.32 S&W long

[Epishemore]

Can anyone give me a recommendation for a .32 S&W long load using a 100 gr swc and Longshot powder. Looking for ~1000 fps out of a 5.5" single six. Thanks.

 

[WIL TERRY]

Have you checked AA's [ Western powder ] own data in their manuals or on their site ?

And so it goes....

 

[Epishemore]

Thanks Terry, but I haven't been able to find any data in manuals or online.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

Have you checked AA's [ Western powder ] own data in their manuals or on their site ?

And so it goes....

Terry, Longshot is a Hodgdon powder.

To the OP, Longshot is too slow of a burner to run in S&W Long, way too much pressure for that case with a proper burn. Using less powder would be a messy road to failure There are loads for 32 H&R Mag and 327 Mag using Longshot. You would be better off using HP-38/Win 231 for S&W Long.

 

[WIL TERRY]

YEE GADS, I PRETTY WELL BLEW THIS ONE HUH !!! I even looked in the Hodgdon manual before answering the question. Guess it must have been the long trip both ways to the Shootists Holiday and a week of shooting all day, drinking all night, and seeing 1500 rounds disappear into oblivion. Shucks, I even hit a few this time around...
And so it goes...

 

[Jimbo357mag]

YEE GADS, I PRETTY WELL BLEW THIS ONE HUH !!! I even looked in the Hodgdon manual before answering the question. Guess it must have been the long trip both ways to the Shootists Holiday and a week of shooting all day, drinking all night, and seeing 1500 rounds disappear into oblivion. Shucks, I even hit a few this time around...
And so it goes...

...are you bragging or complaining. Heck it don't matter. Interesting either way.

 

[5of7]

I have handloaded the 32 S&W Long in 5 different revolvers.
The only load that I have that made over 1000 fps with a 100 gr SWC, was fired in a S&W 631 chambered for the .32 Mg.

It was 4 grs of Unique, in a S&W Long case with a CCI. 500 primer, and 1.16" OAL.
It made 1014 average for 20 shots.

It matters more what gun it is fired in, than that the brass is particularly weak....it ain't. 8)

 

[Cheesewhiz]

I have handloaded the 32 S&W Long in 5 different revolvers.
The only load that I have that made over 1000 fps with a 100 gr SWC, was fired in a S&W 631 chambered for the .32 Mg.

It was 4 grs of Unique, in a S&W Long case with a CCI. 500 primer, and 1.16" OAL.
It made 1014 average for 20 shots.

It matters more what gun it is fired in, than that the brass is particularly weak....it ain't. 8)

I call horsecrap, how do you make a case as small as a .32 S&W Long push a 100gr bullet to over 1000fps without far exceeding the pressure max of a .32 H&R Mag?

My point had to do with case size and it limitations, small cases don't run well with slower powders unless that round is a high pressure round, which the .32 S&W Long and the H&R Mag are not, that's a fact and loading one to velocities that one would get from a longer case will raise the pressure levels to unknown and ungodly levels.

 

[5of7]

I have handloaded the 32 S&W Long in 5 different revolvers.
The only load that I have that made over 1000 fps with a 100 gr SWC, was fired in a S&W 631 chambered for the .32 Mg.

It was 4 grs of Unique, in a S&W Long case with a CCI. 500 primer, and 1.16" OAL.
It made 1014 average for 20 shots.

It matters more what gun it is fired in, than that the brass is particularly weak....it ain't. 8)

I call horsecrap, how do you make a case as small as a .32 S&W Long push a 100gr bullet to over 1000fps without far exceeding the pressure max of a .32 H&R Mag?

My point had to do with case size and it limitations, small cases don't run well with slower powders unless that round is a high pressure round, which the .32 S&W Long and the H&R Mag are not, that's a fact and loading one to velocities that one would get from a longer case will raise the pressure levels to unknown and ungodly levels.

Well, the way you do it is to drop 4 grains of Unique into a 32 S&W Long cartridge case and seat a 100 gr. SWC bullet to an OAL length of 1.16", sparking it off with a CCI 500 primer and shooting it in a model 631 S&W revolver.

I thought I made that clear in my post. :lol:

 

[dougader]

OP is using a 5.5" Single Six, presumably chambered in 32 H&R Mag. Shouldn't be too hard to get there under 35k psi. Hardly what I'd call ungodly pressure.

True, I'd rather use 32 mag brass and 4.2 grains W231...

 

[5of7]

I certainly don't think the pressure is enough to cause any problems in a modern firearm, even a small frame gun like the 631. At least it hasn't caused any problems for me.

