Would you shoot 30 Rem ammo in a 32 Rem chamber?

[famdoc2892]

Happened upon a stash of new old stock 30 Rem ammo, now obsolete, and have been mulling over the pros/cons of trying to fire it in a 32 Rem rifle for the purpose of fire-forming 32 Rem brass for reloading, as 32 Rem is even more obsolete (if that is a real thing?). The physical characteristics of the 2 rounds are quite similar, and I have already determined that a 30 Rem round will chamber and extract smoothly in my 32 Rem rifle.

Now, I am not new to reloading, so I am aware that proper fit to the throat of the chamber and neck expansion of the brass are crucial to a good seal upon firing. Will the brass handle the roughly .013" expansion of the neck/shoulder to prevent blow-back pressure to the bolt face? I am not concerned in the least about accuracy of the .308" bullet bouncing its way down a .321" barrel, I will be "wasting" (actually capturing and recycling) the bullets for the sole purpose of fire-forming the brass to the dimensions of my 32 Rem chamber.

So, would you fire the factory loads of 30 Rem in the 32 Rem chamber, or pull the bullets and expand the necks to reload with a 32-cal projectile first?

[rking22]

That brass is really hard to come by, I would pulldown the whole round and anneal the neck shoulder area before expanding and fire forming. Just to have the best chance of conserving all the brass. I doubt there would be an issue firing the 30 Rem but expect to lose some to split necks.

[elk hunter]

Why not offer to trade your 30 Remington for 32 Remington and save the hassle. If you can't trade them I would advise pulling them down and annealing the necks and then fire forming them with a light load of fast powder topped with cornmeal with a wax plug on top. Most of the ammunition for the old Remington calibers are of an age that you could experience neck splits if you fired them even in the correct rifle so annealing would be a wise decision.

Just my $0.02 worth.

[Rcmaveric]

I wouldn't. You dont want to fire form with a full power load.

I too would pull the bullet. Resize. Anneal and trim. Then reload with a light charge of blue dot or 2400 and proper size bullet.

Biggest problem with fire forming is either cracking a neck or blowing out a primer pocket. Which can be avoided with plinker charges and annealing.

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[famdoc2892]

Thanks, gents! I appreciate the feedback, lots of wise suggestions here. I've ordered some "real" 32 Rem brass from Grafs that will have the correct headstamp, and will start the process of pulling down the factory ammo. Can't hurt to try annealing the old factory brass and I've got a supply of 2400 and Cream of Wheat that should serve. Will probably plug my cases with polyester batting/polyfill rather than wax, much less trouble.

[beshears]

Just use a piece of tp. Melted plastic in some bores has caused problems.

[nhithaca]

Interesting you should ask:
My father brought back a couple of Jap 6.5 rifles from Japan and gave one to a good friend. He (the friend) had someone cut a 257x6.5 Improved chamber in the otherwise stock rifle. I ended up with the gun years later and not knowing any better just bought some Winchester +P ammo and shot it as is in the rifle. It appeared to head space correctly and the resultant cases were perfect with no splits but due to the crude reaming job the brass did have some "texture" to it. Since custom dies for such a round are expensive, I just used a 30-06 forming die to bump down the main case body and the Hornady 6.5 neck sizing die to resize the neck. Loaded some 140 grain Hornady bullets and using a guess on IMR4350 powder loaded 10 shells. No idea of the speed or pressure but got 1" groups @ 100 yards with no issues (did mount a scope). Fairly low recoil and seemed to shoot pretty flat for the loading used. Would not be afraid to use on anything you can hunt in NH. So...I say you try a couple and see what happens in your 32 Remington, even though the difference in bore diameter is greater than the 257 to 6.5.

And to add to that story, I also have two 32 Remingtons (Model 8 and Model 14) and I just take 30 Remington cases and run them as is through the Redding sizing die, using lube on the expander button. Again, no problems. I use 32 Winchester Something Special loading data (starting loads) to get going.

[Texas by God]

Back in my innocent youth, I would do that without hesitation. After all, we made .250 Savage brass by firing 22-250 ammo in the .250 Savage rifle, .35 Whelen by firing surplus 30-06, and even .358 Norma Magnum by firing 7mm magnum in it. We always wore glasses just in case.
Nowadays, bullets are too precious to waste to do silliness like that.

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[dbosman]

Back in my innocent youth, too many bubba'd surplus rifles were sold mail order. I shudder to think about the number that were loaded and shot with some sort of similar looking ammo.

[AntiqueSledMan]

If it was me, I'd pull the bullets & run a .32 cal. expander through the neck.
One could probably pour the powder back in & seat a .32 bullet, good to go.

AntiqueSledMan.

[famdoc2892]

Again, thank you, gents. Lots of practical advice available here from folks that have "been there!" I had another suggestion from an associate that I simply sell the 30Rem factory ammo and brass, as there are a number of folks that still look for it, and keeping headstamps correct is at least one factor in avoiding the ammo mismatch problems we've been hearing about. With the 32Rem brass available to keep me within my existing skill set and time constraints, it seems like the better solution to offer up the 30Rem ammo/brass for its intended purpose! Please let me know if you or someone you know has an interest in it.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’d pull the bullets, anneal the case, expand the case if you have the right expander and then fire a light load with cream of wheat or corn meal. Maybe seal the load with a bit of hot glue to be sure a little bit of pressure builds up.

[Divil]

Graf makes .32 Remington brass. No need to do this risky fireform.

[famdoc2892]

Graf makes .32 Remington brass. No need to do this risky fireform.

Agreed, already ordered some, post #5 above

[Duckiller]

Not sure fire forming is risky. I have a 30 Rem but am not sure how to legally get ammo to NW Oregon. We may need to talk.