.32 Long Colt ,Need Help

[Chev. William]

"Circle H" I believe is an Olin trademark used for rimfire ammunition (for perhaps Olin - Henry).
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

Not sure if loctite would be needed to hold the Ramset in place or not.  But I'm thinking it would not be necessary if the BP is packed in tightly.  I would think that would hold it in place.  I'm not very familiar with smokeless powders, so I don't know what was in the Ramsets.  It is a very fine grained shiny gray powder, almost looks like graphite.  I read on another forum that someone thought it was Unique.  The case head is stamped with an "H" with a circle around it. 

Chev - thanks for posting all that data, it really helps to understand these things.  Much appreciated.

You might post the results, and if you have the capability, the velocity of you loads.
It would add to the knowledge base.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

It just so happens that Santa brought me a chronograph yesterday! So I hope to check velocities for all my loads (after I figure out how to use it).

[Chev. William]

Woo-Hoo! A Very Merry Christmas indeed.  My Christmas Present is coming in the mails, a Shelin Match Grade Stainless Steel Rifle Barrel Blank supposedly in .308 Caliber that I am thinking of using for a Bench Rest .32 Long Colt Rifle.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

Dang - you guys and your bench rest .32 rilfes are going to shoot rings around me!  Guess I need something a little bigger to keep up with the Joneses...

I went to the range today and shot the little #4 again. The load of 11gr (volume) of 3F and Lyman 299153 bullet shot pretty well. When I wiped every couple shots, they went into about 1.5" - 1.75" at 50 yards. This is the first load I"ve shot in this rifle that actually sounded like a rifle and not just a Pop. It was noticably more powerful than the trail boss, 2400 or lighter BP loads I've used before. This load duplicates an original .32 rimfire long, so I finally got to see what it felt like to fire the original cartridge. Pretty cool. I also shot the .58 Roberts rolling block. Its pretty weird going back and forth between the little .32 RRB and the giant .58 RRB. The contrast is enormous!

[Chev. William]

"Mutt and Jeff" cartridges, That looks like fun.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[Chev. William]

2013 is drawing to a close and we can look forward to the New Year's Celebration for some enjoyment and to see what the coming year will bring.

The Federal Government has finally passed a New Budget, not as large as some would have wanted yet also larger than some wanted; so The Elected Members of our government came to a compromise that leaves most of both sides less than what they wanted but gives the Citizens Hope for a stable year to come.

The Health Reform sometimes called "ObamaCare" is still 'evolving' with the President using Executive Orders to make changes in the implementation of the Law without allowing, or even consulting, Congress to act on any changes.  

The President is also using his Executive Orders and Executive Privilege to block Congressional Investigations into things that they should be investigating and to force actions that he cannot wait for Congress to authorize, or that Congress has said they will not support.

Taxes go up at all levels, Governments at all levels is still expanding, and The General Public concerns and needs are sometimes ignored so the Wants and Likes can be addressed, to "Buy" reelection Votes, it seems.

The Various 'Wars' (on Drugs, Crime, Poverty, Terrorism, Etc.) seem to be without leadership nor proper oversight and are resulting in 'Unforeseen Consequences' to an increasing degree.  Regulations are increasing in number and overlap and conflicts with the Citizens subject to them and their burden/costs but the Government is still "Not Responsible" nor subject to their provisions nor to the provisions of Laws.

'Change' is what was promised, and 'Change' is what we are getting, just not the 'Change' we were expecting.

May Everyone Enjoy a Happy New Year and a Better coming Year than the one we experienced this past one.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[w44wcf]

ndnchf,
Nice work on the .32 rimfire! 

Chev William,
Well said.  Sadly, the changes that this nation really needs is are not going to happen under this administration.

