32 French/7.65x20 longue

[keithhagan]

Starline recently started selling 32 French brass for my 1935-A pistol. Everything I can see online indicates it takes a .309 (not .308) bullet. I'm interested in finding some cheap, plinking ammo, preferably at least polymer-/powder-coated. Trouble is, in .309 that's not straight lead all I've seen readily available is the 90gr Hornady XTP (not exactly cheap) or 100/110/135gr meant more for 30 carbine.

Anybody know of any commercially available stuff with some sort of coating/jacket under 100gr?

Load data is hard to come by, too. Anybody have experience loading the 32 french?

Haven't come across dies either, some folks have had "ok" results with 32 acp. Any suggestions on other alternatives?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My best friend had one of the revolvers, and used Lyman 32 S&W long dies adjusted accordingly. Buy non Carbide sizer, if the die is too small it is fairly easy to open the sizers diameter a few 1000's. (The old All American Lyman dies were to "Normal" diameter instead of Hornady's Minimum diameter. Isn't the rim different than the S&W rim, if so shell holders aren't that expensive.

Many cast or coated bullet companies offer more than one diameter for their various bullets! I used Bear Creek and the had weights and bullets I never thought of before!

Ivan

 

[2152hq]

I loaded it way back when. The cases were made from 32S&W Long on my lathe. I used pulled GI 30Carbine bullets (110gr) and 231 powder. Can't recall the load. I probably tried Bullseye and other powders too taking loading data right from 32S&W Long charts. It seems as though the 32acp and 30Luger bullets didn't work as well,,plus they were Expensive!

The heavier than issue bullets functioned the pistol nicely and I only loaded up enough so it did just that. Pretty accurate too at 25yrds. No idea of fps,,never had a chrono.

I used a .308 expander button in the loading die instead of what was in there for the 32S&W.
On some brass, I just sized it w/no expander to get a firm hold on the .308 bullet. Some brass thinner at the mouth than others I guess.

The French pistols were a drag on the market back in the 70's and 80's. Very nice examples were bought for well under $100,,a few for less than $50. Sometimes a holster and xtra mag came with it. An Axis marked example didn't seem to get much attention or extra $$.
Odd-ball caliber, inexpensive but quality handgun, makeshift reloading prospect,,,right up my alley!

Have fun. Availability of quality brass will surely bring these pistols out to the range now.

 

[keithhagan]

Life Lesson: Don't always believe what you see on the internet.

Finally got around to slugging the bore on this thing, and lo and behold .312 groove and .303 lands. So, at least for me, standard (read: cheap and available) 32 caliber bullets should work just fine.

Got some proper dies on order with a group buy in to Lee. If anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll connect you with the guy coordinating.

Excited to finally shoot my 32 super auto (or is it a straight-wall tokarev -P?)

 

[DWalt]

FYI, that cartridge was originally designed for use in the WWI Pedersen Device - conversion of the M1903 Springfield to semi-auto planned for use in the 1919 offensive, which never happened. The French must have really liked it as they adopted it for pistols and some SMGs. Surprisingly, it is not that difficult to find full boxes of the American load on the collector market. Lots was made. American Rifleman | Never In Anger: The Pedersen Device