3118 in 32 S&W really 32 S&W not Long

[Steppapajon]

Does anyone load heavy bullet 32 S&W loads?
I bought an Ideal 3118 mold not long ago and it drops some really nice bullets. I have loaded them in my 32 S&W Long and my 32 H&R Mag. They work great. I tried to load some really light e.g 1 grain loads of Trailboss in a 32 S&W case. Figured it was a perfect match for my 18" single shot break action rifle. a full case and nice and quiet. Good backyard plinking round. The problem I am running into is when trying to crimp the bullet, it is seating past the second lube groove even with the bullet seat stem removed. What am I missing here? It is a brand new Lee 3 die set. I have never seen this problem loading cast before. Any insight would be appreciated.
SPJ

[Guesser]

Are you using a seating/crimping die specifically for 32 S&W? The seating/crimping die for 32 Long/Mag won't work. Either get a die for 32 S&W or have your 32 Long die shortened. I had to get a 32 S&W die specifically for the short case, I shoot a lot of them. I use my 32 Long/mag set for 327 and long and mag. It doesn't matter what bullet you are trying to crimp in the 32 S&W case, your die is too long. Try crimping just an empty case, you'll see what I mean.

[Outpost75]

Does anyone load heavy bullet 32 S&W loads?
I bought an Ideal 3118 mold not long ago and it drops some really nice bullets. I have loaded them in my 32 S&W Long and my 32 H&R Mag. They work great. I tried to load some really light e.g 1 grain loads of Trailboss in a 32 S&W case. Figured it was a perfect match for my 18" single shot break action rifle. a full case and nice and quiet. Good backyard plinking round. The problem I am running into is when trying to crimp the bullet, it is seating past the second lube groove even with the bullet seat stem removed. What am I missing here? It is a brand new Lee 3 die set. I have never seen this problem loading cast before. Any insight would be appreciated.
SPJ

Use HEELED bullet in the .32 S&W case so that the stop ring will keep it from being shoved deeper into the case. RCBS Little Dandy Rotor #00 which meters 1.5-1.7 grains of Bullseye is correct with 115-grain heeled bullet.

213549

[Steppapajon]

Guesser
I am indeed using a die for the 32 SW. I have a proper set for the 32S&W Long also.

Outpost
I think you are on to something. I started with .315 bullets and worked down to a .311 before I got one to seat properly.
Anything lager gets forced into the case by the die. That seems a bit small for a 32 SW. The throats on my Hand Ejector are right at .315. Not sure how that is going to work. I might have to send this one back to Lee.

[Outpost75]

Guesser
I am indeed using a die for the 32 SW. I have a proper set for the 32S&W Long also.

Outpost
I think you are on to something. I started with .315 bullets and worked down to a .311 before I got one to seat properly.
Anything lager gets forced into the case by the die. That seems a bit small for a 32 SW. The throats on my Hand Ejector are right at .315. Not sure how that is going to work. I might have to send this one back to Lee.

The stop ring on the heeled bullet prevents the seater from driving the bullet deeper into the case. The enlarged front band north of the heel then will be swaged down in the seater die to conform to its interior and give you a smaller diameter driving band than the as-cast heeled bullet. With luck your die will reduce the stop ring diameter to .314-.315 to fit the cylinder throats. That's what my older RCBS (1970s) dies do.

I think your problem is the Lee dies. If Lee will fix them free, then OK, otherwise I would buy an RCBS Cowboy die set which should be more nearly correct for the .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long.

[Wayne Smith]

Lee will open up your die. Send them a couple of cases and boolits and a clear explanation of what you are trying to do. I had to have an e-mail conversation before he understood my problem with my 8x56R dies and the Oldfeller Frankenstein boolit, but he opened it up and it works well now.

[trapper9260]

I use the hornady dies and I am able to load all 5 32's with it and no problems.That is 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long , 32 H&R Mag and 32 ACP and 327 Mag

[Steppapajon]

I will contact Lee and see if I can get them to make it right. I compared my 32 S&W long to the 32 S&W die and there is over 2 thou difference in the ID. The S&W being the lesser of the two. I guess size doesn't matter unless it's too small. Now where have I heard that before.....
SPJ

[Steppapajon]

Lee answered my email and had me mail it back to regrind. I was asked to send 2 of the cast boolits I wanted to load. I will update when it is returned and let everyone know how they did. pretty happy with their willingness to make it right.

[Steppapajon]

I got my die back today and Lee did a great job opening it up for me. It now works like a charm. I am very impressed by that type of customer service and will happily continue to support them.