.32 Long Colt ,Need Help

[dusty texian]

ndnchf ,the correct case lenth for the 299153 heel bullet is .78 , You may get by with a longer case in the singleshot,but my Marlin repeater will not feed this bullet ,if the case is longer than .78 from the magazine. I can single load a longer case and the same bullet ,proving my chamber is cut a little long.  One thing you may try being you have a single shot ,is to breach seat by hand a bullet ,just until it touch's the land's then measure with caliper's from back of bullet to chamber face ,then add the heel measurment . This should give you a max case lenth for your chamber.I have decided to trim some cases to .78 for the 299153 bullet. And I use the full lenth .91/.92 case lenth if I am useing the 31-090A designed by w44wcf.  This keep's the OAL correct ,It is a inside lubed bullet design. May be the tight bore you have  in the Remmington Roller help's the hollow base bullet build pressure and help's with the BUMP UP . Look's like it work's great. ,,,,,,,Dusty

[Adirondacker]

My opinion only, (make it a shooter),you will get plenty enjoyment from it. And that's why we do it !,,,,Dusty

Dusty,  It's the risk, the constant risk, of a botch job that holds me back.  And that risk exists, LET ME TELL YOU AND EVERYBODY ELSE, after 40 yrs of more rebarreling, relining, rechambering, etc. jobs than I can even remember, no matter HOW great & famous the reputation of the gunsmith doing the work.  Like for example Mr. B., the most highly regarded single shot barrel-smith in the East before he retired, who did a superb job of converting a high-grade Ballard CF (with ruined bore) to .22LR, but then CRUDELY & DEEPLY stamped on the top flat ".22 Rim Fire."  Made me want to cry, but what could be done about it?  Nothing, except a major job of draw filing, rust blueing, etc., so just decided to live with it.  Other similar stories I could relate, but prefer to forget. 

[dusty texian]

Ouch, I would bet that would make you not want to risk the little Remington . Like I said it's only my opinion. I should have said (2 cent's ),as that's a bit overpriced. Tough decission . ,,,,,,,Dusty

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[ndnchf]

Dusty - great idea to drop a bullet in the chanber and measure back.  I did that and came up with .783" max case length.  I settled on .775 for a case length to give a few extra thou for fouling.  I trimmed back 10 cases to .775 and loaded them up with 6.5gr by weight of Pyrodex P.  I also loaded up 10 rounds in the SC case using 3.65 gr weight of the same powder.  The LC cases had a little more compression than the SC cases.  Here's a pic of the SC, trimmed LC and factory LC rounds.



I dont have a shell holder that fits these little guys, all my loading has been with .38s, 44s, .45s. and .50s.  What shell holder fits the Colt case?  I had to improvise today to get them primed, but would like to get the correct shell holder to make life easier.  One of those collet crimp dies Poney Express mentioned would be real nice too. 

Adirondacker - I understand your concerns and worries about someone screwing up the job.  But I can tell you that this is a very simple conversion, probably one of the easiest conversions there is.  I did my own a long time ago, close to 25 years ago.  I don't recall all the details, but if you take your block out and remove the rimfire firing pin you'll see how simple it is.  I simply soldered a piece of drill rod into the rimfire hole to close it.  Then took a fired case and drilled out the primer hole, then put it in the chamber.  I used a Long piece of rod sharpened to a point as a center punch through the bore.  Using the drilled out case as a guide I center punched where the new hole should go in the block face.  I drilled the new hole on a little bench top drill press and then made a new firing pin from a little piece of drill rod.  Once you take your block apart, you’ll see how simple it really is.  No one will take more care and double/triple check everything than you.  You can take as much time as you want, no rush.  Here’s a close up of the face of my block.



You guys sure got me snuckered into this .32 Colt thing - Its a nice change of pace, thanks!
Steve

[Adirondacker]

No one will take more care and double/triple check everything than you.  You can take as much time as you want, no rush. 

SO true!  No matter how rare, precious, irreplaceable your gun is to YOU, to a professional, it's just another job, another day's work, another piece of merchandise.  I've got a cheap drill press & machinist's vise, so will give this project serious consideration.

