Big Problem ! What Brass for .32 Rimfire Rolling Block - Conversion to CF ?

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I just acquired an old Remington .32 Rimfire Rolling Block No. 4 Rifle for $250.

Attachment 290513

It is in great shape and I have converted it to Center Fire.

I 'thought' that .32 S&W Long Brass was what it would take. NOT !

I am not an aficionado of .32 Caliber firearms, but have been looking around
the Internet to get dimensions of .32 Caliber Pistol Brass.....

OMG ! Looks like .32 Caliber Pistol and Rifle ammo comes in MANY different
lengths and Diameters !

SO - I am here to ASK for help in this regard.

I purchased 100 .32 S&W Long Brass and - it is too large in diameter.

Then there is .32 Colt Long Brass.

Buffalo Arms sells .32 Colt Long Brass which looks to be .32 S&W Long (from the
out of focus pic of the rim) reformed - they claim that it IS reformed.....
https://www.buffaloarms.com/32-long-...2longcolt.html

The .32 S&W I purchased is 0.333" diameter and my rifle's chamber is .319" diameter
which is essentially 8mm !

If you look up the .32 Rimfire on Wikipedia, it says - "The .32 Short and Long Rimfire
cartridges matched the external dimensions of the .32 Colt Short and Long centerfire cartridges"

I've been looking at these various dimensions long enough that my head is spinning !

Long Story Short - what center fire Brass should I buy (or reform from something else)
to use in my Remington .32 RF Rolling Block converted to Center Fire ?
Has anyone been there/done that ?

ALSO - What Dies do I need to use with that Brass ?

Might I use an 8mm die to reform 32 S&W down to .319" diameter ?
32 Colt Long dies are around $140 - if you can find them !

DoctorBill (frustrated old dude)

"It is in great shape and I have converted it to Center Fire."
Who converted it? Surely they would know what they "converted" it to? Perhaps they only messed with the firing pin? Perhaps a chamber cast would be in order!
My bet is 32 Colt fwiw.

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The rifle is a .32 Rimfire Remington Rolling Block ("Boy's Rifle).

I myself converted it. Milled thru the Breech Block and made a new Firing Pin
on my Lathe. Midway has a YouTube Video on how to do this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfFxjX4jMkU . . . . I did it.

Now I need some usable Brass to replace the .32 Rimfire.

The entire thing I am asking is about 32 Caliber. It is confusing - I'm an unwashed
amateur as far as .32 Caliber is concerned. But I am game to have at the problem !

I am trying to learn. I have just figured out that .32 S&W is a different size Brass
than .32 Colt - by about 0.014 inch in diameter.

So.....short of buying .32 COLT LONG Brass (buffalo Arms sells some at 66¢ each) -
how can I convert the 100 of .32 S&W that I now have to .32 Colt ?
Once converted, I won't need to keep sizing them - I only have this one caliber rifle
that I'd be using them in. I have three other Rolling Blocks that I have converted
various Brass for. 12.7mm Carl Gustav, .43 Spanish (Argentine) and 8mmx58r Norwegian.

I want to convert the 100 .32 S&W's I have to .32 Colt now. ~ 8mm

.32 Colt dies are scarce and/or very expensive. I have some 8mm rifle dies.
Wish I had an 8mm Nambu die set !

DoctorBill

Not sure how to solve this but rimfire has an external lube heeled bullut so the case diameter is the same as the bullet. CF cases are larger to allow the bullet to seat inside it. I had one of those and relined it to 22 and made a new ejector. Jaust came across some of those parts again today.

I know the bullet is heeled.

I'll cross that bridge when I can. If I have to, I will make my own
bullet mold from Aluminum Block. Have done that before.

I mold a lot of my own ammo.

DoctorBill

I recently read alot about this since I was looking at doing the same thing. There was lots of info online from guys doing it but if I remember correctly they were rechambering to .32 H&R.


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I don't believe that I would rechamber to anything much warmer than 32 S&W or Colt. Like I said, a chamber cast should resolve all questions!

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I bought this rifle in my town from a State Patrol Officer for $250.

It was somewhat rusty as you can see from the photo (the Advert picture)
and the Officer told me that it had not been shot since he (48 years old)
was a kid (stored in the attic). What I am trying to say is that this is a .32
rimfire essentially fairly unused. The receiver diameter, measured many
times by myself with a digital caliper, is 0.319 inch and the depth of the
chamber is 0.885 inch. Those are the dimensions of a .32 cal Colt Long.

The diameter at the muzzle is 0.307 inch.

Doesn't look like it was shot very much.

It is (was) a Rimfire. Pretty sure it was a .32 cal Colt Long Rimfire.

What else could it be with the dimensions I measured ?

I do not intend to spend more bucks getting it rechambered.
Being 78 and living on Soc Sec and a modest pension.....I have essentially
no disposable income to take this further. Besides - I have a lot of
"FUN" doing this - it is my hobby - my current 'project' to keep me sane.

Retirement sucks !

DoctorBill

DoctorBill,

There is a huge thread in the rimfire section about the .32 RF, both converting CF brass to RF and also converting the guns to CF.

The easy answer is to bite the bullet (pun intended) and buy some .32 Short or Long Colt cases. The last time I saw any Winchester .32 Short Colt ammo in a store, it was about $40 a box, and that was pre-panic.

If you don't want to make your own mold, Tom at Accurate Molds has a few designs that are meant for the .32 Colt.

Good Luck, those little .32 Boys rifles are fun.

