Shooting .32 S&W Long Wadcutters out of .32 S&W (short) Revolver

The dies that are SPECIFIC to the .32 S&W may be usable to reload .32 Long, but the .32 Long dies won't reload .32 S&W.

Lee shows 3 separate product IDs for .32 S&W, .32 Long, and .32 H&R dies.
 
Mike Irwin said:
The dies that are SPECIFIC to the .32 S&W may be usable to reload .32 Long, but the .32 Long dies won't reload .32 S&W.



Lee shows 3 separate product IDs for .32 S&W, .32 Long, and .32 H&R dies.
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You are right. I thought it was the same set. I have the one for .32 s&w long. Have been using it for .32 s&w and .32 French longue, but never .32 s&w long. No problem so far. It is carbide die.

-TL

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My Lee dies say .32 S&W Long and .32 Colt New Police.
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The .32 S&W Long and the .32 Colt New Police are the same case. The S&W was loaded with a RN bullet and the Colt New Police was loaded with a flat point bullet.

Back in the day, Colt would not put S&W's name on their guns, and created their own version of S&W rounds, and named then "Colt" Usually the only difference between them was the style of the bullet and the name.

Have been using it for .32 s&w and .32 French longue, but never .32 s&w long. No problem so far. It is carbide die.
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Regular carbide sizer dies are a "ring" (short cylinder) of carbide material cemented into the bottom of the steel sizer die body. They don't care how long the case is. Short cases are sized fine, and long cases are also, just having more of the brass stick up past the sizer ring in the die.

The issue shows up when using the built in crimping shoulder of the seater die. IF the die is made for the longer case, the short one simply won't reach the crimp shoulder before the shell holder contacts the die body.

If the die is made for the shorter case, it can be used to crimp the longer case by adjusting the die body (out) in the press to compensate for the longer case. When done right, there will be a gap between the die bottom and the shellholder with the ram at full extension, approximately equal to the difference in the length of the cases. If you crimp long brass in a short die without backing the die body out enough, you will crush and destroy the long case.
 
Geez, this stuff is complicated! Tanglima, do you have a part number for your die set? Do you have to use any extra parts with the .32 S&W Long die to make it work for the .32 S&W? Like washers or extended shell holder?
 
I have 90624 for .32s&w long and .32 colt new police.

No mod is needed for sizing.

No mod is needed for seating. At least for the bullets I am loading with.

I do need to drop in 2 hex nuts in the expander die to reach the shorty brass. No big deal really.

Now I remember debating which die sets to buy. I reckon getting the long die will give me more use and flexibility. I also bought the .32 acp FCD to help take out the brass mouth flare. There was some issue with .32 French longue.

It could be a bit of hassle to make it work perfectly for different calibers. Get different die sets if you don't want to deal with that. So far I use the same die set for 2 different cartridges. Very probably I will make it work for .32 acp. I'm cheap and you don't have to be.

-TL

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FoundFather said:
Thanks, again, TruthTeller.


I rescued my .32's form the FLL. Here is a pitcture:

attachment.php


View attachment 115443

The Victor is blued and the Young America is nickel. They appear to be identical in size and very similar overall, but for the unfluted cylinder and round barrel on the Victor vs. fluted cylinder and octagon barrel on Young America. They are both five shot .32 S&W's although the Young America is apparently made for black powder ad the Victor smokeless.

I guess I am finally going to have start reloading, at least for this caliber. I have a lot to learn about that.

Can anyone tell me the best currently-in-production die set for .32 S&W? What, if anything, do I need to make a .32 S&W Long die set work for .32 S&W? An extended shell holder?

It looks like a lot of dies currently on the market can do .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Mag, and .327 Federal Mag, but it is not clear if you can do .32 S&W on these sets. Is it possible with some addition?

If I could find a Lee Classic Loader in .32 S&W, that would be my preferred route, but they don't seem to have made those for many years. If anyone could point me to one, that would be appreciated.
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They're in pretty decent condition too, congrats. Blued H&R's are the bomb, underrated bluing IMO for a revolver at the prices they sold for.

On reloading, I use Lee dies because they work and are cheap. For these revolvers you need not buy any die sets more expensive.

The Lee .32 ACP set is also for .32 S&W, but it will probably come with the .32 ACP shelholder not a .32 S&W, so if you get that one you should also get the necessary shellholder.

.32 S&W Long dies will work for .32 Mag and .327 Mag. The sizing die is the same for all the .32's that Lee makes, it's the expander, seater, and crimp dies that will be different.

I would get the .32 SW Lg 4 die set, that comes with the Lee factory crimp die and you will want that for wadcutters. You can get later a .32 ACP/S&W seater die as that also crimps and due to the short length you need the seater to be able to crimp the bullets if you ever bother to load .32 S&W to shoot in these revolvers.

