Rapidrob
11-24-2019, 10:47 AM
Year's ago when the NAA company came out with their two new cartridges, The now defunct web site Makarov.com got together with their members and offered replacement barrels in the new .32 NAA. Which is a .380 necked down to .32
As with most of the bottle necked pistol cartridge's you get performance that goes far beyond what it should.
I ordered several of the barrels at that time as you could get the Russian made .380 Mak's for under 125 bucks new in the box.
With the much longer barrel than the NAA made pistol, the Mak was the ideal platform for this cartridge. You could push the bullet far beyond what the factory loaded it to without getting into trouble.
I spent the better part of a summer loading all sorts of bullet types and powders to see just what could be safely done with this little cartridge.
with the 60 grain FMJ bullet for the .32 ACP you could easily get more than 1,600 fps without really trying to do so.
I had taken several of the commercially made ammo apart to see if I could figure out what powder they used.
They would not confirm that the powder they used was in fact a Blank powder. What ever they were using it was at the beginning of the Burn Rate Chart to be sure and really fast burning.
The cartridge never really caught on as it was the "puny .32 which is not a good CCW caliber."
That is a shame.
When I went to the range to test my loads there were always many other shooters close by. When I touched off one of my hand loads the pistol always got the attention of the other shooters. The pistol is loud and the fireball is impressive.
My loads are not factory and the Mak being as strong as it is can handle the loads with no issues. The barrel is so thick it looks comical.
Bullets have to be crimped and Lee will not make a crimp die for this cartridge. It is too short.
I use a cannelure tool to crimp in the bullet ( it has to be crimped to work/feed) and this tool does a good job of it.
Fired cases show no signs of pressure problems,but the .32 caliber neck is almost blown out of the case. I have reached the maximum safe loading.
I can safely get three reloads out of the brass before the necks will develop a slight crack at the crimp. The case being so short it is hard to anneal the brass without softening the base of the case.
The .32 NAA being made of .380 the brass is so plentiful it is no big deal/cost to replace them.
Accuracy is just crazy. The bullets are so fast that trajectory out to 50 yards is flat. You can hit a man torso target at 200 meters without trying.
Up close and personal, the bullet is devastating. It will blast through a 1/4" steel plate at 25 yards and that being a hollow point.
The pistol has been my "truck gun" forgoing on two decades now and is just fun to shoot.
Using Super-Vel or Cor-Bon factory ammo you'd have a very nice CCW pistol.
The cartridge is interesting and very powerful for it's size. It's a shame it never really caught on.
Here is a 25 yard rapid fire target:
251729
As with most of the bottle necked pistol cartridge's you get performance that goes far beyond what it should.
I ordered several of the barrels at that time as you could get the Russian made .380 Mak's for under 125 bucks new in the box.
With the much longer barrel than the NAA made pistol, the Mak was the ideal platform for this cartridge. You could push the bullet far beyond what the factory loaded it to without getting into trouble.
I spent the better part of a summer loading all sorts of bullet types and powders to see just what could be safely done with this little cartridge.
with the 60 grain FMJ bullet for the .32 ACP you could easily get more than 1,600 fps without really trying to do so.
I had taken several of the commercially made ammo apart to see if I could figure out what powder they used.
They would not confirm that the powder they used was in fact a Blank powder. What ever they were using it was at the beginning of the Burn Rate Chart to be sure and really fast burning.
The cartridge never really caught on as it was the "puny .32 which is not a good CCW caliber."
That is a shame.
When I went to the range to test my loads there were always many other shooters close by. When I touched off one of my hand loads the pistol always got the attention of the other shooters. The pistol is loud and the fireball is impressive.
My loads are not factory and the Mak being as strong as it is can handle the loads with no issues. The barrel is so thick it looks comical.
Bullets have to be crimped and Lee will not make a crimp die for this cartridge. It is too short.
I use a cannelure tool to crimp in the bullet ( it has to be crimped to work/feed) and this tool does a good job of it.
Fired cases show no signs of pressure problems,but the .32 caliber neck is almost blown out of the case. I have reached the maximum safe loading.
I can safely get three reloads out of the brass before the necks will develop a slight crack at the crimp. The case being so short it is hard to anneal the brass without softening the base of the case.
The .32 NAA being made of .380 the brass is so plentiful it is no big deal/cost to replace them.
Accuracy is just crazy. The bullets are so fast that trajectory out to 50 yards is flat. You can hit a man torso target at 200 meters without trying.
Up close and personal, the bullet is devastating. It will blast through a 1/4" steel plate at 25 yards and that being a hollow point.
The pistol has been my "truck gun" forgoing on two decades now and is just fun to shoot.
Using Super-Vel or Cor-Bon factory ammo you'd have a very nice CCW pistol.
The cartridge is interesting and very powerful for it's size. It's a shame it never really caught on.
Here is a 25 yard rapid fire target:
251729