A little survey on .32 S&W Long wadcutter...

[buonvento]

Some questions for the shooters who reloads .32 wadcutter:
1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases?
2) which kind of crimp do you use?
3) manual or progressive press?
3) which brand and model of press?
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds?
Thanks...

[LukeP]

Some questions for the shooters who reloads .32 wadcutter:
1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases?
2) which kind of crimp do you use?
3) manual or progressive press?
3) which brand and model of press?
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds?
Thanks...

1) No, but i use selected brass: Geco, Fiocchi and Lapua, and with control over batches: all reloaded the same number of time and so on. For match i use only one time fired brass.
2) Rcbs taper crimp, but it seems more a roll crimp just a little touch to gentle roll the brass mouth, very very light.
3) Dillon 550. I own also a Lee Classic Turret, but i think that major factor of accuracy with Lee is due to operator speed and force operating the handle: so too much differences stroke by stroke.
With dillon no problem at all.
3) as above.
4) I don't test speed range, my reloading is 1,1 grains of Vectan BA10 under Hornady 98 grains Hollow Base. With lapua 98 HBWC is use n310 at 1,3 grains. Use caution with Vectan BA10, because 0,1 grains make a lot of differences, a bit less with n310, but use attention.

And you?

[Guest]

1) Nope, don't even sort them by brands
2) Roll crimp, medium
3) / 4) Dillon 650 XL w. casefeeder
5) 1.1 grs N310 behind a 83grs Lapua, around 210 m/sec from a 153mm barrel. Very smooth shooter, and good precision.

[mister G]

Some questions for the shooters who reloads .32 wadcutter:
1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases?
2) which kind of crimp do you use?
3) manual or progressive press?
3) which brand and model of press?
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds?
Thanks...

1) No trimming. Use Lapua brass exclusively
2) Slight roll crimp, to duplicate Lapua factory
3) Semi-progressive - Dillon 550B
4) Velocity unknown. 98 gr Speer HBWC ahead of 1.5 g WST.

[buonvento]

I reply to myself....
1) I don't trim cases, even though I can see differences between different brands.
2) Roll crimp, but I'm searching for a Redding profile crimp.
I'm not so sure that a roll crimp could be better than a taper crimp, if the round feeds the gun...
3) Lee Classic Turret in manual mode.
4) I don't know, but I use 1.3 gr of N310 with Hornady 98 gr HBWC in a Pardini HP.

[mister G]

I reply to myself....
1) I don't trim cases, even though I can see differences between different brands.
2) Roll crimp, but I'm searching for a Redding profile crimp.
I'm not so sure that a roll crimp could be better than a taper crimp, if the round feeds the gun...
3) Lee Classic Turret in manual mode.
4) I don't know, but I use 1.3 gr of N310 with Hornady 98 gr HBWC in a Pardini HP.

I also use the Redding profile crimp in the Dillon.

A slight roll crimp will keep the bullet from moving forward when it is slammed into the chamber in semi-autos. The roll also eases the transition from magazine to ramp to chamber.

I didn't know Hornady made a 98 gr HBWC. Thought it was 90 gr only.

[EdStevens]

1) Nope. Mixed brass, mostly Fiocchi with some Lapua. Probably a mistake since there's a huge difference in wall thickness between them (the Lapua is much thinner), but I don't see any difference in accuracy.
2) Taper crimp, but probably should have bought a roll crimp die instead. I was used to reloading .45 and so got the taper crimp without realizing that wadcutters probably benefit from a slight roll crimp.
3) Manual (single stage).
4) RCBS RS and a Uniflow powder measure. 98gr BBWC with .17-1.8 gr of W231.
5) I've never chronographed them so I don't know.

[j-team]

Some questions for the shooters who reloads .32 wadcutter:
1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases?
2) which kind of crimp do you use?
3) manual or progressive press?
3) which brand and model of press?
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds?
Thanks...

1. No but you do notice when they are really old they shorten and miss the crimp die!

2. Roll, just a little bit so as you can only just see it.

3. Progressive Lee Loadmaster

4. Current pistol likes it hot 1.7gr N310 98gr HBWC (sprays my fellow competitors with lead spray which is an added bonus!)

[jbshooter]

Some questions for the shooters who reloads .32 wadcutter:
1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases?
2) which kind of crimp do you use?
3) manual or progressive press?
3) which brand and model of press?
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds?
Thanks...

