This article written by CBA member, Bradley C. Bish, was published in the Sept/Oct 2001 #153 issue of the Fouling Shot.
From the Sunflower State to the Keystone State, from my great uncle, to my grandfather, to my uncle and then to my father, this Model 92 Marlin has done a bit of traveling. Hopefully it will remain many more years in my gun safe before the next heir receives it. It is a .32 Long Colt caliber and the rifle is in surprisingly good condition and shoots very well as shall be noted a bit later.
I figured that it might be a challenge to shoot this obsolete cartridge, but I really didn’t know how true that thought was going to be! It came with half a box of factory ammo but I wanted to reload for it. Research indicated that it would take heel bullets or hollow base bullets but reloading data for this small cartridge is not readily available. I was very lucky to get new brass for it. I ordered 200 pieces in 1998 for a reasonable price; now I wish I had ordered an additional 300 pieces. Since that time, I have seen this brass listed at $1.00 per piece which equates to about $177.76 per pound for this Remington brass! Had I needed to pay that price for the new brass, the project would have ended then and there. Brass problem solved.
Now, I needed bullets. After a few inquires on the Internet to a couple of talk forums a source was discovered. A person in Wyoming made them from a Winchester mold dated to the turn of the century. One hundred of these small bullets arrived a week later. Bullet problem solved (temporarily).
Next, reloading data was needed. As previously mentioned, very little exists. From several sources, articles, and Handloader Magazine, it was determined that starting loads for the .32 Smith & Wesson Long or the .32 Colt New Police could be used. I found as many sources of data for these cartridges that I could and averaged the starting loads for each powder selected. Nine different powders were used; all produced good results, but one powder, Unique became my powder of choice for future reloading. Data problem solved.
A sizing die was also a problem. When the words custom-made appear on anything, the price is high. Knowing that the studs used to hold tires on large trucks are the same diameter and thread size of the 7/8 x 14 reloading dies, a thought entered. A local machinist was interested in what I was doing so he did the neces-sary lathe work to the stud. A hole of 19/64” was bored into one end of the stud. I then enlarged the diameter of this hole to approximately 0.315” inch using a wooden dowel rod with emery cloth attached to it. This I turned with a drill, stopping often to measure the diameter as it increased ever so slowly. Subtracting the thickness of the brass on both sides of the case, it sized the brass to have an inside mouth diameter of approximately 0.298 inch. This opening has proved to be right. Sizing die problem solved.
From the Sunflower State to the Keystone State, from my great uncle, to my grandfather, to my uncle and then to my father, this Model 92 Marlin has done a bit of traveling. Hopefully it will remain many more years in my gun safe before the next heir receives it. It is a .32 Long Colt caliber and the rifle is in surprisingly good condition and shoots very well as shall be noted a bit later.
I figured that it might be a challenge to shoot this obsolete cartridge, but I really didn’t know how true that thought was going to be! It came with half a box of factory ammo but I wanted to reload for it. Research indicated that it would take heel bullets or hollow base bullets but reloading data for this small cartridge is not readily available. I was very lucky to get new brass for it. I ordered 200 pieces in 1998 for a reasonable price; now I wish I had ordered an additional 300 pieces. Since that time, I have seen this brass listed at $1.00 per piece which equates to about $177.76 per pound for this Remington brass! Had I needed to pay that price for the new brass, the project would have ended then and there. Brass problem solved.
Now, I needed bullets. After a few inquires on the Internet to a couple of talk forums a source was discovered. A person in Wyoming made them from a Winchester mold dated to the turn of the century. One hundred of these small bullets arrived a week later. Bullet problem solved (temporarily).
Next, reloading data was needed. As previously mentioned, very little exists. From several sources, articles, and Handloader Magazine, it was determined that starting loads for the .32 Smith & Wesson Long or the .32 Colt New Police could be used. I found as many sources of data for these cartridges that I could and averaged the starting loads for each powder selected. Nine different powders were used; all produced good results, but one powder, Unique became my powder of choice for future reloading. Data problem solved.
A sizing die was also a problem. When the words custom-made appear on anything, the price is high. Knowing that the studs used to hold tires on large trucks are the same diameter and thread size of the 7/8 x 14 reloading dies, a thought entered. A local machinist was interested in what I was doing so he did the neces-sary lathe work to the stud. A hole of 19/64” was bored into one end of the stud. I then enlarged the diameter of this hole to approximately 0.315” inch using a wooden dowel rod with emery cloth attached to it. This I turned with a drill, stopping often to measure the diameter as it increased ever so slowly. Subtracting the thickness of the brass on both sides of the case, it sized the brass to have an inside mouth diameter of approximately 0.298 inch. This opening has proved to be right. Sizing die problem solved.
Now, the reloading and shooting began. Although the .32 LC is a rimmed case, the rim diameter is only a few thousands of an inch from being the same as the head of the rimless .223 Remington case. Any shellholder for the .223 Remington will work for the .32 LC case.And, any sizing die with a diameter larger than the .32 LC case and an expander plug less than the inside diameter of the .32 LC case mouth can be used to remove the primer.
