I have two Marlin 1892 rifles chambered in 32RF. I have both rimfire and centerfire firing pins and have fired .32 Colt ammo in both guns. As RF ammo is almost impossible to find I need to reload to make these old guns usable. I know that 32 S&W rounds do not fit the chambers. Where do I find a .32 Colt sizing die and brass. Can 32 S&W long be resized to 32 Colt? Appreciate your comments.
Reloading for the .32 Colt
- Thread starter delta-419
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
rockquarry
Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2005
- Messages
- 8,612
- Reaction score
- 10,575
I didn't know there was such a thing. You might check "Cartridges of the World"; it has lots of specs on many cartridges including the older ones. Also, consider the Donnelly book, "Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions".
ColbyBruce
Member
Google “how to make .32 Long Colt brass” and peruse the links to articles.
We will be back in the mountains next week; I will hit the various shops up there and in NC to look for the dies.
We will be back in the mountains next week; I will hit the various shops up there and in NC to look for the dies.
Last edited:
The 32 Colt takes an outside lubricated, heeled bullet, same as seen in the 22 rim fire. The bullet is the same diameter as the case.
As you know, the 32 S&W Long has a larger diameter case with the bullet being seated within it. It is not likely that a 32 S&W case can be sized down to fit the 32 Colt chamber. However, I do know of one instance where someone was able to chamber and fire the 32 S&W Long in an unaltered Marlin 92 rifle. Or at least it was unaltered by the present owner.
Molds for heeled bullets of any caliber are not easy to find, and expensive when found, whether original or modern made.
32 Long Colt brass is also hard to find and expensive as well.
If one of your rifles is in less than collector value condition I would consider having it rechambered to S&W Long if it does not already accept the cartridge.
You also may want to slug the bore to find out what diameter bullet will work best. They are nice little rifles. I've seen a few show up at gun shows and may well own a converted shooter one of these days.
John
As you know, the 32 S&W Long has a larger diameter case with the bullet being seated within it. It is not likely that a 32 S&W case can be sized down to fit the 32 Colt chamber. However, I do know of one instance where someone was able to chamber and fire the 32 S&W Long in an unaltered Marlin 92 rifle. Or at least it was unaltered by the present owner.
Molds for heeled bullets of any caliber are not easy to find, and expensive when found, whether original or modern made.
32 Long Colt brass is also hard to find and expensive as well.
If one of your rifles is in less than collector value condition I would consider having it rechambered to S&W Long if it does not already accept the cartridge.
You also may want to slug the bore to find out what diameter bullet will work best. They are nice little rifles. I've seen a few show up at gun shows and may well own a converted shooter one of these days.
John
Last edited:
Ol' Drover
Member
I've only seen one set of dies available for 32 Colt and they were well over $200. C-H made, perhaps?
But, I don't think resizing is necessary unless you are wanting to reload the undersized, hollow-based, inside lubricated bullets in 32 Long Colt brass.
A few years ago Winchester made a run of Short Colt ammo and brass and I found that an 82 grain heeled bullet hand pressed into un-resized brass and dipped in Lee liquid Alox fed and shot in my 92 with no problem.
I still see short and long Colt ammo available at gun shows so that might be your best bet. If you can't find any, PM me and I might can find a few extra rounds of brass hiding in my junk drawer.
But, I don't think resizing is necessary unless you are wanting to reload the undersized, hollow-based, inside lubricated bullets in 32 Long Colt brass.
A few years ago Winchester made a run of Short Colt ammo and brass and I found that an 82 grain heeled bullet hand pressed into un-resized brass and dipped in Lee liquid Alox fed and shot in my 92 with no problem.
I still see short and long Colt ammo available at gun shows so that might be your best bet. If you can't find any, PM me and I might can find a few extra rounds of brass hiding in my junk drawer.
The 32 Colt Short used the heeled style bullet/ outside lubed of bbl groove dia. Spec says bbl groove dia for the 32Colt is .312
Some 32 Colt Long were also loaded with this same bullet.
