long with a 1 in 16" twist. I had to wait longer because they only had 1 in 10" barrels readily available. I shot it a lot when I first received it but not so much lately. I finally settled on Harris' classic load of 2.5 gr. of Bullseye, 115 gr. RNFP (intended for the 32-20), 32 S&W Long cases, and seated long at 1.32" or so. Using a 4X scope this load shoots one ragged hold at 25 yards. At 50 yards, it opens up for me but that could just be all me and not the load. A few months later, I ordered an 18" 9mm barrel from MGM, but I have not shot it enough to have an opinion about how well it shoots or what loads to use. I tried several that work well in my pistols, but none of them produced good results. My shooting interest as of late has been on reloading for my various AR-15's using "j" bullets.

[Outpost75]

Reamer used to cut my .32 S&W Long RIFLE has the SAAMI minimum chamber body for the .32 S&W Long, as shown on the print for the standard velocity and pressure test barrel, with the ball seat, throat and angle of rifling origin cut to the same dimensions as shown on the SAAMI-dimensioned standard velocity and pressure test barrel for the 7.62x39. I have two rifles made using standard .30 caliber rifle blanks, one is a 10-inch twist and the other a 16" twist. Both barrels shoot well. The 16" twist is more accurate with bullets lighter than 100 grains, but the 10" twist will shoot 1-1/2" groups with factory 98-grain LRN loads at 50 yards, which is as good as that ammunition can do and also stabilizes 155-160-grain bullets subsonic with 6 grains of Alliant #2400, is very accurate and is a penetrating fool!

[LIMPINGJ]

I sent an email to MGM about Outpost75's chamber suggestion but never got a response. In the time since I picked up a Yildiz folding 410 after seeing the 410 shotguns in several post. I talked with John Taylor this week and the 410 will be going to his shop. He said to send along the sights I want mounted so my question is which make of receiver sight have you that converted one of these small 410 shotgun used? I was looking at the XS or the Skinner models for the Contender as they looked like they would be easy to fit to the barrels contour and can be mounted close to your eye. Any suggestions on which receiver sight to go with would be appreciated, I would like to use a few different loads so ease of adjustment would be nice. Also did you use a dovetailed in front sight or did you need to use a ramp mounted front sight?
Thanks

[Mk42gunner]

If you have the sight(s) in hand, I would trial mount them with double sided tape to see which you like better. You might be able to mock one up from cardboard or scrap wood also.

I think the front sight will need a ramp, I could be wrong though.

Robert