32 S&W brass

[Battis]

Can .32 Smith and Wesson Long brass be cut down to use as .32 Smith and Wesson (short)?

[dtknowles]

Yes

Tim

[shooting on a shoestring]

That’s a big jump.
I think 32 SWL is about 0.900” long and 32 SW is about 0.600” long.
So cutting off 1/3 of the case.
Time to start worrying about your boolit base hitting the internal taper.
I think it will depend on your particular lot of brass and what your seating depth will be.
If it was me, I’d make up a couple and see how they worked before committing to cutting a lot of brass.

What boolit and firearm do you have in mind for this project?

I was seriously thinking of doing the same thing so I could fire a first model New Departure Safety Hammerless. But scrounging through my random odd brass I found 13 (Baker’s dozen) 32 SW cases. That was enough for me. I loaded round balls over about 1.2 grains of Bullseye. They shot clear of the barrel. Satisfied my curiosity the gun can shoot. Now I have 13 rounds of “ball” ammo ready to go and a gun to shoot it in.

What’s your project?

[Battis]

Sounds like the same gun as yours - Smith and Wesson .32 New Departure Safety Hammerless. It won't be fired a lot. I have dies, cast bullets, and Long brass (for a Colt).

[shooting on a shoestring]

Every 32 thread has to have a pic.
253995
Dang I lost one.
I only found 12 loaded rounds.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Be sure to go WAY conservative on pressure.
These little wonders were designed for the Holy Black, and not much of it.
It’s real easy to overload with smokeless.
Round balls can really help keep pressures low.
But the little guns are a hoot to shoot.
Mines a low 3 digit serial. I think that puts it in the first year of production. 1889 I think?
It’s hard to believe the gun still runs.

[Green Frog]

Cut them down, prime them, add a nice pinch of 3F BP and top it off with a round ball of about .311”. I think you can use the proper size of buckshot if you can find some. If the internal surface of the case walls, so much the better... the ball will seat better. ;)

Back about 1961 or 62 or so the American Rifleman had a good article on loading the 32 this way with no tools but a decapping pin, a flat plate to seat the primer, and a homemade dipper for the powder. Cheap fun!

Enjoy,
Froggie

[Battis]

I trimmed a few cases down - fairly easy with the Lyman case trimmer. Primed them, popped them in - they fit fine. But, they would not fire. There were light primer strikes so I started taking it apart. Then the KISS concept kicked in and I simply tightened the mainspring tension screw. They all fired. I'll get a pic - it's in pretty good shape. I used the 38 S&W dies, same ones I use for the Colt .32 and .32 ACP. As suggested, I'm thinking 1.1 grs Bullseye or the 3F BP and a roundball or a light cast bullet. It's very similar (but smaller) to my hammerless Enfield "Tanker" .38 S&W.

[Battis]

I got a couple of old NRA firearms assembly books a few years ago. Sure enough the .32 S&W was featured in one. The gun has a lot of original finish on it.

[Wayne Smith]

I shoot 1-1.1 gr BE behind a sized buckshot in my little H&R hammerless five shot. It was my grandmothers gun. I remember when I was a kid we had a burn barrel that was quite rusted. My dad shot that gun at the burn barrel and the bullet bounced off. A .22 short went through with no problem. I'm guessing our round ball loads may have more penetration than the old factory loads.

[Battis]

Mine was made between 1902 and 1909, so that's well into the smokeless period. What is the weight of the buckshot?

[shooting on a shoestring]

Just weighed a couple of sizes.
I have 0.311” cast in pure lead weighing 45 grs.
I have Hornady 0.315” weighing 48 grs.
I’m pretty sure I loaded the Hornady 0.315” balls in mine.

[Battis]

The lightest cast bullets I have are approx. 75 grs. A shooter on the Smith and Wesson uses the 76 gr bullets with 1.1 gr Bullseye or 1.3 grs Trailboss. I'm going to slug the bore. I used to shoot buckshot in a .32 cap and ball revolver - I think it was 0. I might have some left.

[Walks]

I use Bullseye in My Grandmothers S&W Lemon Squeezer under a 73gr RN from the Lyman #311252 mold.
One grain, dropped from a Lyman #55 Powder Measure.

I only use .32Short&Wimpy cases. Brass is cheap enough, why waste .32S&W Long, I use it in .32H&R Mag, for light loads. And My buddy uses the same load in His Colt Police Positive.

I use Bullseye in .38S&W in My other Grandmother's H&R Top-Break. A light load with the #358477.

[Battis]

Your Grandmothers have some cool guns.
I bought 100 S&W Long cases for my Colt, that I don't shoot too much, so I figured I'd split the 100 between the Colt and the Smith and Wesson.

[Battis]

I came to my senses and bought some brass from Midway. I'll save the brass forming for brass that isn't readily available.

[DaveM]

If you can find one in good shape and at a reasonable price, an Ideal reloading tool with the built-in mold makes a great companion for an old .32 S&W revolver. I used one such tool to load for my Smith & Wesson No.1-1/2 Single Action, which was made in 1878.

My loads were:

-Remington brass,
-CCI No.500 small pistol primers,
-Lead bullets cast in the Ideal mold,
-The bullets were lubricated with a 50/50 mix of beeswax and mutton tallow.
-0.3cc (approximately 4.8 to 5 grains) of Olde Eynsford FFFg black powder.

I've no real idea what kind of muzzle velocity I got, probably well under 700 FPS. Accuracy was good enough to bang at 8" gong from 5 yards.

254231

[cwlongshot]

I think I have some s&w Short brass...

PM me if interested Ill look.


CW

[Battis]

Thanks, but I ordered some from Midway. Midway will ship to MA but I had to set up an account with them and send them a copy of my carry permit. It should be here soon. I also cut down a bunch of 32 S&W Long cases. I loaded up a few with 78 gr cast bullets and 1.1 gr Bullseye. The gun works well but I sized the bullets down to .309 which I knew was undersized (not accurate even up close). The next batch will be sized to .311. I also sized some .321 roundballs to .311 that I'll try maybe tomorrow. They fit well - round on the top, round on the base, sized on the sides.

[cwlongshot]

254258

Good enough. I found the bag last night.

CW