1. no, don't trim at all,using PMC and lapua brass, pmc slowly disappearing
2. no crimp but I am looking for one, currently go back into sizing die (after removing depriming pin) to close up tapered mouth around lead.
3. dillon 550 manually progressive
4. 1.45gr 310 behind 90 or 100gr HBWC, hammerli 280 or benelli MP90S

[JamesH]

Not 32S+WL, but 7.62x26 Nagant, its very similar.

1) don't laugh... do you trim your cases? No, but I use single batches and check consistency first.
2) which kind of crimp do you use? Taper, just enough to remove the bell
3) manual or progressive press? Progressive
3) which brand and model of press? Dillon RL550B
4) what is the best speed range of your rounds? If you mean optimum velocity ~650-700fps (Toz49 revolver)
Thanks...

5) Powder measure - Dillon, with custom fixed insert or custom sub-micro adjustable insert.

[buonvento]

Interesting ... as I thought, not everyone uses the roll crimp.

jbshooter: do you think that moving the cartridge into the sizing die does not stress the bullet? Maybe it acts as a factory crimp?

Mister G: in Italy I bought 98 grain .314 Hornady HBWC bullets, cod. 10038, packs of 400.

[Guest]

Actually, if feels to me that the roll crimp "levels" the velocity. I think it lets gas pressure build up more consistent than the taper crimp, where the bullet more or less just starts off as soon as the powder begins to burn. I get much better groups with my very slow loads by using a roll crimp.

[R.M.]

jbshooter, I would seriously re-think your practice of using the sizing die on loaded cases. I believe that what your doing is swagging down the bullet after it's been inserted in the shell. Should the brass have ever so slightly wall thicknesses, the end result will be differing bullet diameters.
If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to re-adjust your seating die to produce a roll crimp, at least all the dies that I've ever used could.

[jbshooter]

I don't use my sizing die for crimping as such, merely only to close up the bell mouth after seating. My seating die does have a crimp feature but I would rather produce a crimp in a separate operation so I'm not pushing on the projectile at the same time. I can only get 0.312-3" projectiles at the moment and these are not very tight in the brass, hence my resizing method which is not swaging the bullet at all. I only resize the bell mouth, going about 1-2mm deep. I'm using hornady dies.

[David M]

1) No trimming. Use batched brass only, common brand and similar age.
2) Taper crimp
3) Semi-progressive - Hornady Lock & Load - auto feed
4) Velocity 680 to 710 fps.

[jbshooter]

I've just looked at my lapua factory ammo and I can't see or measure any crimp. In fact, when I put my trusty digital calipers (good ones) over the length of the case I notice there is still some bellmouthing evident with light passing around the body of the case but not around the mouth.

[JamesH]

Seat and crimp separately too, using Dillon dies.

[Guest]

Oh, yeah, and I'm using a cylindrical expander, so the bullets go in perfectly vertical for about 3/4ths of their length and only get pushed by the seating die at the end. No tipping any more :-)

[Alex L]

I have a Walther GSP .32 for the last 20+ years.
I use hollow base projectiles - .312 wadcutters. (Taipan - Australian made ones.)

Most shooters seem to be using Winchester WST powder , which is a slow burning powder, and the velocity tested from my pistol averages 690 ft/s
which gives me an excellent group at 25 metres, using 1.5+ g of powder.
I use a slight crimp on the case to take out the bell at the end of the case.

I use a single press, RCB, and I do each case individually (I have the time to do this.)

I check the cases for cracks before I start to load, and clean the primer pocket.
Sometimes I check the cases for trimming.
Most cases can be used for 10 - 15 times. However one important note - I always load a few days before a competition, and I Never keep the powder in the powder measure.

I used to shoot very high scores in C/F with this gun, and I have always done the same routine. My best ever precision is a 297 (A while ago now!!)

I hope this helps. Alex L. in sunny, warm Melbourne, Oz.

[JamesH]

I used to use a cylindrical expander - ie the same length as the bullet - for 0.32S+WL, that was critical, the standard expanders are much too small dia and length for 0.314 bullets.

Currently using Bullseye and WST, not much too choose between them but WST looks better on the Chrono. Still trying to get hold of N310 but 30mm groups are probably good enough.