Are centrefire guns ammo sensitive?

[Narcoleptic Warrior]

I fired my Erma Werke ESP 85 .32 S+WL pistol today and I noticed that it's rather ammo sensitive.

I fed it:

1) Fiocchi Match rounds (old red boxes)
2) Fiocchi target rounds (purple or maroon boxes)
3) Magtech 98gr HBWC rounds (blue boxes)

The magtech gave me flawless mechanical performance while the fiocchi "match" rounds gave me several failure to feed instances, particularly at the 3rd or 4th round in the magazine. The fiocchi "target" rounds on the other hand were marginally more reliable but not perfect.

The match rounds were different from the target rounds in that the former had a blackish paint like coating and were slightly recessed in the cartridge case while the target rounds appeared to be plain lead HBWCs and seated flush with the cartridge case.

Hence, my questions to you guys is:
1) Does anyone have any experience with fiocchi's red box "match" .32 ammo (blackish paint coating + seated 0.5mm into the case)? Does it give your gun feeding problems?
2) While I know that .22 guns are ammo sensitive, are centrefire guns also picky about the stuff loaded into them?

[David Levene]

While I know that .22 guns are ammo sensitive, are centrefire guns also picky about the stuff loaded into them?

In my experience .32s are more sensitive about ammunition than .22s.

Having said that however, they are still reasonably tolerant and once you find a load that works you should be fine. That doesn't mean that all factory ammunition is born equal.

Fiocchi is normally considered a light load. Lapua 98g is normally considered a heavy load. Early CBC/Magtech was supremely accurate in FAS/Hammerli/Walther, later production nowhere near as good.

[David M]

I agree with David, .32 Auto's can be frustrating on ammo.
The best thing you can do is to reload. Develop a load that is ideal for your pistol and hand load for performance.
The barrels sizes in .32 vary from .309 to .316 (common is .311-.314) and this makes it nearly impossible for one factory round to fit all.
If reloading is not an option, then the available factory loads are indeed limited. Try all the brands, find one that is accurate and reliable, then go and buy a case of it.

[Narcoleptic Warrior]

Is it possible that the same brand and model of .32 S&WL ammo manufactured about 15 years apart could have slightly different case specifications and even be loaded to a different velocity?

I have shot fresh magtech ammo out of my Erma Werke ESP-85 and out of 285 rounds only 1 had a light firing pin strike.

However, when I switched to 3 boxes of the same model of ammo but made sometime in 1991, I had 5 FTFs and 3 FTEs.

Since I clean my pistol fastidiously after each training session and none of the parts in my gun are broken, what is the possibility that the physical specs of older ammo (same brand) are different from their modern brethern?

[Richard H]

Is it possible that the same brand and model of .32 S&WL ammo manufactured about 15 years apart could have slightly different case specifications and even be loaded to a different velocity?

I have shot fresh magtech ammo out of my Erma Werke ESP-85 and out of 285 rounds only 1 had a light firing pin strike.

However, when I switched to 3 boxes of the same model of ammo but made sometime in 1991, I had 5 FTFs and 3 FTEs.

Since I clean my pistol fastidiously after each training session and none of the parts in my gun are broken, what is the possibility that the physical specs of older ammo (same brand) are different from their modern brethern?

Yes, its most likely different, every lot of ammo is different, I would think the difference over 15 years could be quite different.