reloadable .32 rimfire brass

[Chev. William]

Chuck Is,
Converting between cartridges will entail changing out both the Breech Block and the Extractor along with the Barrel.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Chuck is,
A thought: try making one turned case without a rim and with a bore that is a couple of thousandths smaller than the .27 Cal Load diameter for about .200" in to the base, then widens out to over the .27 Cal load diameter.
I think that will allow extraction of the fired round because the load will expand into the recess in the turned case.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chuck_ls]

I have a new .22 barrel turned and ready to chamber. I have been looking for a .22 breechblock, but have not connected yet. They show up on ebay quite regularly, but most are pretty poor condition. I may end up just making one, but all the radius cuts will take quite a bit of time on the rotary table. I was wary of making the .27 power loads too tight a fit, as I would have to press them into the case and then back out in the field and that may be a chore if they press too tightly. I was hoping to have a half dozen cases and just reload them at the range. Thanks for the suggestions, it is always good to get a different view of the problem.
Chuck

[Chev. William]

Chuck Is,
The suggestion about the one tight case was to try it out before going to machining many cases.
From my experiments with .27 Cal Tool Loads, I know .001" to .002" 'interference' fit will still press in using a loading press and a .25ACP shell holder, they usually end up with the rim not seated against the brass case as the shell holder is spacing the case away from the rim. This could be solved by using a flat face piece on the ram for the last part of the act pressing the load in to the case. I am using a flat piece of steel above the case also to get it pressed onto the Load, so it is possible to 'juggle two pieces of steel and the partially pressed together Load and case to complete the process in a reloading press.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[kootne]

I use 32 long colt brass, drill it out just under 22 rimfire diameter (centered, not offset) face off the rim to about 1/2 it's original thickness, turn a recess for the 22 rim diameter (deep enough so when a 22 blank is pressed in I get my headspace back) Then I press in a blank, fill the case with enough 3f black powder so there is about 1/32" compression when I thumb seat a Lyman 299153 bullet which is hand lubed with SPG. When I use smokeless, the blank will unfold enough make it very difficult to remove but the 3f black (100+% loading density) prevents the blank from spreading out so far. These loads shoot 5 shots in 1-1/8" on demand from my Remington 1-1/2 rolling block with the original barrel sights. It has a large enough diameter firing pin that enough of it clips the 22 rim to give reliable ignition. I use CCI noise blanks for the primer. I'm guessing it adds a "duplex" component to the load as although it definetly fouls, it doesn't seem to be cumulative enough to affect long strings of shots. I would not advise these to be fired in weak actions but the 1-1/2 roller is pretty strong.
kootne

[Chev. William]

Very interesting solution for .32 Long 'RF' Rounds. sounds like you have a 'winner' for your Rifle.
I had not looked into the 'CCI Noise Blanks' so I will do that in the future to see if they can be used in my Stevens 1894 Actions to advantage.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[kootne]

I re-read my post and regarding 1-1/8" groups I see I failed to include the distance. That distance is 25 yards not the 100 yards that might be inferred. Sorry, it was a senior moment.
kootne

[ndnchf]

I re-read my post and regarding 1-1/8" groups I see I failed to include the distance. That distance is 25 yards not the 100 yards that might be inferred. Sorry, it was a senior moment.
kootne

That's very respectable grouping indeed. I'd love to have a #1-1/2 or #2 in .32. But I have a little #4 which is a lot of fun to shoot, but is a bit small for me. As mentioned a few days ago, I loaded up some .32 long colt with the Lyman 299153 bullet and 2.0gr of Trail Boss. I went to the range on Friday and tried it out at 50 yards. It shot pretty well. I fired 11 rounds, 10 out of 11 went into a group under 1.75". The holes are raggedy because the backer board was shot out behind it. But there are ten in that group at 6 O'clock. One flyer up and to the left, that I can't account for



My usual load of 4.5gr of 2400 and the same Lyman bullet consistently shoots very well also. 5 shots here at 50 yards, about 1.75" group also.



I've shot it with Goex 3F also, it shoots very well with that too, so long as I keep the bore clean.

These little .32s are just downright fun to shoot!

