Live .32 ACP round in barrel of 1935 Beretta

Forcing the slide back as suggested will be extremely rough on the extractor, and this is a gun from 1935 --use your noodle and don't break stuff

TCB
 
This happened to me once in a .45 auto. I removed the magazine and used a wooden dowel with an empty 9mm BRASS casing slipped over one end. I inserted the BRASS casing covered end into the barrel and pushed the uncovered end of the dowel against a wall, holding the pistol grip as normal and pushing the jammed bullet and slide back until the bullet was dislodged . I then grabbed and held the slide with my loose hand, pointed the barrel down, let the dowel fall free, turned the weapon sideways and allowed the retracted bullet to fall to the ground and then allowed the slide to close. I do not own a .32 ACP so I have no idea what caliber empty case would be needed. I must add: I do not recommend or endorse the method described above in any way shape or form. It is for informational use only. Let us know how it works out?
 
I would be hesitant about toting around a gun with a live round in the chamber, even if I were taking it to a gunsmith.
Click to expand...
Wedge some thick cloth in front of the hammer and it can't fire.
 
I didn't forget...lol.... Ok, if you must know. I had just started reloading again and I missed a very important step. That is, visually inspecting all cases before seating the bullet. Luckily I am hear in one piece to tell about it and I have remedied the issue. So hopefully, knock on wood, it will not happen again...;)
 
Here is the outcome for those who may be interested. I took the pistol to my gunsmith today and he removed the live round. I had been shooting handloads when this problem occurred. This particular round had a bulge in the case so that it never fully seated in the chamber. Since the round had never fired there was no damage to the barrel.

When I got home I checked my last batch of .32 ACP reloads. In this batch of 250 cartridges I found 12 with the same type of bulge in the case! The bulge line in the case was where the bottom of the bullet would be. I have no idea as to what might be causing this. I wonder if it might be something with the dies. I checked the OAL on each of the defective cartridges and this was okay. Over the last 50 years I have reloaded endless thousands of this round and never had this problem before. I would appreciate any informed information on this. I am also going to post this problem on the Reloading Forum.
 
A bulge below the bullet is often a sign of having the die set too low combined with cases that are a little too long

You can try either trimming all the cases to the same length, or backing the die out a little, and readjusting the seating stem

Also make sure the inside of the case mouth has a good bevel
 
Cases can have different internal profiles, with the case walls tapering differently from the base to the case mouth. One case or make of case can accept a bullet of a certain diameter seated to a certain depth with no problem, while another case or make of case will bulge from the same diameter bullet seated to the same depth. It is just another fact of life to complicate the reloader's existence.

The answer is to match cases to bullets and separate cases as necessary.

Jim
 
I encounter what youre describing from time to time, and it seems for a couple of different reasons.

Mostly, its when Im in a hurry, I seem to have the issue more. A lot of times if you dont get the bullet indexed properly in the case mouth, you will get a bulge when you seat it, especially if youre working the handle hard.

Most of my pistol brass is a mix of head stamps. Brass often seems to differ a good bit from maker to maker, and when you flare the case mouths, you dont always get consistency in the flare. Inconsistency here, just aggravates the above.

If you dont get the case fully in the shell holder, the expander will often bulge the case on one side too. Using a taper crimp usually nullifies things here though, or at least reduces them.

I seem to have the issue more with with certain calibers when using jacketed bullets than I do with lead. I see this the most when I load jacketed bullets in 357MAG. What I have found here is, if I work the handle "slowly", it happens a lot less, if at all. If I work the handle quickly, its pretty much a guarantee Ill get a number.
 
What we have here is another example of reloading errors causing firearms
malfunctions.By rights this thread should be down south in the reloaders forum
where it would doubtless get the expert treatment it deserves.
 
Poly, The matter has already drawn two pages of "expert advice" for a condition that normally would be corrected by a competent gunsmith faster than the OP could be written. I guess we can expect to be entertained for another page or two before the round is extracted :-)
 
What Jim said,
Also, that internal tapper is probably there to prevent bullet set back after contacting the feed ramp. That is why I asked if they were all the same brand of case, maybe they were originally loaded with a slightly shorter/lighter bullet from the factory. At the start of this thread we didn't really know the cause of the original problem, further investigation got us to a possible "reloading issue".
 
To further complicate things, the .32 ACP is supported (headspaces) on the rim, so makers don't worry overmuch about strict maintenance of either case length or (in factory loads) taper at the case mouth.

Jim
 
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