Robert

.32 Long Colt is what you want. Somebody On Line swages down .32 S&W Long to .32 LC dimensions—I think the discussion is on the Rimfire forum.

Congratulations on finding a .32 kid’s rifle with a good bore. They’re very uncommon, given the way most kids treat their property, and $250 is a very nominal price these days.

I started my .32 Long shooting with a handful of cases purchased at a gun show and a 0.311” round ball cast from a Lee mould and smeared with lube before dropping into the chamber and following with a charged case. The rifle was a Ballard #2, rim-or-centerfire.

DrBill,
Here is the deep read;
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-rimfire-brass

Here is the brass;
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/910436524

and here are the bullets (same vendor as brass);
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/913736330

You will have to trim the brass to length unless your chamber is for the XL case and may have to inside ream or neck turn to make everything fit.
Have fun, they are a hoot.
Dennis

I will see if I have a few spares knocking about - if I do, I'll send you a few. I would imagine they will last a near lifetime of reloading.

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I believe I have discovered what's going on ... with a chamber that measures .319" ...and that's a given fact ... It cant be a 32 cal round ... all the old 32 rounds I'm looking at are .334" to .336" in case diameter ... No 32 cal round is going to fit ...

But what will fit ... The 30 Rimfire !!!
It's an old black powder cartridge , I have seen one single shot handgun chambered for it .
Straight wall , think 22 LR but enlarged to 30 cal. the lead boolit was .313" heeled like a 22LR boolit, outside lubricated . It wasn't very popular , my copy of Cartridges of the World is packed away so I can't get any more info for you ... 32's of any kind will not fit ... but at least you know it was originally a 30 Rimfire ,:holysheep
Gary

gwpercle..........please read the screenshot I have assembled from Wikipedia concerning the
.32 Rimfire Cartridge and the .32 Centerfire (.32 LongColt). Data put in one frame with PAINT.NET.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.32_rimfire
Read third paragraph down......

Attachment 290671

The .32 Long Colt should "fit my pistol" as John Wayne would say !

Why would it be called the .32 RimFire Remington No 4 - if not .32 Caliber RF ? ? ?
https://www.icollector.com/Very-rare...Fire_i27779604
Here the guy misnamed it the Model 6....

Look at this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vEgMVAqVPw

Buffalo Arms (Idaho) sells 32 S&W's converted to .32 Long Colt........backordered for me.

The Dies Set for that caliber is RARE and EXPENSIVE. CH4D made them - $180 if you can find them !
Maybe Redding made them. I wish LEE would get off their duffs and make them !

DoctorBill

Gary,

I know for a fact that the .32 RF Remington Rolling Blocks will chamber and fire a .32 Short Colt of .32 Long Colt with a simple conversion to center fire. I'm not sure of the diameter of the .30 RF rounds, but my guess is they are closer to 0.300" than 0.0320". What you are missing is that just about all of the small .32 rounds should be called .31's due to being inside lubed. The Colt rounds are outside lubed just like the .32 RF, or the .22 S,L,LR for that matter.

The confusion of naming cartridges by bore or groove diameter continues to this day.

Robert

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwpercle

I believe I have discovered what's going on ... with a chamber that measures .319" ...and that's a given fact ... It cant be a 32 cal round ... all the old 32 rounds I'm looking at are .334" to .336" in case diameter ... No 32 cal round is going to fit ...

But what will fit ... The 30 Rimfire !!!
It's an old black powder cartridge , I have seen one single shot handgun chambered for it .
Straight wall , think 22 LR but enlarged to 30 cal. the lead boolit was .313" heeled like a 22LR boolit, outside lubricated . It wasn't very popular , my copy of Cartridges of the World is packed away so I can't get any more info for you ... 32's of any kind will not fit ... but at least you know it was originally a 30 Rimfire ,:holysheep
Gary

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Interesting - I've never seen reference to any Remington's in 30 RF. Several revolvers and derringer type pistols - yes.
I'm sure someone will be along to provide information about that subject though!

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This subject has been covered in multiple threads. As others have stated, .32 Colt is a direct replacement for .32 rimfire. No need to reinvent the wheel here. Look up seller "tenmile" on gunbroker. He sells the correct shells and heel bullets. I've shot many hundreds of these in my #2 and #4 .32 rimfire rolling blocks. They work.

Hello DoctorBill,

Here is what I've done,
https://coltcountryforum.com/index.p....html#msg44402

Hope this helps, AntiqueSledMan.

Given the supply of brass and heeled bullet issues it might be cheaper in the long run to rechamber to 32 S&W long. Only real difference is case diameter, rim diameter and length are almost identical and brass, non heeled bullet molds and dies are easier to find and less expensive.

DoctorBill

"I purchased 100 .32 S&W Long Brass and - it is too large in diameter."

You already have 100 32 S&WL cases. 32 S&W L dies are common dies and are available. There is a multitude of moulds available for the 32 S&WL and any can be honed out or "leemented" to cast a slightly larger bullet. Accurate molds will make theirs for the larger diameter. I also suspect, if the groove diameter is indeed .319, that the Speer or Hornady 32 cal swaged HBWCs would shoot fine. There also is a plethora of load data for the 32 S&WL. Additionally factory ammunition will be a lot easier and less expensive than any 32 Colt ammunition.

You will be money ahead to rent a 32 S&WL finish reamer to chamber the RB than to buy 32 Colt cases, custom dies, a healed type mould and adapting a LFC die to crimp them with.