[ndnchf]

All this talk of reloadable .32 rimfires has given me a further hankering for a #2 Remington rolling block. I converted my little .32 #4 RRB to centerfire many years ago. But I'd really like to find a .32 #2 RRB and make reloadable rounds as described here. The #2 seems like just the right size, not too big, not too small, but just right.

[tomsp8]

Well, figured I would chime back in with my results. Let me start off that I have practically no experience using blackpowder in metallic cartridges. An older friend at m work gave me a sample bag of some 3f and 2f powders.
Loaded 6 rounds with 8.2 gr fff and a cut down 22lr for ignition. 8.2 filled the case without settling. Very anemic to say the least!
Unfortunately, it took many attempts on each round to fire. Installed a new chisel point firing pin that is correct for the model 1894, took care of that problem.
Second batch I loaded with 9.0 gr fff and a .22 Duo-Fast nail gun blank for ignition. 9.0 gr almost fills the case when tapping to settle the
powder. The Duo-Fast blanks, I cut the crimp off and dumped the powder first.
Still rather weak, but pleasant. And very accurate....about an inch spread with 4 shots at 25 yards!
Unfortunately, i destroyed a couple cases "depriming" until I made up a little jig and punch set up. Think I might try a little
case lube on the blank next time, might help in depriming them....
Recently aquired some 32 short colt cases that I am going to attempt to convert as the gentleman did in the earlier link.
Really appreciate all the info this thread has offered!

[Chev. William]

. . . . .
Second batch I loaded with 9.0 gr fff and a .22 Duo-Fast nail gun blank for ignition. 9.0 gr almost fills the case when tapping to settle the
powder. The Duo-Fast blanks, I cut the crimp off and dumped the powder first.
Still rather weak, but pleasant. And very accurate....about an inch spread with 4 shots at 25 yards!
Unfortunately, i destroyed a couple cases "depriming" until I made up a little jig and punch set up. Think I might try a little case lube on the blank next time, might help in depriming them....

What was the power rating of the ".22 Duo-Fast" powder tool loads? If you can find some Grade 1-gray on brass, or grade 2-Brown on Brass loads you my not need to dump the blank's powder charge to use them as 'primers'; especially the grade 1 loads.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[mikeym1a]

I was looking for my .32 S&W cases the other night, and found 14 R-P .32 Short Colt Cartridges. I got them from the old sporting goods store that closed down 25yrs ago, Bills Sporting Goods. Never fired. If any of you want them, PM me. I don't have anything that will shoot them. Hope this post is not a forum violation. If so, mea culpa. So Sorry! My bad!

[tomsp8]

pm sent!

[tomsp8]

Using the Duo-Fast 20594 brown, power level 2. Think these are safe as a powder/primer combo? This is a circa 1900 Stevens rimfire after all, and certainly not built as strong as a Rolling Block.
Found this: http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/ind...c,48910.0.html that shows the original loadings at around the turn of the century using black powder. The 32 short and long
rimfire appears to match the loading of the 32 short and long centerfires. Longs: 90 gr heeled bullet w/ 13 gr black powder, shorts: 82 gr heeled bullet w/ 9 gr black powder.

[Chev. William]

Using the Duo-Fast 20594 brown, power level 2. Think these are safe as a powder/primer combo? This is a circa 1900 Stevens rimfire after all, and certainly not built as strong as a Rolling Block.
Found this: http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/ind...c,48910.0.html that shows the original loadings at around the turn of the century using black powder. The 32 short and long
rimfire appears to match the loading of the 32 short and long centerfires. Longs: 90 gr heeled bullet w/ 13 gr black powder, shorts: 82 gr heeled bullet w/ 9 gr black powder.

