Pardini 32 ACP

[oldcaster]

I am having to clean my 32 a lot or I get alibis. I was using 1.7 231 with the 60 grain lead bullet which I got great accuracy out of but thought it was making the gun dirty because the powder was too slow. Some here got good results with Titewad and since it is a fast powder and expecting it to be cleaner I tried it but didn't get quite the same accuracy results. I came across some Titegroup and tried it and got good results for accuracy at 1.5 grains. The bullet is going 800 fps which is faster than all of my other good results with varying powders but if it works it works.

What I am wondering is whether the rest of you guys are having this same problem and does the Titewad stay cleaner. I tried 1.2 of the Titewad like was recommended but didn't try faster. If it really is cleaner to use I might try it at a higher velocity.

I expect that a dirty chamber is most of the problem so maybe just a brush to occasionally clean it out as I shoot it might solve the problem but it seems like a lot of dirt is above where the barrel rides.

[pistol champ]

Old Caster
I've been using 1.2 titewad with your 60 gr SWC and get great accuracy (725'/sec) it got dirtier when I went much slower and much cleaner when I went up to 1.4 which was about 800'/sec and accuracy was almost as good. I usually keep my gun really clean but I have shot over 2000 rounds one week without cleaning and had no functioning problems actually this gun just does not screw up ever. It was pretty ugly when I finally cleaned it especially the one magazine that I used for all the rounds.
I've done all the mag spring, mag lips, mag follower, recoil spring changes. With out these changes the gun would not be able to get through one mag with out screwing up.

[cgroppi]

I clean mine after every 900 match, more or less. I've shot a 900+team with it several times without cleaning and it was fine, but never fired multiple matches without cleaning in between. It does get pretty dirty, but it doesn't seem any worse than other blowback centerfire guns. I've done no mods at all, and it's always performed flawlessly.

[oldcaster]

I've done the magazine mods and put in the 22 recoil spring and the gun is flawless for maybe 300 rounds and then it will start to jam. The last time I went to the range I had alibis so when I take it apart to clean, I am going to try to find out where it is hanging up. It is possible that my cases are getting larger because I resize with a .002 oversize die and I notice a bulge deeper than what my expander goes and the alibis look like there isn't enough recoil to cycle the action. Since I am going 800fps I doubt that and typically the cases come out fairly sharply when it does work.

Lately I haven't been shooting every week and maybe that is the problem too. I have 22's that I can easily shoot several thousand rounds between cleanings but if I put them away with just a few rounds shot, when I get them out later they might alibi. I guess the goo gets harder when sitting and causes jams.

[Dipnet]

I use 2.30 grs Titegroup with the 60gr XTP bullet, Fed primers, OAL: 0.925, and various brass (Federal, R-P, Hornady); however, I use the same brand of brass with each 100 loaded bullets. This load is very accurate. I haven't clocked them, but expect the load approaches the high 900s. Good accuracy has been reported for this load at 50 yards.

It is a dirty load, but I have no problems cleaning my gun. But then, I enjoy cleaning guns and would like to wear Hoppe's No. 9 as an aftershave. Cheers and good shooting, dipnet

[Ttgoods]

W231 is a very dirty powder , I don't know if they have a recipe but for similar results I would try VV320 as its performance seems very similar to 231?

[oldcaster]

There are very few recipes for the 32 ACP with any powders but if you start low and watch velocities you can use any powder in the proper range as we are shooting them way below their max anyway. I gave up on 231 because it was dirty at that light load but TiteGroup seemed about the same which surprised me.

I cleaned the gun last night but before I did that, I took the barrel out and tried dropping loaded rounds to see if they were tight in the chamber. Out of the first ten, I had two that wouldn't drop in all the way but when I continued, all dropped in. I went back to the two that were tight and they fell in without problems. Whatever soot that was in the chamber came out just from dropping bullets and removing them. After I cleaned the chamber I noticed that there is a lot of room around the cases so my cases expanding is not even close to a problem. I am going to pay attention this time to see how many shots it takes before it alibis again. Then I am going to just use a brush to clean the chamber to see if it corrects.

There was a considerable amount of gummy stuff on the top of the rear part of the barrel which may be a problem but I couldn't see that it rubbed there. It will be something worth paying attention to though because the slide goes right across it for the full distance it moves.

Cleaning it every few hundred rounds isn't that much of a pain because it comes apart easily and I don't see where doing this will wear out important parts like it might on other guns. Just make sure you turn it on its side so the recoil spring won't jam as you put it back together. I am sure being a blow back design makes it dirtier but I have some 22's that can easily be shot several thousand rounds before they have to be cleaned and they are blow back too.

I might try a hard lube but it seems like this is always detrimental to accuracy in guns that shoot around this velocity.

[Ttgoods]

I'd keep a snake or bore mop handy.

[cbruce13]

I have a remedial question, in line with this thread, but maybe requiring a separate post:

Are there widely available .32 ACP rounds, off the shelf, that result in good accuracy and also a lack of alibis?

Relatedly, .32 ACP or .32 S&W?

I'm a newbie, and have just received my .22 SPBE - which shoots incredibly; so now I'm a little interested the notion of being able to swap barrels for centerfire.

CB

[oldcaster]

There are several different commercial loads that are supposed to work well in the Pardini 32 ACP and the one that the pistol was designed for is the 60 grain Hornady XTP. I would think that they are starting to be more available than they were but I expect that they would be expensive. As far as reloading them, quite a few people have had good results reloading the same XTP bullet and that would certainly make them cheaper but when it comes to a lead bullet there isn't much choice and none of them are as accurate as self cast but that pretty much goes with all lead bullets. You may get by with commercial lead for 25 yard shooting of timed and rapid fire.