.327 Federal Club thread

BillCA,

"I suspect that reloaded ammo will have a considerably more noticeable muzzle flash than factory."

From my 327 reloading experience with H110 and PP300MP, they definitely have a larger flash, and are much dirtier than AE 100gr. Also they significantly fall short on muzzle velocity. It'd be nice to know what witches brew federal is using.

Some 327 hand loads here:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=454312
 
L.F.

I suspected velocities would be lower. Without seeing reloading data I didn't know how big the gap was. And I wasn't sure that someone hadn't been able to pull the hat out of a rabbit, regarding velocities.

I doubt we'll ever know what kind of powders were "blended" for the .327's factory loads. Mostly because if they told us, then some damnfool would try to do it hisself and launch gun parts into orbit.

Getting 1350 fps with a Gold Dot JHP seems to me to be decent performance for a handload. Now what we need are some good LSWC and LSWC-HP designs for the .312" bullets and gas checks.
 
Sevens, Excepting the variables of load, at how many loadings do you see the split?
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I could only throw a guess or maybe to be more accurate... a minimum number of loadings, as I don't track that.

It's typically happening in my nickel rather than my brass, and I'm certain they've had at least 5-6 loadings...some of them--more.

Haven't seen a neck split yet.
 
Sevens, Interesting. I say that because to date the only cases I've reloaded have been Speer Gold Dot (all nickel) and I've yet to have a case failure. Some at 9 re-loadings some at 10, (with some of them Blue Dot way too hot). All have been shot through a Ruger SP101 with really tight chambers, maybe that's why. In any case I'll watch closely.
 
It's a very inexact science, for sure! A large share of my nickel .327 came to me in a lot of once-fired brass from the 85gr Federal Hydra-Shock load. That same brass was loaded a couple times and fired from an SP-101, and now gets launched from my 4.2" barreled GP-100.

I'm not saying that I'm destroying all my brass, :p just that this stuff is simply not going to last as long as .357 Magnum brass.
 
Agreed, but reiterate that I'm talking a lengthwise split that doesn't include the case mouth... which MAY be the type of split that nickel plated cases have a bit more a reputation for doing. Or maybe not. :p

I do get similar splits in my OLDEST lot of nickel plated .38 Special brass. This was a 500-pc lot of mostly R-P, all in nickel, that I snagged from Midway, circa 1991 or 1992. It's never seen more than 20k PSI...let alone the 40-45k PSI I'm throttling this .327 Federal brass at. :cool:
 
It's on my list of wants. Just pretty far down. I like the idea of the cartridge. But I am cutting back on my gun purchasing so I can purchase my first home to defend with my current collection. Haha!
 
Weird...that's like what one would expect from an oversize chamber.
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In my experience, this is not at all weird. As said, I get them occasionally (not rarely) in older .38 Special brass running less than half the pressure, and I run that brass and those loads through more than half a dozen different .38s & .357 Magnum revolvers.

In my opinion, this is something I simply get with nickel plated revolver brass.
 
Case fatigue

Give the 40-45,000 psi pressures that case is put under, it would not be surprising that case life is shorter than .38 or even .357 case life.

Lengthwise cracking is typically a sign of aging brass with multiple resizing steps in reloading. When fired, the brass bulges outward against the chamber walls to contain the pressure. After firing the brass relaxes a bit. But it is now oversized from factory specs. We resize the brass which forces it back into the correct dimensions. These repeated steps work harden the brass until it gets hard and brittle. Then the weakest point fails - a rupture in the form of a crack.

In the .327 federal, it's diameter is going to be the same as that for .32 Long and .32 H&R, in order that the chamber specs are consistent. That means...

.337" - .32 caliber cartridge diameter.
.3412" - .32 chamber diameter
.0042" - .32 cartridge expansion diameter

This means we're squeezing a .3412" case back down to .337" in each resizing step. Just like airliners that pressurize and depressurize, repeated cycling of the metal causes metal fatigue cracks can form.

