Thinking of improvements to a .32 plinking load

HiBC said:
If its working and you are happy,enjoy.

I'll just toss this out there as my general understanding of crimp types. Its OK to disagree.

A taper crimp is best for semi-autos as it primarily resists the bullet being seated deeper during the feeding cycle.Its also better than a roll crimp for headspacing on the case mouth.

A revolver needs exactly the opposite from a crimp. It needs for the bullet to not be pulled forward during heavy recoil.

And because of the "freebore" of the cylinder throat,the cylinder gap,and then the forcing cone before the rifling engraves to provide resistance,its difficult for the powder to get up to minimum pressure for good ignition.

The function of a good roll crimp into a crimp groove is to provide resitance to the bullet leaving the cartridge case till the pressure elevates a bit more.

IMO,selecting roll crimp vs taper crimp is usually as simple as : Revolver or semi auto?

Of course,to roll crimp a crimp groove or shoulder is required to give the crimp a place to go. Your 32 Auto bullets likely do not have a crimp groove,so taper crimp may be the only option.

In my Ruger Single Six 32 H+R,a great plinker ammo is the Fiochi 32 S+W Long wadcutter load. The bullet is seated flush with the case,and roll crimped. They shoot good for me.Quite mild
Click to expand...
I would like nothing more than to use a traditional lead bullet like a wadcutter and a roll crimp, but Ruger seems to make all .327's with .314 throats and I can only find lead bullets are either .312 or .313, so they're undersize going, there's gas blow by, and the bore gets leaded.

There is one hollow base wadcutter .312 bullet I know of and that may be able to seal against the throat. For now tho, these .32 ACP bullets are working and they're half the price of those wadcutters.

As for the crimp, yes, I feel given that these bullets are meant for a taper crimp that that's the proper style to use. I think I tried a very light roll crimp by seating the bullet to where the case mouth was past the ogive, but it didn't look or feel right.

Speaking of the crimp, my uncle reloads and tells me that he never crimps any of his ammo because it reduces accuracy and because case lengths have to be identical. I'm not looking for utmost accuracy, but I don't want to shoot uncrimped bullets in revolvers. Does crimping a bullet reduce accuracy under these circumstances?
 
I had two Single Sevens and shot mostly .313 lead in loads mild to wild, all 327 brass, and never had a hint of barrel leading. Smaller cases and light loads with bullets cast too hard for lower pressures might have caused leading, but I never tried it.
 
All I shoot in my Single Seven is .313 lead. No leading in mine either. My notes do say the throats are .314, one .313 (checked with plug guages). Never have shot any .327 in mine. Only .32 H&R Mag cartridges.
 
Good news everyone!

I tried a max charge of Trail Boss with a magnum primer and the cases obturated much better, no black soot on the sides like the last ones, so it appears that with magnums a max charge of TB and magnum primers are the way to go.

Actually, it may be that magnum primers are the way to go for all loads using Trail Boss given the extreme bulkiness of the powder.
 
That's a good point. There is a lot of empty space still present in a case filled with Trail Boss. I also note a number of folks have not been satisfied with its performance (not just here, but elsewhere as well) and that observation about the magnum primer may just be the ticket for solving their issues.

Thanks for posting the follow-up information!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top