But the majority of the smokeless rounds were switched to an inside lubed bullet.
To do this the bullet dia was reduced to the dia of what the heel dia is on the above outside lubed bullet.
That is .299 dia.
To get the .299 d bullet to work in a .312 groove dia bore,,the .299 d bullet was given a hollow base. That was to expand and fill the bore to engage the rifling.
This same sequence of heeled bullet in the short version of a cartridge then a smaller dia hollow base version loaded in the Long version played out in the lifetime of the .41Colt Short & Long as well.
The 32 Colt Long case is the same length, rim dia and rim thickness as the 32 S&W Long.
The 32Colt Long is however a very slightly tapered case. The base dia is around .318/.320 then tapers to about .313/312 at the mouth.
The 32S&W Long is a straight walled case. .337/.338 base to mouth.
The 32S&W uses an inside lubed bullet of the .312.
Just the right dia for the .32Colt caliber Marlin bbl.
So the Marlin L/A in 32Colt is sometimes converted to fire 32S&W Long as a means of easily obtaining and loading ammunition. Componenets & loading dies are just easier to get.
The conversion is a simple rechambering of the 32Colt L chamber to 32 S&W L. Very little metal is removed as you can see from the case dimentions.
No other changes to the mechanism are generally needed.
Though many of these rifles have seen a hard life and they are often in need of some help no matter what caliber you choose to use them in.
The ejector is often a problem and may be missing. Nothing has to be done to it if the conversion is done,,just make sure there is one in the rifle when you buy it! The CF version of the firing pin in the bolt is good to have as well.
If you stick with 32 Colt, there are older Lyman moulds around that cast the smaller dia .229 HB bullet as well as the heeled .312 bullet.
32Colt Long brass can be made from 32 S&W Long by resizing the latter in the Colt FL sizer.
You have to turn the last little portion of the base down to size though as the case doesn't go all the way into the die because of the shell holder and the solid brass base of the case is very difficult to size down as well.
Some 32 Colt Long were also loaded with this same bullet.
But the majority of the smokeless rounds were switched to an inside lubed bullet.
To do this the bullet dia was reduced to the dia of what the heel dia is on the above outside lubed bullet.
That is .299 dia.
To get the .299 d bullet to work in a .312 groove dia bore,,the .299 d bullet was given a hollow base. That was to expand and fill the bore to engage the rifling.
This same sequence of heeled bullet in the short version of a cartridge then a smaller dia hollow base version loaded in the Long version played out in the lifetime of the .41Colt Short & Long as well.
The 32 Colt Long case is the same length, rim dia and rim thickness as the 32 S&W Long.
The 32Colt Long is however a very slightly tapered case. The base dia is around .318/.320 then tapers to about .313/312 at the mouth.
The 32S&W Long is a straight walled case. .337/.338 base to mouth.
The 32S&W uses an inside lubed bullet of the .312.
Just the right dia for the .32Colt caliber Marlin bbl.
So the Marlin L/A in 32Colt is sometimes converted to fire 32S&W Long as a means of easily obtaining and loading ammunition. Componenets & loading dies are just easier to get.
The conversion is a simple rechambering of the 32Colt L chamber to 32 S&W L. Very little metal is removed as you can see from the case dimentions.
No other changes to the mechanism are generally needed.
Though many of these rifles have seen a hard life and they are often in need of some help no matter what caliber you choose to use them in.
The ejector is often a problem and may be missing. Nothing has to be done to it if the conversion is done,,just make sure there is one in the rifle when you buy it! The CF version of the firing pin in the bolt is good to have as well.
If you stick with 32 Colt, there are older Lyman moulds around that cast the smaller dia .229 HB bullet as well as the heeled .312 bullet.
32Colt Long brass can be made from 32 S&W Long by resizing the latter in the Colt FL sizer.
You have to turn the last little portion of the base down to size though as the case doesn't go all the way into the die because of the shell holder and the solid brass base of the case is very difficult to size down as well.