I think using starting loads for .32 wadcutter is the best choice because these revolvers have large gaps and no throats, so the accuracy with the .32 wadcutters in .32 Long will be far better than .32 S&W.

I do not like Lee expansion dies for .32, they dont make the bullets seat squarely. I use the Lyman M die, it has worked very well for me and the nice thing is the .32 M die that Lyman makes will work for all .32's from ACP and S&W up to .327 Mag.
 
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Thanks for reloading info guys. I think I have it in my future. I may hold off for while though.

I ahve some clack powder blanks in .32 S&W on the way. I plan to try them in both the Young America and Victor as a first test. Assuming that goes OK, I will probably not fire the Young America any more until I get reloading set up. With the Victor, if hte blanks don't blow naything up, I also have some .32 S&W lead round nose on the way. I will try them next. If that goes OK, I plan to try the .32 S&W Long wadcutters out of the Victor.
 
All the blanks will tell you, is if the gun will fire.
There is no danger of the gun blowing up, as there is no pressure build up from having a projectile.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
All the blanks will tell you, is if the gun will fire.
There is no danger of the gun blowing up, as there is no pressure build up from having a projectile.
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"no danger of gun blowing up" - sounds like the right place to start, no?

"tell you if the gun will fire" - also useful information!

Plus I will get some cases out of it that I can reload, once I have accumulated all the gear for that..
 
Some comments Found Father: No 32 Long cartridge will fit in a gun chambered for 32 short. A 32 S&W (short) chamber has a shoulder machined in the chamber at the length of the short case. Therefore, a 32 long case will not chamber because the end of the long case hits the shoulder at the end of the short chamber. That said, the Victor you have apparently bought has chambers bored straight through with no shoulders, an ill advised economy move. You will notice it also has no cylinder flutes. On the top strap, besides the "Victor" marking will be ".32 S&W Ctge." The bored through chambers will however take 32 short, 32 Long, and even .32 H&R Magnum shells but they are unusable because a bullet makes them too long. The Victor followed the earlier H&R American and was made in the range of about 1915 to 1920. It is a solid frame revolver with a fairly heavy frame, cylinder, and barrel. You can examine yours and decide what you ought to shoot in it.
 
McShooty said:
On the top strap, besides the "Victor" marking will be ".32 S&W Ctge." The bored through chambers will however take 32 short, 32 Long, and even .32 H&R Magnum shells but they are unusable because a bullet makes them too long.
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I think a true wadcutter will fit in the cylinder, we will (eventually) find out. You are correct about the markings.

Victor Top Strap.jpg

Victor Left Side Compressed.jpg

Victor Right Side Compress.jpg

For some reason I can't get the photos to display in the thread.
 
I wonder if RCBS makes a 32 short trim die?
Star line makes new brass but are out of stock at the moment. They have Long brass in stock.
 
JRR said:
I wonder if RCBS makes a 32 short trim die?
Star line makes new brass but are out of stock at the moment. They have Long brass in stock.
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I bought a box of black powder blanks and a box .32 S&W (dare I say it?.....Shorts!) so I will have a few cases to mess around with. Now all I need are all the other relaoding bits. Maybe I will win the lottery and find some small pistol primers!
 
Small pistol primers are in stock at Bass Pro Shop - you have to go there in person, no online orders. Small rifle works too if the firing pin is in good shape.
 
RoyceP said:
Small pistol primers are in stock at Bass Pro Shop - you have to go there in person, no online orders. Small rifle works too if the firing pin is in good shape.
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Not at mine! Seemed worth atry though. Drove a half hour to get to my nearest Bass Pro, then stood in line at hte ammo counter for another half hour in order to find out they had no primers in any size. Ammo / primer shortage still raging in Kaliforniastan, hope you guys appreciate how good you've got it.

Stopped by my local gun store on the way. They are closing down. Cost of compliance with kaliforniastan BS just too high. Someone else applied for a permit to open a new store nearby, city council enacted a "moratorium" on new gun stores to prevent it.

We got it bad!
 
Repsonded to TL.

I was able to buy some CCI small pistol primers (and a few large ones) at a LGS today. (Not that local.)

Not cheap!!! I know posting what I paid would make the the old hands glad they bought 50,000 primers back when they were $0.03 each, but I think I better not post becasue some of the old hands are are, well.......old, and I might give soemtone a heart attack :D

At lease I have a few to play around with while I decide whetehr I am going to plunge all the way into relaoding.
 
Even before the pandemic the price had climbed to $0.04 a primer. Now I take $0.08 as fair price. I doubt we will ever go below $0.05.

Glad you have found what you need to get started.

-TL

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