Wishing you and our fellow CAS members a healthy, happy and prosperous 2014! 

w44wcf

[Chev. William]

My Shelin 'used' .308 match Grade Barrel Blank arrived in the mails today, BOY Is It Heavy!
Today i used a friends shop to make three "Bushings" for my 1915 Action. they fit the Barrel socket and are drilled to two different sizes, two at .187" and one at 15/64".  The two .187 size are for center punching  Breech Blocks while mounted in either the 1915 or a 1894 action.
The 15/64" one is to be used to make a 'Dummy' Chamber for my .250ALRM experiments.  It would also be usable fo r.25 Stevens, .250ALR, and .250ALS case checking.  This is so I do not have to have the barrel out by my reloading stuff to check cases and cartridges for fit.  When I get the Shelin barrel blank Chambered, I intend to have them use the stamped end for a 'Dummy' Chamber about 1-3/8 long an leave the remaining 26+ inches for the barrel to fit one of the Stevens actions initially  Later I may have it reworked to fit something else in my Safe, but it will stay full blank diameter until I make a final decision on what action it will finally live with.

Joking; The Barrel blank will Require a a Bench Rest to support the barrel, I do not think OFF Hand shooting will be possible with the Stevens actions.( The blank barrel weighs around 8 or 9 lbs, the 1915 action with butt stock weighs about 1-1/2 lbs.)
But it will give me a very stable Test Barrel to experiment with the .32 Long Colt loads in.
I also have a Lothar Walther made .25ACP barrel blank that is 23.4 inches long and 1.1 inches diameter.  I intend to do the same set up with it in a Stevens action as a Bench Rest test Barrel for my Experiments.  
The Stevens barrels I own will be use for normal shooting with the Stevens Actions, one of the 'Perks' of the Take down system.
Off Hand shooting will be a lot lighter hold with the Stevens barrels on the Stevens Actions.

For anyone who is interested, "Matt's Bullets" has my 5 Cavity "311090A" Accurate mold made bullet mold and is gearing up to cast with it.  I have told him he is free to sell bullets from the mold to others.

Perhaps later, if my future finances permit, I will have some other molds made so others can buy cast bullets for these old arms.

Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

Chev - you sure have a full plate of Stevens projects.  Sounds like you are making good steady progress. Good on ya!

Yesterday I learned about another alternative for the hard to find .32 long colt brass.  While browsing the Remington Society forum a fellow mentioned using Bertram .300 Rook brass in his #4 RRB converted to centerfire. Maybe you guys have heard of this, but it was news to me.  I searched the net for .300 Rook brass dimensions but came up empty.  So I contacted the guy who mentioned it and asked for more info.  He graciously provided these details.  The .300 Rook and the .300 Sherwood (just a longer version of the Rook case) has a rim diameter of .370"; a base dia of .319/.320" and a case length (Rook) of 1.17" or Sherwood 1.54". The big difference compared to using .32 S&W long brass is the body diameter of .319"/.320" vs .335" of the S&W brass.  That means a lot less swaging and  no roll of brass near the rim that needs to be removed. They will probably work fine just being trimmed to length and run through a sizing die. The only downside is cost, which is a good bit more than .32 S&W brass.  But the trade off between convenience price may be well worth it.  Both Huntingtons and Midway list it on their sites, maybe others.  Food for thought for the new year!

[w44wcf]

ndnchf,
Thank you for the info. Interesting.

I see that someone on Gunbroker has Remington .32 Long Colt Brass for sale!
100 cases for $75.  300 available! 
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=382988344

w44wcf

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Here is a case dimension chart that you might find useful. Scroll down about 1/3;

http://members.shaw.ca/cstein0/riflelist3.htm

By scrolling to the bottom, you can select different lists to cover almost every cartridge ever made.

[ndnchf]

I'm tempted to hop on some of that brass....
Thanks Sir Charles, that's a handy reference.

Today the Mrs. and I took a 3 hour round trip to go look at a #2 Remington Rolling Block in 32 rimfire.  It was well used but solid.  The bore is bright with decent rifling and light pitting throughout.  Perhaps a little worse than my #4.  #2 rifles are a lot harder to come by than #4s.  The seller advertised it as a #4 and had it priced very reasonably.  The bottom line is that it came home with me    So I now have another .32 rimfire to play with.