Brass is annealed when originally formed to make the brass softer and workable when forming the cartridge. Rifle shooters may anneal the case mouths of their rifle cartridges after a few firings, especially if the case mouth seems not to keep tension against the bullet.

The main advantages of nickel cases center around it's lubricity for easier extraction and greater corrosion resistance, especially in leather belt loops. Nickel is less ductile (more brittle) than brass and resists changes in shape. The nickel forms a "shell" around the brass and when resizing causes the nickel to either separate from the brass or work harden, it creates a tiny weak spot. The case resists expansion in all directions equally except where that weak spot is. That one spot tends to expand a little faster and easier.

When resizing your brass, be sure that both the brass and resizing die are clean. This is especially true of you use any case lubricant which can carry fouling and grit into the resizing die. Inspect resized cartridges for lengthwise scratches which can shorten case life (especially at 45,000 psi). Worst case is that some grit can scratch the die itself and ruin it.

Measure your once-fired brass. Since revolver chambers are sometimes cut all at once, there may be slight variances between chambers. One might be slightly loose compared to the others (.3413 instead of .3412). Expect case life for those cartridges may be shorter.
 
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Finally scored a Marlin 1894CB 32H&R Magnum. I've been watching my local firearms forums for over a year. Found a guy who had bought a large lot of rifles and handguns which included a bunch of lever guns. It's new in box unfired for $650. About the same price they sold for originally, I'm happy. Now just need to get the nerve up to send it off to get rechambered for our favorite caliber. Should be fun will keep you guys posted.
 

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About three years ago, I held one of those in my hand, contemplated the $600 price tag, and put it back.

I have regretted selling a few guns, but there are precious few I regret not buying. This is one.

I'm glad I was willing to pony up for my .327 SP101 when I did.
 
Hello Low Friction
Nice Marlin. You may want to reconsider punching that gun out to accept and Fire the Federal .327 Magnum. The SAMI Pressure's between the two rounds is very different with the .32 H&R Magnum Cartridge being 21,000 and the Federal .327 Magnum Cartridge being 45,000 I am Not sure if that Marlin could take the drastic change in SAMI pressure. I would contact Marlin and ask them what Pressure that gun could handle before changing it's caliber. I do know that S&W Build's their gun's to withstand about Twice the SAMI pressure of the round that they are built for, But I have no idea if Marlin does that. Even is Marlin Built their Gun's to withstand double the SAMI pressure of the .32 H&R Magnum being say 42,00 you would still be approaching a disaster by shooting the Federal .327 Magnum cartridge in that rifle. That is why we see very few revolver's made to withstand the Higher Pressure of the Federal .327 Magnum Cartridge. Just something to think about here, & many are not aware of how high the SAMI Pressure is for the Federal .327 Magnum Cartridge. I hope this Helps, Hammer It
 
The 32 H&R Magnum CB Limited uses roughly the same receiver, barrel, and bolt as the other CB Limited chamberings. Of course the 32 variant has a really hefty barrel wall thickness as compared to the 44 and 45 models.

Here are some numbers to compare the radial chamber and bolt face pressures for the 327mag and the 44mag at peak SAAMI pressures.

327 fed mag/44mag
Bolt face area: 0.089 in^2/0.163 in^2
Radial chamber area: 1.220 in^2/1.750 in^2
SAAMI max pressure: 45,000 psi/36,000 psi
Bolt face pressure: 4005 lbs/5868 lbs
Radial chamber pressure: 54,900 lbs/63,000 lbs

The cumulative radial chamber pressure is ~15% higher for the 44mag that has a substantially thinner barrel compared to the 32 h&r. The cumulative bolt face pressure is a whopping 46% higher for the 44mag. I'm pretty comfortable with the design margin.
 
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Will that action cycle the longer rounds? You should be able to tell that before the chamber work. I'd almost bet it would, but I would be sure before sending it out.
 
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