The .32 S&W Long was introduced in 1896 for the S&W Hand Ejector and was a black powder round, so when it became available as a smokless loading, the pressures were kept at about 12K to accommodate the strength of those earlier guns. I also believe that when introduced, it was loaded in the old style balloon head cases.

In a modern gun and with solid head cases, there is no reason to limit oneself to black powder ballistics if he/she is a handloader, and has some idea of what he is doing. 8)

 

[noahmercy]

I've used Titegroup to get nearly 900 fps with a 120 grain cast bullet with the 32 S&W Long from my 4.5" Birdshead Vaqueritos (fixed sight Single Sixes) and the fired cases fall out of the chambers. Buffalo Bore sells a load with a 115 that gets 840 from a 4" barrel while remaining at or below SAAMI standard pressures. Accordingly, my loads are pushing pressures only slightly higher than the 32 S&W. That's right...the lowly 32 S&W is rated at 2,000 PSI higher than the Long, and the wimpy 32 Auto is rated 5,000 PSI higher. The 32 S&W Long is one of the lowest pressure handgun cartridges on the market (the 44 Special and 45 ACP sitting down there with it). Since it is a moribund cartridge, no +P data was ever developed for it, but a modest 8% increase in velocity should not scatter a modern gun built around a cartridge developing nearly twice the pressure.

 

[Pete]

Evaluating the load that 5of7 offers with QuickLOAD reveals that his numbers are good and the calculated pressure is very safe if you are shooting the rounds out of a .32 H&R revolver.

 

[Epishemore]

If Longshot is similar to Unique, I'll start with 3.8 grains and work my way up.

Hodgdon lists 4.0 gr Longshot and a 100 gr JSP at 903 fps for a .32 H&R mag. so I should be in the ballpark.

Using Longshot because I can't get Unique.

Thanks.

 

[NikA]

Longshot is not like Unique. It is a significantly slower powder and is generally useful for high pressure automatic pistol cartridges. In my experience, it is likely to cause leading in lower pressure cartridges because it will not adequately obturate the bullet base at the beginning of the pressure curve.

ETA: I'm not sure I've ever seen cast bullet data for Longshot, but I've attempted to use it with plated bullet data in 40 S&W/10MM and 45LC and encountered leading issues in both.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Ok, this thread is having a semantics breakdown.

.32 S&W Long loads within SAAMI pressures, and .32 S&W Long loads for quality solid frame revolvers are two different conversations.

 

[5of7]

Longshot is not like Unique. It is a significantly slower powder and is generally useful for high pressure automatic pistol cartridges. In my experience, it is likely to cause leading in lower pressure cartridges because it will not adequately obturate the bullet base at the beginning of the pressure curve.

ETA: I'm not sure I've ever seen cast bullet data for Longshot, but I've attempted to use it with plated bullet data in 40 S&W/10MM and 45LC and encountered leading issues in both.

Nika....Leading problems are not usually associated with the burning rate of the powder. If your 40 S&W loadings were fired in a Glock, that might be why you have leading issues. I am told that the type of rifling used in Glock pistols are not compatible with cast bullets.

As to the .45 Colt, the cause of leading in a revolver is usually because the bullets are not sized to the best diameter for good performance, ie they are sized too small. Also in a revolver, the throats need to be a tad larger than groove diameter in the barrel and the bullets sized to be throat diameter or a half thousandths larger for best results. 8)

 

[NikA]

No Glocks as I don't dig plastic pistols. Also, basically no leading problems with the same bullets and Unique. While leading problems may not typically be associated with powder burn rates, I don't have any reason to believe that the wrong pressure curve for the bullet hardness would result in anything but unsatisfactory results. Could change the bullet hardness, but I think choosing an easier powder and PCing the bullets is easier than messing with that.

I stand by my statement that Longshot is not like Unique. Loading cast with Unique is basically stupid easy. Longshot, not so much.

 

[Epishemore]

I've looked at the powder burn rate charts put out by the various manufacturers.

I seems like there is a big difference in what the charts say and how the powders are actually ranked for a particular handgun cartridge based on published reloading data and manuals.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I've looked at the powder burn rate charts put out by the various manufacturers.

I seems like there is a big difference in what the charts say and how the powders are actually ranked for a particular handgun cartridge based on published reloading data and manuals.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Any burn rate chart is just an estimate. Different companies use different methods, there is no standard method, thus a wide variety of burn rates and burn rate charts. Even within the same brand, burn rate depends on pressure. There is no standard pressure and if they did have one it would be unfair because different powders act differently at different pressures.