As mentioned earlier, I made one .32 long case to take a .27 cal Ramset for a reloadable rimfire case.  After a quick cleaning and safety inspection, I test fired the .32 cartridge/Ramset blank in the #2 to see if the firing pin would hit in the right place. It worked great and went BANG! I reloaded it and repeated - again a nice BANG. So the concept is proven.  Now I have to figure out how to make more of them.

[Chev. William]

Chev - you sure have a full plate of Stevens projects.  Sounds like you are making good steady progress. Good on ya!

Yesterday I learned about another alternative for the hard to find .32 long colt brass.  While browsing the Remington Society forum a fellow mentioned using Bertram .300 Rook brass in his #4 RRB converted to centerfire. Maybe you guys have heard of this, but it was news to me.  I searched the net for .300 Rook brass dimensions but came up empty.  So I contacted the guy who mentioned it and asked for more info.  He graciously provided these details.  The .300 Rook and the .300 Sherwood (just a longer version of the Rook case) has a rim diameter of .370"; a base dia of .319/.320" and a case length (Rook) of 1.17" or Sherwood 1.54". The big difference compared to using .32 S&W long brass is the body diameter of .319"/.320" vs .335" of the S&W brass.  That means a lot less swaging and  no roll of brass near the rim that needs to be removed. They will probably work fine just being trimmed to length and run through a sizing die. The only downside is cost, which is a good bit more than .32 S&W brass.  But the trade off between convenience price may be well worth it.  Both Huntingtons and Midway list it on their sites, maybe others.  Food for thought for the new year!

The Rim diameter may need to be trimmed to fit the Rim Rebate of Stevens Barrels, and perhaps others.
You did not mention the rim thickness so that should be checked also.
And, yes I used a Betram .300 Sherwood case to find the chamber length in my first Stevens .32 Long Barrel.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

Good point about rim thickness, but this fellow on the Remington society uses it, so it must ok.  But thanks to w44wcf's tip on the .32 LC brass on Gunbroker, I just snagged 100 of them.  So I should be good for a while.

[dusty texian]

Very nice #2 ndnchf,I think the 3 hr. round trip was well worth it. That is a very good looking rifle ,look forward to seeing more about it. How is the cal. marked on the barrel?And have you had a chance to measure the chamber yet?

[ndnchf]

The caliber is simply marked "32" on the underside of the barrel, that's all.  My #4 is marked the same way.  The chamber seems a little longer than the #4, but that may just be wear in the chamber and throat.  I plan to use the same 4.5gr of 2400 and 299153 load that I use in the #4 when I test it.

[Chev. William]

ndnchf, 
Check the depth/length of your chamber. 
There was a .32 Extra Long RF round that had a 1.18" case length.
You might be "lucky" and have a rifle that was chambered for this longer cartridge.
.32 Extra Long Cartridge = 32 Extra Long :Rim Dia.=0.378":Base Dia.=0.318":Neck Dia.=0.318":Case Length=1.18"
The case and rim diameters are the same as the .32 Long and .32 Short so it should 'digest' the shorter versions as easily as a '22 short, long, long rifle' firearm would handle the shorter cartridges in it's chamber.
Best Regards,
Chev. William

[ndnchf]

I seated a bullet in a .94" long cases and it chambered fine.  I then seated it in the same case, but just enough to hold it in place, so it struck out maybe .125" further and it still chambered.  The chamber/throat area is pretty worn, so its hard to tell if the case is going in past the chamber or not.  I made up a few more reloadable cases yesterday, here is what the components look like.

[dusty texian]

Looking Good ndnchf, does the converted RF case eject OK? Any idea how much BP.the case will hold with the RF primer in place?Very Cool project,,,,,,Dusty