Knockoff K-32

[Monac]

I'm loading 9mm at under $0.04 a round right now. I cast my own bullets.

Dang, I had no idea primers and 9mm bullets cost only about 2 cents apiece (give or take a cent)! That's terrific!

 

[Jim Watson]

They don't. He is probably casting bullets out of free scrounged lead and buying powder in the big keg.

 

[Texas10mm]

Dang, I had no idea primers and 9mm bullets cost only about 2 cents apiece (give or take a cent)! That's terrific!

I'm still using S&B primers that I got for $17.50 a thousand.

Powder is Vectan A1, $14.99 for 1.1 lb. 3.1 grains, 2480 loads per bottle.

I cast my own bullets. Wheel weights are running me $0.25 a lb. Bullet is 130 gr. 53 bullets to the lb.

So. $0.0175 for the primer, $0.006 for powder, $0.004 for the bullet. Total cost of components is $0.0275, you can round that out to $0.03 per round.

It's not that hard to get the prices down.

Buy a case of Fiocchi primers. That's $0.026 per primer. Powder is $14.99 a lb. Even if you buy casting alloy from Rotometals, that's 55 lbs for $120, bullet cost is $0.041. Total cost is $0.073 per round, $7.30/100, that's cheaper than CCI Mini Mags at Walmart.

It's not that hard to find a better price than Rotometals for lead.

I've got a line on a '30's Colt Police Positive. Hopefully it will all come together and I'll have it in my hands soon.

That means I'll have to buy 500 rounds of brass from Starline, dies, and a conversion kit for my 650, and a mold or two. Since the cheapest factory ammo is $0.28 a round it will take me about 1300 rounds to break even. After that I start saving money!

 

[CraigC]

I've given serious thought to converting a model 17 or 19 to .32H&R or .327Federal. Obviously the 17 is going to need a rim to centerfire conversion (~$200). You have options of relining a .357" barrel, or reboring a .22. A rimfire cylinder can be rechambered. It can probably be accomplished for less than a nice K-32 with a better result.

 

[WestKentucky]

I've given serious thought to converting a model 17 or 19 to .32H&R or .327Federal. Obviously the 17 is going to need a rim to centerfire conversion (~$200). You have options of relining a .357" barrel, or reboring a .22. A rimfire cylinder can be rechambered. It can probably be accomplished for less than a nice K-32 with a better result.

32-20 barrels are more readily available than you might think. Slap that barrel into a K frame and rebore a 22lr cylinder. Yeah, that’s on my radar for my model 10, though I would prefer to do it with a nicer specimen, and would really prefer an adjustable sight, pencil barrel frame. I have also looked at options on barrel liners. That’s the easy way, but a proper barrel isn’t much harder and will likely be cheaper than lining the barrel and recutting both ends of the barrel.

 

[CraigC]

You said you wanted adjustable sights so that's what my response centered around. A .32-20 barrel won't have the right front sight for adjustables. If you wanted fixed sights, just buy a decent M&P in .32-20, have a .22LR cylinder fitted and rechambered.

 

[WestKentucky]

You said you wanted adjustable sights so that's what my response centered around. A .32-20 barrel won't have the right front sight for adjustables. If you wanted fixed sights, just buy a decent M&P in .32-20, have a .22LR cylinder fitted and rechambered.

Good point and an obvious answer that I hadn’t considered. You are probably right about the cheapest models out there with adjustable sights. The biggest problem there is that they are nice guns too, so it would have to be a real problem with a barrel or cylinder for that kind of work to make sense. Problems elsewhere wouldn’t make sense because you would have to fix those problems after you got the gun changed over to 32 caliber.

 

[CraigC]

I don't agree with the idea that custom guns should start with beaters. Anything wrong with a gun that makes it a "beater" will have to be fixed and that usually costs more than to start with a nicer example. Been there, done that. Probably best to start with something plentiful that can be found well used but in sound condition. That probably means a model 14, 15 or 19. The good thing about K-frames is that the cylinders are all the same length. So it's not a big deal to reline a barrel and fit a K-22 cylinder that can be rechambered.

 

[WestKentucky]

I don't agree with the idea that custom guns should start with beaters. Anything wrong with a gun that makes it a "beater" will have to be fixed and that usually costs more than to start with a nicer example. Been there, done that. Probably best to start with something plentiful that can be found well used but in sound condition. That probably means a model 14, 15 or 19. The good thing about K-frames is that the cylinders are all the same length. So it's not a big deal to reline a barrel and fit a K-22 cylinder that can be rechambered.

I wouldn’t say beater, but problematic. If somebody hacksawed a barrel down but the gun is otherwise nice, that’s the perfect gun to use as a project. If somebody bulged a cylinder with a hot load but otherwise didn’t damage the gun, easy enough to replace the cylinder, but the numbers no longer match so why not go wild?

 

[CraigC]

True enough but I was thinking more generally.