32 ACP, enough bullet in case?

C

Carmady

New member
I'm ready to start reloading 32 ACP, and thought I'd start with a few dummy rounds. I'm concerned with how little of the bullet is seated into the case.

case length: .676"
bullet length: .422" (Berry's 71gr PRN)

According to my rifmatik:
.118" of bullet in case with .980" OAL
.128" of bullet in case with .970" OAL

I'm thinking about going with .970" max. The brass came from Fiocchi 73gr FMJ which had an average OAL of .971".

Will .128" be enough bullet in the case?
 
Why wouldn't it be enough? It's almost a third of the bullet length.

One of the bullseye shooters on the M1911.org forum awhile ago posted his way of judging seating depth. He uses smoke or a black Sharpie or Dykem to shade one side of a sample bullet. Then he uses a razor blade against the bullet base to scrape away the coloring along the straight wall of the bullet base. Where the scrape ends is where the ogive begins. Obviously, there's no point in seating any deeper than the point where the base ends.

You could do that with your bullets, and determine the maximum seating depth. Then adjust from there.
 
It's about 1/8", not a whole lot to hold it straight. I was thinking that the bullet might get knocked crooked in the case when it slammed into the feed ramp.

I made three dummy rounds and manually cycled them several times. The OAL didn't shrink, so it looks like the crimp was tight enough, and the bullets seemed square to the cases. They look like they'll work.
 
The only part that matters is that the COAL be between .890" and .984". Those being the SAAMI Minimum and Maximum cartridge lengths measured from the point of the bullet to the flat of the case head. How much bullet is in the case(AKA Seating Depth) doesn't matter. COAL is what matters.
"...not a whole lot to hold it straight..." That's what the taper crimp is for.
 
the bullet profile will matter some. WWB FMJ (flat nose) 71 grain has an OAL of about .910 which is about the same for hollow point ammo.
 
It's not true that how much bullet is in the case does not matter. Deeper seating depth can raise pressure rather substantially in short powder column cases. However, you easily address that by working the load up from the lowest load in the data, watching for pressure signs.

I think Aguila Blanca's advice to rub marker off along the bearing surface (the wide, cylindrical part of the bullet) to see where the ogive starts is very good. As he explained, there is normally no point in seating below the start of the ogive in a pistol round. A single-edge razor is a good tool for this. So is placing the inked bullet's bearing surface against something flat like a piece of glass and just pushing it forward to rub the ink off without peeling any from the ogive.
 
The only part that matters is that the COAL be between .890" and .984". Those being the SAAMI Minimum and Maximum cartridge lengths measured from the point of the bullet to the flat of the case head. How much bullet is in the case(AKA Seating Depth) doesn't matter. COAL is what matters.
Click to expand...

And I don't think that SAAMI COAL standards matter that much. What matters more is what works in your gun. SAAMI standards are good for industry, to ensure everything fits and works safely in all cases. Some guns will function safely and well with ammo that in some regard exceeds some SAAMI standard.

For your pistol, you need to ensure that whatever the COAL you are using fits in, and feeds from the magazine. The ENTIRE magazine, not just the top two or three rounds.

I have made ammo that was perfect when it was the top round or the second round, but the deeper in the magazine it went, the more it bound up, due to its length. You need to ensure your longest round will travel freely from the botton of the magazine up, not just from the top into the chamber.

Staying within a SAAMI spec SHOULD do that, BUT, there is no certainty without physically checking the gun and the ammo actually in your own hands.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I loaded 56 rounds, all with .970" OAL. The Fiocchi FMJ's averaged .971" and ran 100%, so I expect the reloads to work. Thirty of HP38/2.1gr, and 26 of Unique/2.5gr. From what I could find those are close to medium loads.
 
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