32 S&W long- hotter loads?

[snooperman]

I have an older Charter arms 32 S&W long, Stratford,Conn. in like new condition, that I have had for many years. Are there any other choices in ammo other than the anemic 32 long that could be used, such as the 32 ACP? Any suggestions would be appreciated. sincerely, snooperman

 

[MMCSRET]

I load the Hornady 85 gr. XTP/HP for my Colt Police Positive Special. Start with the Hornady or Lyman data and work up, You can definitely improve the performance. Your Charter Arms is considered a "modern" revolver, better metals technology than the earlier guns by S&W or Colt. My PPS if a late model, I don't use the same loads in my older Colts. Good shooting!!

PS: the 32 auto was not designed for use in your revolver and vice-versa. Some revolvers will fire it but it is an inadvisable practice. Basically, improvements come only with handloading.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Very careful handloading. I know of no +P or other enhanced loads in this cartridge. You still should not exceed the SAAMI pressure - although a Charter Arms is a modern revolver, it is surely not as strong as a S&W or Colt. You could load a JHP bullet, but these are likely to be made for the higher velocity .32 H&R Magnum or .327 Federal and may not expand anyway. Finally, there is much debate over whether to use handloads for self defense. A lot of good people make good points on both sides of the argument, but I personally come down on the side of factory loads.

 

[MMCSRET]

The Charter Arms 32 cal revolvers were and are on the same frame as the 38 cal guns. If I remember; 32 S&W Long is loaded to 12,000 cup, 38 Special is 16,000+. Many late model Colt PPS revolvers were rechambered to 32 Magnum, maybe not a good thing to do to a collectible Colt, but I have seen a number of them, Colts late destructive test pressures, as well as S&W, Ruger and Charter arms allows for a little leeway, just be careful!!!
I put the 85 gr. Hornady into some cottontail rabbits and it is more destructive than I wanted at 32 S&W Long speeds to use on edible game.

 

[wnycollector]

I have fiocchi 100gr WC's in my H&R 732. I figure at 700-750fps range most JHP's will not expand reliably...so I am going for penetration and a nice .312 "cookie cutter" hole.

 

[snooperman]

Thank you

I want to thank you all for responding to my question concerning a hotter load for my 32 S&W long revolver. I am considering reloading this cartridge according to the hornady handbook. Even though there are inherent limitations to this cartridge, I am of the opinion that it can be impoved upon, somewhat. Thanks, Snooperman

 

[m2steven]

I love the Fiocchi wadcutter. I shoot them all the time from my 327 sp101.
They are certainly wonderful hole punchers, seem to be all loaded pretty much alike, and hit pretty hard when I'm shooting steel. Pretty inexpensive as well.

 

[MMCSRET]

Snooperman; look in some of the older Lyman/Ideal handbooks, load data is somewhat different than what you will find today, some of the powders are no longer available. Bullseye and unique are still good powders for this old cartridge and were used then as now.

 

[scythefwd]

You could also look into Modern Reloading 2nd edition. It has loads that will take you up to the max saami pressures with todays powders. I am not sitting at my house, or I would check to see what fps you can look forward to. I have yet to find hotter loads than in that book (simply because he really does hit the cups or psi of each round for the max loads).