[dusty texian]

ndnchf" they say a .223 shell holder work's . I did like you and made do without ,until I figgured out that my case holder for my .222 Rem. work's just fine. I have been primeing with a Lee hand primer useing case holder #4,work's great.Those loaded cartridge's look very good . I loaded some SC load's this morning useing the Win. Brass and 299153  (2)gr. of Trail Boss was the powder charge.Yesterday the same load except 1-1/2 gr of TB. was very accurate at 25 yd ,I swear I could hear the hammer drop, very mild. I have had very good result's  with 6.5 gr. of Pyrodex P . and the 299153 LC case .78, Very Accurate .Very nice job on the RF to CF conversion. ,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

I've never used Trail Boss.  Come to think of it I haven't loaded any smokeless powder in probably 20 years.  But I'm sure it will serve you well. I did some checking and .32 S&W has the same rim diameter and thickness as .32 colt.  The S&W has a larger case diameter ahead of the rim, .333" vs .316" for the colt.  But that shouldn't make any difference for the shell holder. .32 S&W shell holders are - Lyman #9, Hornady #36 and RCBS #90323.  I'll add one to my shopping list.

Time to relax and have a cold one, some dinner and get ready to watch Hell on Wheels tonight!

[dusty texian]

Have a good one ,,,,,DUSTY

[Chev. William]

Breaking in wiht a comment:
A Gentleman by the name of Jack Harrison occasionally advertizes (auction) on "Gun broker . com" .32 Long Colt brass made from .32 S&W Long cases, about $18.00 for 20 cases.  He also has advertized ,32 heeled cast bullets at $18.00 for 100 Cast Lead slugs.

I am in the process of 'resurrecting' a pair of 'parts' Stevens 1894 Favorites, one in .25 Stevens RF and the other in .32 Long RF.
I have extra breech blocks and will be converting one of the spares to Center fire.  My Barrels may not be great but the do have rifling and slug .248" Bore/.252" Groove for the .25 and .299" Bore/.305" Groove for the .32.
These are not as strong as the Remington RB you have but I believe judicious rebuild with modern materials for pins and screws will provide sufficient strength, especially in the .25 to use with either .25ACP or hand load custom .25 Stevens CF cartridges (made from resized .22 Hornet brass, the rims recut to .25ACP dimensions, and trimmed to 1.125 case length.

I believe these will be interesting at a Range, and enjoyable to shoot, especially with .25ACP pressure (17,400psi Pmax) factory loadings.  the information I have found is that the smokeless loadings for them were in the same ballpark and maxed out at about 24000psi as RF cartridges.  Pushing a 63gr to 67gr bullet should give a good account in the accuracy department in spite of my aging eyesight.
The .32 Long will probably follow the same path you have been working for charges and bullets, thank you for sharing the information.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[dusty texian]

Howdy Chev. William. Glad you have joined us. Sound's like some interesting rebuild's . I have purchased brass and Bullet's from Jack. He is straight up and Honest. The bullet's are very good quality. And to top it off, Jack will share his knowlege about the .32 . and loading for it. Hope you keep us posted on your progress. Have read a little about converting the .22 Hornet case and useing it in the .25 Steven's . That should be a very cool rifle . ,,,,,,,Dusty

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Here is a shell holder chart. I hope it helps'

http://www.reloadbench.com/gloss/pshellx.html

[ndnchf]

Chev - welcome to the discussion.  Dusty got me fired up about getting mine out and giving it some exercise.  I hope you post photos of the centerfire conversion of your Favorite. I too have bullets from Jack and they are very nice. 

[dusty texian]

Here is a pic. of the 1892 Marlin .32 LC and tang sight . The little tang sight fit's the 92 well. I changed the eye cup today ,to a little larger one. Sure help's me at the bench testing load's . ,,,,,,Dusty .(click on the pic. twice  for larger.)

[ndnchf]

Sir Charles - thanks for the shell holder link.

I love tang sights and have them on most of my rifles. That's a sweet looking set up you have there Dusty.

I loaded up a few more rounds of .32 LC trimed to .775 today.  Since this is an oddball variant of the LC case for my Remington, maybe I'll call it .32 LCR for short   I loaded up 8.2 gr of Goex 3F in this batch, everything else being the same as the Pyrodex P load. 

One thing I found annoying was the bullet slip fit in the case.  I went to wipe lube on the bullets after they were loaded and a couple of them came out of the case in my hand   So I looked around the shop for something to try to crimp with.  I found a cheap set of wire crimbers that had a 1/4" hole for crimping a wire terminal. I opened up the hole with a dremel to just a little a little smaller than the .32 LCR case.  I crimped a couple, but they kind of wrinked a little over the heel.   Hmmm, not really good. 

