.32 ACP., 98gr./115gr loads?

[Andy Griffith]

I know, I know.

I have never loaded .32 ACP, but my dies and shellplate just arrived in the mail today from Hornady.

I've loaded .32 S&W Long and .32 WCF, but they are all revolver/rifle cartridges, and so C.O.L. and exact pressure (to operate) were never huge concerns.

I forgot to order some bullets for this little pipsqueak cartridge, and I thought that it might be possible to load the heavier .312 bullets in it, but alas there is no load found on the net.

I take it that the C.O.L. must be too long and pressures too high for combinations of bullets heavier than the 100gr wadcutter or 71gr. RN.

Advice, opinions?

(This load is intended for a Colt 1903, S&W 35 and a Savage 1907)

 

[Andy Griffith]

I know, I know.

I have never loaded .32 ACP, but my dies and shellplate just arrived in the mail today from Hornady.

I've loaded .32 S&W Long and .32 WCF, but they are all revolver/rifle cartridges, and so C.O.L. and exact pressure (to operate) were never huge concerns.

I forgot to order some bullets for this little pipsqueak cartridge, and I thought that it might be possible to load the heavier .312 bullets in it, but alas there is no load found on the net.

I take it that the C.O.L. must be too long and pressures too high for combinations of bullets heavier than the 100gr wadcutter or 71gr. RN.

Advice, opinions?

(This load is intended for a Colt 1903, S&W 35 and a Savage 1907)

 

[HKSmith]

I too load this cartridge, for a Walther PP and a Sig P230. I know of no loading data for bullets outside the 60-71 grain range. I'm sure you could not load heavy bullets in the 100-115 grain range because of the problem of limited case volume and COL. It might be possible to work up a load for the Lapua 83 grain wadcutter, but I don't think they'd feed very well.

Interestingly, the .32 ACP is a much higher pressure load than the .32 S&W Long.

Can you use .32 ACP ammo in the .35 S&W? How do the cartridge dimensions compare? S&W made some .32 autos after they discontinued the .35; less than 1000, I think.

 

[Andy Griffith]

My 35 is an "Adam's Family" piece of sorts...
It's was converted to shoot .32ACP's many years ago before I got it.

 

[primersp]

i have load a 98-swc rcbs size to 310 in my
ppk i buy this mold for my sw 16-4 32mag
it's shoot lees problem nore jamming or tumbling
but was no more accurate or reliable than lyman 83 grs.
no try a 115gr bullet

hope i can help
have a nice day
ANDRE

 

[walnutred]

Frankly I think your wasting your time trying to build a 115gn 32 ACP load. If you do a search you will probably find load data for 90 grain loads though because I know over the years a few others and myself have discussed this.

What I ended up doing was using the beginning load data from the Lyman manual for the 84gn bullet, and carefully working up. With these small cases seating depth is going to cause more trouble than 6 grains difference in bullet. In my opinion. Seating depth becomes VERY critical because pressure will go up quickly as the bullet is seated deeper in the case.

 

[Freischütz]

When I was working on loads for the 7.63 Mauser using NEI 85.308GC,I also tried this bullet in the 7.65 ACP. My gun was a H&K M4.

The bullets weighed 94 gr including gas check and were sized to .309" diameter. Overall cartridge length as .98".

2.3 gr of Unique produced an average velocity of 859fps. 2.5 gr produced 871fps.