.32 S & W Questions for the bp reloading gurus

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brazosdave

New member
I have recently purchased a Hopkins & Allen .32 breaktop of 1890's vintage, and need a bit of reloading advice. I have some .32 S & W long brass coming, what is the drill for shortening the brass for regular .32 S & W? Also, any suggestions on molds for the bullets? ( I prefer Lee). In a pinch, i'm planning on using .31 roundballs as a last resort projectile. I am loading strictly bp, i already load .38 S & W and .38 spl bp cartridges, so i'm pretty much used to it. Thanks!
 
Oregon trail (I think) sells 77 grain .32 bullets that are about perfect for this ctg. should have any trouble nubbing off S*W longs to the appropriated length.
 
Other bullets will work

I use the Lee 90 grain mold for my .32 S&W, .32 H&R, Nagant revolver and my .32 ACPs. Many will say that it is to heavy but I have used it and it works fine.
 
The .32 Long case is actually quite a bit longer than the .32 S&W. Doing all the trimming in a case trimmer would be really tedious. I would set up a Dremel with a cutting wheel so I could make a square cut and cut to within .05" or so of the correct S&W length, then finish the job in a case trimmer. Round balls of .310" have worked for me and that is a good place to start with an old popper like your H&A. Set the ball a little more than halfway and crimp it. The newer .32 ACP seating dies that come in Lee's .32 S&W set will crimp .32 S&W cases. Then I have had pretty good luck with cast bullets intended for the .32 ACP. These are in the 75-77 gr range. These work very well in my little Smith & Wessons, a Model 1-1/2 single action and a top break double action. It is probably safe to use heavier bullets, but I like to keep pressures down in these old guns. Lastly, 1.4 - 1.5 grains of Trail Boss works fine when you get tired of black.
 
You might could also....

Trim it back with a tubing cutter. I did that with some .223 cases that I turned into Tokarev. May not be enough purchase on the short case to hold it for the tubing cutter. The tubing cutter will leave excessive taper at the mouth where the tubing cutter bears against the case. But the case trimmer and then the expander will take that out. Watch case wall thickness.

You may want to do a plunk test on the new rounds just to verify the size of the case fits the size of that old revolver chamber. What was called .38 Long Colt in 1890 (at least in Belgium) is not what we call .38 Long Colt in the U.S. now. Cases expand so much upon discharge that you can easily see the bulge with your eye.

I know you are talking about .32 and I know you are talking about a U.S. made revolver.
 
Take a look on Harbor Freight - if I remember correctly, they carry a "miniature chop box" type cutter with a circular blade - not real big and I've heard of some using that device to cut off brass and then use conventional case trimmer to trim to standard OACL.

Maybe someone on here has a better description of what I'm referring to?
 
Try to find someone that will trade some S&W for your S&WL. It is a PITA to trim that much brass off a case. I have a lyman power case trimmer and it's a chore to cut 9mm luger down to 9mm makarov, and that's only shaving off 1mm.
 
Another potential problem with the tubing cutter

Is that the case may not be long enough for good purchase. You have to have something to hold onto and the case may be too small.

.223 cases are plenty long.

I have looked at those cutters at Harbor Freight and thought they were too flimsy.

It is good to know that someone has used them successfully.
 
And additional word about using the Harbor Freight cut off saw:
To keep the cases square to the saw blade, I use a bushing that has the inside diameter for a tight fit to the cases and an outside diameter that is square to the vise.
Otherwise the cases wobble around in the vise too much.
 
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