So I cast about again looking fior a solution.  I remembered that I had a Loctite type product used for securing bearings that are a little loose on a shaft.  It says the product will fill up to .003" gap.  Well the heel is probably not more that .001 or .002" loose in the case.  This is NOT the super strong red loctite that takes heat to break.  Rather a medium strength version.



So I thought “What the heck I’ll give it a try.”  Making sure the heel and case was free of grease, I applied one tiny drop to the side of the bullet’s heel. 



Making sure none was on the base, I slipped it into the case and rotated the bullet 360 degrees to spread the sealer around, then wiped off any excess from the outside.  I set it aside for a couple hours, then came back and checked.  The bullet was firmly set in the case – perfect.  Like I said, this is a medium strength sealer, but I wanted to make sure it was not too strong – to the point that it could raise pressures.  To test it, I gripped the bullet firmly in one hand and the case in the other and tried to twist the bullet.  It was in there firmly, but on the second try the seal broke and the bullet was free again.  I think this shows that it is similar to a good crimp, but not excessively strong.  Now I can lube and transport the bullets without worrying about the rounds coming apart.  While it is unconventional solution, it seems to work. 

[dusty texian]

Thank's ndnchf", Tang sight's help me see the front sight and target much better. I to loaded some SC round's today, that had been fired once .I found like you that if I do not size down the case neck . I can slip the bullet from the case with some effort. This is not to my likeing. I do not have a set of 32 S&W die's ,but I do have an Ideal 32 S&W tong tool. To size the case neck for a tight neck to bullet heel grip . I run the case into the die chamber and this size's down the case neck enough for very good grip,Note this step will work with the LC and SC case.The  32 S&W ,BULLET DIA. IS THE SAME AS THE CASE NECK OD. on a .32 LC. and SC case, That is why the tong tool can size the neck down. The case is entering into the bullet seating portion of the tool.Work's good for me. I would like to know if your 32 S&W die's will size down the case neck on the 32LC? If so you should not have the loose neck prob. Hope this will help ndnchf".I did load the SC with 299153 and 4 gr. of Pyrodex P. that is about  all you can get in that case. I also loaded more .78 case 299153 over 6.5gr. of Pyrodex P. This is a very accurate load in my Marlin. I have shot up to a string of 10 shot's without wipeing the bore and the accuracy was very good . ,,,,,,Dusty PS. The Locktite deal may be the ticket ,hope the fffGoex doe's well in your rifle . I tried a fff Goex load that did not give good accuracy,but was very powerful ,or it sounded like it. Think I will give this load a try again. May have been just a bad group my fault.,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

Dusty - My .32 S&W die set has both a liong and short seating die.  I tried using the seater as a sizing die, but it was too large and would not do anything.  Based on your tong tool experience I was hoping it would work, but alas - no.   So I've gone to plan B, described above.

[dusty texian]

ndnchf, thank's for the info . When talking to Jack ,he said I could use a letter" O" drill and ream out a die blank or old die and this will make a good sizeing die .Then the Ideal tong tool came along and it did the job. Will try to get into my shop this wk . and make a couple or more .If they work I will send you one. I was thinking if that Locktite work's for you ,it would be easy on the brass for NO work-hardening. I hope this work's for you. The bullet that w44wcf designed can be loaded into an as fired case ,a big + in my book. Am looking forward to trieng his newest design.Look's like I will be buying a new mould ,,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

Dusty - that is very generous of you - thanks. I'll be very interested to hear how that home made die works. That mould looks interesting. I don't know how much I'll shoot this little guy and whether its worth investing in a new mould.  But these 2299153 bullets are quite oversize for my .3085" bore.  The factory SC shot fine in my rifle and they measured .316". They must very very soft lead. Do you know the alloy of Jack's bullets?  I'll try to get to the range in the next few days and try my rounds out. 

[dusty texian]

He told me the one's I purchased a month or so ago, were circa 1980's wheel weight's with a percentage of tin added . I will go back and look into our E-mail and find out for sure. The 299153 from Jack has been doing realy well for me .I may just order two or three hundred , more from him and that would prob. last me a lifetime .,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

Dusty - what is the bore/groove diameter of your Marlin?  Just wondering if your rifle is squeezing down bullets like mine is.