Beginner reloading .32 rounds

JiriK · Post by **JiriK** » Thu May 23, 2013 4:02 pm

Shooting issf center fire is fun, but factory rounds cost so much that I can not afford to shoot much.

So I finally began reloading my training ammo.
Will be using factory loads for competition ..for some time.

One Finnish top shooter has same pistol as I have, Benelli MP90S (not sure if his is "world cup" model or not, but they should be pretty close anyways)

He recommended to buy H&N .32 314 100gr waxed wadcutter bullets -so I did- and use 0.09grams of Vihtavuori N310 powder. I just bought the cheapest primers local shop had.. Sellier & Bellot small pistol at 0,03€/pcs.
Have shot 230 of my own loads this and last week. All have fired and pistol is still in one piece, so nothing horribly wrong.

But I have to say, I seem to get better groups with factory ammo (one hand normal shooting)

I´v read this forum a lot and also searched the internet. Some say to push a bullet through the barrel and measure it.
Bullets came out with max. diameter of 7.95mm (~0.313in)
The expander die is smaller, diameter of 7.87mm (~0.310in) and the expander plug is 5mm shorter than bullet. So should I order a .312 or .313 expander plug, or is this too small difference to matter?

I use used Lapua brass that I have collected from local indoors shooting range. Some have been fired once, others ...who knows.
I wash them in ultrasonic washer with hot water and hand dish washing solution. Let dry for a couple of days before reloading. Brass comes out clean but not polished.

Should I sort the brass I use? Length of different cases seem to differ maybe .15mm. Length of 23.2mm seems to be most common. Does it even matter?

John C · Post by **John C** » Thu May 23, 2013 6:50 pm

How much difference in group size are you seeing between factory ammo and your reloads? Have you tried using a machine rest to determine the difference?

American Bullseye shooters who use European .32 S&W long pistols have struggled to get these pistols to shoot well at 50 yards (a little less than 50m).

The consensus appears to be:

1) Don't resize brass that's been fired in your pistol and will still chamber.

2) Get a large expander, around .314 to .315. The brass will spring back slightly after expanding (or resizing). Try a Lyman M die or similar. You can order them in any diameter from small makers. I ordered a Lyman Multi Expander die for single stage use, and had a custom Dillon expander made in .315 for progressive reloading. The goal is to not inadvertently resize the bullet after seating it in the case.

3) Put a light to moderate crimp on the case to ensure ignition

I can't comment about trimming, but if you have a trimmer, making the brass a uniform length probably won't hurt. I don't trim my brass, but all of it is new to me, with an identical number of loads through each piece.

My guess is that probably most of the brass you've scrounged at the range is probably once-fired. Reloaders, at least around here, don't leave their own good brass behind, unless it's at the point of being unusable.

Good luck! I wish I could find used Lapua brass on my range, especially in .32!

-John

GaryN · Post by **GaryN** » Thu May 23, 2013 8:47 pm

JiriK
You may have to play with the load to find the best velocity for that bullet.
Adjust the powder up and down a tiny amount in small steps to change the velocity.

I would trim the cases so they are all the same length.
The idea is to have everything as similar as possible to eliminate reasons that the round behaved differently.

David M · Post by **David M** » Thu May 23, 2013 9:40 pm

Trimming the cases is not critical, but making sure that all the cases are the same brand is critical. Do not mix brands as brass alloy and internal sizes are different.
I prefer to buy new brass in quantity, same brand and run it as one batch.
The pressures in our straight walled pistol cases do not make them grow, so trimming is not important.
Slug your barrel and use a bullet 0.001-2" larger with a neck expander the same size as the bullet. Brass springback will ensure even neck tension. Use a light crimp only.
Check that the full length resizing die is not sizing the brass too far undersize for your chamber, oversize dies are available.
Load to give 680-720 fps (light to med) up to 800-840 max. (heavy).

JamesH · Post by **JamesH** » Fri May 24, 2013 4:34 am

Getting an expander the right diameter and length is an essential first step.

JiriK · Post by **JiriK** » Fri May 24, 2013 5:52 pm

I have selected only lapua brass for my reloading so far.
Most of my brass is lapua, only a handful of S&B and maybe 100-150 of "CBC"

Did a test today, loaded 50 shells that fit the chamber of my pistol without resizing. Problem here is that some were shot with this pistol and some were not. So some bullets are quite loose and others are tighter. I think that is not good for consistency, but we´ll see.

I don´t have a trimmer, but if I did, how long (min length) should the shell be?

One senior shooter at my club borrowed me his reloading tools; Lyman press with RCBS carbide resizing die, Redding expander die, Redding bullet seater/crimp die, Redding powder dispenser and rcbs scale.

Already asked Redding if they have different size expander plugs. They don´t make them.

I bought a ch4d die set at an auction a bit over a year ago so that is another option, but expander in that set is too small too. I´ll ask if different expanders are available.

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Fri May 24, 2013 7:33 pm

overall length is not as important if you are using a Lee factory-crimp die (I do, and I think David M does), but variations in case length will give different crimp with most crimping dies.
Most of us seem to go for 0.910" for .32SWL

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Sat May 25, 2013 2:19 am

for rimmed cases such as the .32SWL, ONLY use a case trimmer that seats and registers on the rear of the case - otherwise any variations in rim thickness will be replicated in the 'finished' overall length.

