I was reloading S&W .32 Long last night when my 650 jammed. It was because the depriming pin wouldn't fit through the primer hole in the case. I had never seen a balloon head case before so it took me a little while to figure out the problem. I guess the cases must have come from some used brass I bought years ago.
I got them deprimed with my Lee universal deprimer and loaded them manually. I then realized that was a mistake because I'll have the same problem next time.
Questions:
When did they stop making these? They are Remington Peters.
Does anybody want them? If so, I'll be happy to mail them to a forum member. Otherwise they are going in my brass scrap bin.

Ended up with several balloon head .45 Colt cases a while back in a purchase of "once-fired range brass." Same problem you had; they don't reload all that well using the same procedures as for "modern" brass. Every one of the balloon heads made its presence known during decapping.

Mine are also Remington headstamp and they gotta be on the old side of ammo manufacturing history.

I only ended up with a few and kept them as collector's items. Hope you find a home for your .32 collectors items.

Bryan

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I’ll take those 32 long cases. PM enroute.

I've been handloading many different rifle and handgun cartridges for about sixty years. I was aware of such cases but have never seen one.

Someone gave me 400 Rem-UMC 44 special cases. I loaded 'em up and they loaded fine. I subsequently realized they were ballon head cases. They were loaded fairly lightly. I am still using them...at least for my fun loads. Just can't dump good 44 sp cases. Never saw a balloon head 32L

Much confusion about balloon head cases. Many handloaders confuse cases that have a recessed ring around the primer hole with real balloon head cases. They are not balloon head cases. Actual balloon head cases have a rim that is thin folded sheet brass rather than a solid rim. A pic of anyone's supposed balloon cases will clear this issue up quickly.

I would be exceedingly surprised to see a R-P headstamped case, as you said, on anything that could be described as having a "balloon head". R-P headstamps did not appear until the early 1960s. Prior to that, the HS would be REM-UMC, back to around 1911. Earlier Peters HSs were just PETERS.

I find it unlikely you have a real balloon head case. More likely one with a smaller than normal primer hole. Balloon head cases were made maybe until 1890 - not a common thing nowdays. Post a picture.

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Could be undersized flash holes, but I don't know why any modern case would have that condition. A cure would be to de-prime them manually and use a small drill bit to enlarge the flash holes enough so a depriming pin will slide through.

The UMC is balloon head, the Starline brass is modern.

More on the subject:

Allow me to clarify with the benefit of the additional information posted above.
Mine are balloon head as shown on the UMC brass. The one I have immediate access to says "Peters" not Remington Peters as I stated originally.

FWIW:According to Google they were made into the 1960's.

The 44 sp I have are actually the type 4 in the pics above. I do have some true balloon head 45 Colt ammo and cases. II still don't load those type 4s very heavy as the case walls really seem to be thin...I also shoot them in a Ruger 44 Sp Blackhawk.. nice gun too.

I've run across several cartridges with the semi-balloon head: 45 colt, 38-40, 50-70. All were UMC and I never had any issues de-priming them. I use light loads in all of them and they've given me no real trouble. I did find it necessary to anneal them as they were brittle with age and either were prone to splitting at the neck or would not hold a crimp. Have never run across any of the type 3, folded head cases.

John

Everyone's mileage may differ. The .45 Colt cases I mentioned are also marked Peters rather than R-P - apologies. They ARE balloonheads. I posted about them several months ago and got the same reaction as the OP here, with most replies claiming I must be in error. I did the research, as I always try to do, before posting, as someone here always knows more than I do.

Bryan

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I was pulling bullets on some 22 jet reloads and depriming the cases so I can sell the empties. i found about 20 that my Lee decapping pin would not easily pass thru. I did a bump, bump with the handle and forced them thru. i assume they are larger flash holes now

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

I've reloaded a lot of the old semi-balloon head cases without much in the way of issues. I have found that a lot of older brass, including solid head ones, seems to have a smaller flash hole than newer stuff. Have had decapping pins stick in more than a few older cases. A bit of a pain but nothing I can't deal with, can always open the flash hole up a little if need be.

As to the really old, folded balloon head cases, in my experiments with seeing if very old ammo would fire, I've only run across a few that were that type. Really only noticed when cleaning and examining them and comparing them to other cases.

Thanks for that suggestion, I'm sure that process would work. I have enough brass and few enough of these that I don't need to go that far.

I finally get managed to get my Dremel going.

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I believe it's in a 1960s Speer book where the capacity and loading data for folded head cases and solid web cases are compared. I think it was .45 Auto Rim , but not positive. I have many old Speer books and the information sometimes runs together (in my mind).

I have a manual from the 60s, Speer I think, that has data for the .45 AR with solid and balloon head cases. Much greater case capacity in the balloon head cases allowed 2400 powder to be used for higher velocity. My old Lyman manual also listed data for both type cases. Just realize that data is not interchangeable between the two.

Very good post and lots of good information in the replies. Thanks.

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About 5 years ago I bought 52 rounds of 44 Special on Gun Broker. They looked really old and I just actually wanted them for the brass. I shot them all up and had 4 or 5 misfires. They were so old that some didn't go off. They were mostly REM-UMC (41) left with one other WRA Co. and a PETERS. I shot them all and recycled the cracked ones. I noticed that they were all Balloon Head cases. I'd never heard of them before. I shoot light loads (5 gr. W-W 231 with 250 gr. soft
lead in my 44 spl and mag revolvers nowadays. I'm going to retire these. Anyone want them?

Rick

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Some years ago I got the bright idea to run .38 S&W brass through my 9mm dies and use 9mm bullets to make a rimmed cartridge for my 940. I had only a few pieces of old .38 S&W brass and the decapping pin kept getting stuck. I don't know if they were balloon head or not. I think I had one newer case which I was able to load without difficulty.

Elmer's heavy .44 Special load used 1.5 grs. more of 2400 in the old balloon head cases than in modern solid head cases. I use the solid head load in my Mountain Lion .44 Magnum and I've often wondered what velocity he got with that older load and how those old cases held up.

Someone sold me a gun and 50 rds of old reloaded ammo in 45AR and the same loads in 45 auto...loaded with SWC type lead bullets and 2400(don't remember the amount of powder off the top of my head) but The old S&W had 4 stuck bullets in the bbl. I will hunt them down to see what the load was. . The bbl was split, bent to the left, with 3 bullets visible. I also got 250 44 Russian balloon head cases from the fellow. Mostly Peters...did load a few and shot them in my Ruger 44 Flattop

Are the primer holes in balloon cases smaller than normal? I don't understand why a depriming pin would get stuck on them.

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