Tomsp8,
Your Stevens 1894 Action originally came with .187 Diameter Breech Block and Lever pivot screws made out of Low Carbon mild steel and are reported to 'shoot loose' with repeated modern powder loads. IF you use a Chronograph to measure Velocities try one or two first across the Chrono. If your rounds are at or below about 1100fps you should be OK with the original screws. I would suggest replacing the original screws with higher strength ones made from something like NAS High Strength Screws or bolts. this would give added safety margin in the 1894 action. The .32 Long size cartridges exert more breech Block Thrust (Rim area times Chamber pressure as a rough indicator) than the .25 or .22 caliber cartridges as originally loaded.
From my Reading and my 'Back of the Envelope' calculations, I believe the Grade 2 loads would yield around 650fps to 750fps muzzle velocity with no added powder above their normal charges.
If your velocity measurements give similar results, then I might try adding BP in to the Cases but go easy and used 'Fluff' or a tissue square to hold the BP in a Compact volume near the base of the Cartridge. be mindful of ANY 'loosening' of the action in use, as the design has parts of the pivot screws unsupported and subject to bending from the forces involved.

Will I be using Such loads in my 1894 upgraded actions? Yes, but with much caution and keeping in mind I am testing alternative cartridge designs to use in these actions with the same chambers as Stevens put in them. the main change is to try CF designs rather than limiting to RF designs.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

Yesterday I made up 6 reloadable cases from .32 Long Colt brass. I made these to accept the .27 cal ramset blanks. My intent was to dump the powder out of the blanks and just use the rim priming compound to ignite my charge. I poked a small hole in the blank sealer and opened the hole slightly with an awl, just large enough to pour out the powder, then loaded one into a drilled out case with powder and a wax seal to make a blank I could test fire in the garage. It didn't work. Turns out the priming compound was too weak to blow a flame out of the small hole in the nose of the blank into the main charge, so it would not go off I then tried a couple empty blanks with no charge. They were so weak that I couldn't hear them go off. But when I opened the breech and removed the case, I could smell the fired blank and see a little smoke in the bore. The blanks are star crimped and I haven't been able to open them up fully to allow my charge to get inside. I may have to look for weaker (gray or brown) blanks to use with my charge. Or I could just try the blanks as-is, but without knowing what kind of powder is in the blanks, I'm not comfortable with doing that. Here"s a photo of what I'm using:



I was re-reading this thread and note that kootne made the same thing, but used .22 blanks centered in the case. I didn't think that the firing pin would hit a centered .22 case rim, but in his rifle it does. This would make a stronger cartridge because the .32 rim is not so weakened as when drilled for a .27 cal blank. I'm going to make one up and see if the firing pin of my #2 rolling block will hit the .22 rim.

[tomsp8]

My one modified case, so far, using a 22 blank centered (rather than offset) works fine in my Stevens . I did, however,
install a new firing pin, which may help. Mine has a chisel tip type pin, I believe they began installing a blunt nose style
around 1915. The chisel end type I think makes a difference.
I plan to use the blanks only as a primer, snippng the crimp off, and use the original black powder loadings, although I might try a black powder substitute.
I was prepared to try the .27 blanks, but looks like it won't be necessary for me. Didn't want to loose that much meat
at the rear of the case if possible any way.
My blank/primer is ever so slightly extruded from the case as well, rather than flush. Figured as long as the breach closes with minimal effort, i'm good. Every gun will be different in tolerances, I'm sure.

[ndnchf]

Glad to hear the .22 works for you. I tried cutting the star crimp off an emptied blank using a dremel cut off wheel. But about 3 seconds into cutting the primer went off. No harm or damage, just a surprise. That ended my cutting off experiment.

[tomsp8]

lol, I'm sure. I can picture that right now, and my wife just shaking her head!
I opened the star, dumped the powder, then used wire cutters to snip off the end to a length that looked good. My blanks are a little longer than the acorn style, sorta like a bottleneck case. I clipped just below the bottle neck, then just straightened it back out. Figured as long as the shaft area near the rim base stays true, and I can slide it in, I'm good to go. But if you come up with a viable/safe way to trim the blank as short as possible, I'd like to know. I'd love it to be only a few thou longer than the case head thickness.

[ndnchf]

Your way sure sounds safer! I thought about that, but was afraid the case would get too distorted by snipping. When I drilled out the cases to accept the .27 cal blank, I reamed the hole to about .002" over. The blank slips in easily. But to keep it from falling out, I take wire crimpers and ever so slightly put a tiny crimp/dent in the blank body just up from the rim. This slight out of roundness makes them a snug friction fit in the drilled out case. I'm going to make a trial case for a .22 blank this afternoon and see how it goes.