ALBEITAR · Post by **ALBEITAR** » Sat May 25, 2013 2:48 am

Hi, respect the 32 S&W long WC, I think one of the critical steps is to carefully weigh each powder dose. I have not found improvement in sorting the brass by lenght (.32 headspaces by the rim) using very light taper crimp, just to restore the case bell produced by the expanding die.
If you use a hevier crimp probably shorting by lengt will help.
Lyman M die works great for me (I use H&N .312 bullets in my SIG P240 with 1.1 grains of Vectan Ba10, GFL brass & Magtech primmers).

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Take a look here (sorry, only in spanish, but take a look at the photos):
http://ernestorodriguezgarcia.blogspot. ... utter.html

Hope this help

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sat May 25, 2013 10:19 am

I think my first choice for power for the 32 would be Win231 or VV330 since they are good small caliber powders. If you are shooting at 25m you should find it reasonably easy to find a load which provides x ring accuracy. When shooting bullseye some load for the 25yd line for a load that functions 100% of the time without a big recoil and then load for the 50yd line for accuracy which could be the same bullet with a hotter load.

Tycho · Post by **Tycho** » Sat May 25, 2013 1:02 pm

VV330 is too slow for .32 S+W. Vihtavuori recommends VV310. VV320 is ok for guns with long barrels, like FAS CF603 or Matchguns MG4. I've never seen a good load with 320, 330 or 340 in a Pardini HP, Benelli MP90 or similar.

David M · Post by **David M** » Sat May 25, 2013 3:30 pm

For a in depth disscussion on .32 dies try this old posting
http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... hlight=32s

John C · Post by **John C** » Sat May 25, 2013 10:42 pm

If you're looking for an appropriate expander, check out this website: http://www.buffaloarms.com/.291_.329_cu ... -4165.aspx

These are custom expanders for the RCBS or Lyman M dies.

I forgot to mention earlier that the reason you want all the brass to be the same length is that longer brass will have more crimp, shorter brass less crimp. Crimp uniformity is vital to consistency.

There are a couple of ways to uthe trim to length. One is to check a reference book. The other is to measure all of your good Lapua brass and trim them all to match the shortest case. Alternately, you could measure all of your brass and look for the natural distribution of the lengths, and trim to a length of the case 3 standard deviations from the mean. Whatever floats your boat!

-John

JamesH · Post by **JamesH** » Sun May 26, 2013 8:37 am

Case length isn't super-critical if you use a shallow taper.

I've found VV310, WST and Bullseye to work well in .32

fc60 · Post by **fc60** » Sun May 26, 2013 11:35 am

Greetings,

I have machined custom expanders for several shooters.

Contact me off forum for more details.

Cheers,

Dave

JiriK · Post by **JiriK** » Tue May 28, 2013 4:00 pm

Little training session today;
70 shots of rapid fire (that 3s to shoot - 7s rest - 3s to shoot..)
50 shots of precision shooting

Shot the rapid fire with bullets loaded to resized shells.
Then after that shot the precision part with bullets that I loaded to shells that fit the chamber, no resizing.

Non resized rounds felt softer (same powder load) than resized loads.

Can´t comment much on group sizes, but shot first 50pt series with my own cartridges :)

In process to acquire a .314 diameter expander...

I have to say, my Benelli seems to malfunction quite often with these rounds. Sometimes empty brass gets stuck between the bolt and chamber. Sometimes loaded round doesn´t get in the chamber but gets wedged between top part of chamber opening and bolt.
Quite often when these malfunctions occur the magazine gets released and drops maybe 5mm down. Luckily not all the way to floor but...
Maybe 6 malfunctions today. I Installed new buffer pad (bought from Larry´s guns) last weekend. Gun did malfunction before that too.

John C · Post by **John C** » Tue May 28, 2013 7:48 pm

It sounds like you have two issues: a function problem with the pistol, and an accuracy issue with the ammo. These problems may be inter-related, but since you said it had function problems before, presumably with factory Lapua ammunition, it doesn't appear to be the cause of the malfunction.

Your best bet is to work on one problem at a time. Basically, get the gun to function, and then work on accuracy, or vice versa. The problem will be much easier to troubleshoot if you start with one variable at a time.

Good luck!

-John

JiriK · Post by **JiriK** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:41 am

Sorry, i meant that pistol has malfunctioned before changing that buffer. I have not shot factory loads in a month or two so hard to say, but last time there were no problems with factory loads.

JiriK · Post by **JiriK** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 1:35 pm

Bringing up old discussion..

I bought bullet casting pot a couple of months ago so I could cast my own projectiles for a BP revolver.
That pot could be used for casting other things, like .32 wc bullets and maybe .38 WC/SWC bullets

What type of bullet mould produces a bullet that works well with Benelli .32?

David M · Post by **David M** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 2:54 pm

Here are a couple of moulds to try
98 gr
https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainSe ... te=C12J059

86gr
http://www.castbulletengineering.com.au ... gle-cavity

My favorite is a 84gn BNBB wadcutter cast in 5% tin, lubed with a home lube and loaded over 1.6gn VV N310 giving 780 fps.
Check to see if your mags will allow a button nose to be loaded for LOA.

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Beginner reloading .32 rounds

Beginner reloading .32 rounds

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Re: Beginner reloading .32 rounds

Re: Beginner reloading .32 rounds