I chose the.223 Remington sizing die because the shell holder was included with the die set and it met the other two requirements.Priming was done with a Lee Auto-Prime using a #4 shellholder. Winchester 6-1/2 -116 and CCI 500 primers were used.All the data for the Winchester bullets used Winchester primers; the N.E.I. bullets (more on these bullets later) used CCI primers. The rifle was made sometime at the very beginning of the 20th century. Exact years to correlate to Marlin serial numbers are difficult to find. Regardless, it has 6 grooves, a bore diameter of 0.303 inch and a groove diameter of 0.308 inch. The twist appears to be 1 in 22 or 24 inches.
.The bullets were from a Winchester mold and a mold (#78B) made by N.E.I. The Winchester bullets had a length of 0.558”, a diameter of 0.3129”, a heel diame-ter of 0.3014”, and a seating depth of 0.141”. They weighed an average of 89.5 grains with a SAECO hardness of approximately 5.5 or a BHN of 8 to 9. The N.E.I. mold I ordered knowing that my Winchester bullet supply would soon end and I would need to be able to produce my own bullets. Fourteen weeks after it was ordered, it arrived.
Loads shown in both trimmed and untrimmed cases. It cast bullets of the correct diameter but the heel diameter was a bit small. So back to N.E.I. the mold went and within a week it was returned. The heel portion of the mold had been slightly enlarged and the bullets dropped from the mold with a length also of 0.558”, a diameter of 0.3120”, a heel diameter of 0.3005”, and a seating depth of 0.265”. They weighed an average of 97.6 grains. This was when they were cast from a 20 to 1 (lead to tin) alloy. These bullets have a SAECO hardness of 6.5 or a BHN of approximately 10.
When I first began reloading this little cartridge, I assembled several of the rounds with the recommended starting load and the Winchester bullets. I then tried them in the chamber and in the tubular magazine of the Model 92. The chamber fit was good, but they would not cycle from the magazine to the chamber, the length of the cartridge was too long. I remember reading an article and they indicated the cases need trimmed with some bullets to allow them to feed from the magazine to the chamber. Several of the cases were trimmed to 0.815” and this allowed for them to cycle properly. A few words of caution are in order at this point: If one uses the trimmed cases, only the starting charge of powder is recommended. And that may have only proved true in my particular rifle and not one that someone else might be using. I discovered this with the Unique powder and the N.E.I. bullets. A load of 2.5 grains seemed safe in this particular rifle but 3.0 grains began to show pressure signs on the cases and the 5-shot group also showed problems…keyholes were very obvious. A combination of the trimmed cases and the longer seating depth (heel) of the N.E.I. bullet is probably what leads to the excessive pressure. The case rims actually became somewhat out-of-round, the primers had deep indents, and a couple of the primers had a pin-sized hole in the center with black carbon deposits also noted. I later discovered that the N.E.I. bullets could be loaded into the untrimmed cases and they would cycle from the magazine to the chamber. Three grains of Unique in the untrimmed cases showed no signs of pres-sure problems.
When I first began reloading this little cartridge, I assembled several of the rounds with the recommended starting load and the Winchester bullets. I then tried them in the chamber and in the tubular magazine of the Model 92. The chamber fit was good, but they would not cycle from the magazine to the chamber, the length of the cartridge was too long. I remember reading an article and they indicated the cases need trimmed with some bullets to allow them to feed from the magazine to the chamber. Several of the cases were trimmed to 0.815” and this allowed for them to cycle properly. A few words of caution are in order at this point: If one uses the trimmed cases, only the starting charge of powder is recommended. And that may have only proved true in my particular rifle and not one that someone else might be using. I discovered this with the Unique powder and the N.E.I. bullets. A load of 2.5 grains seemed safe in this particular rifle but 3.0 grains began to show pressure signs on the cases and the 5-shot group also showed problems…keyholes were very obvious. A combination of the trimmed cases and the longer seating depth (heel) of the N.E.I. bullet is probably what leads to the excessive pressure. The case rims actually became somewhat out-of-round, the primers had deep indents, and a couple of the primers had a pin-sized hole in the center with black carbon deposits also noted. I later discovered that the N.E.I. bullets could be loaded into the untrimmed cases and they would cycle from the magazine to the chamber. Three grains of Unique in the untrimmed cases showed no signs of pres-sure problems.
All data and groups listed on the chart were fired with untrimmed cases that are 0.910” in length. The overall cartridge length with the Winchester bullet was 1.314” and with the N.E.I. bullet it was 1.192” The bullets were lubed with Lee Liquid Alox. I drilled 21/64” holes through a piece of 1/8” aluminum. The loaded rounds could then be place into these holes (the rim keeps them from falling through) and be dipped into a container of Alox that was the correct depth to only cover the bullets. The bullets were left to drip for a few minutes and then they were touched on a piece of paper towel. This removed the excess from the tip. Leading has not been a problem with these bullets and this rifle.
Firing 3.0 grs. of Unique in trimmed cases was too much! A summary of events follows:
Untrimmed cases were used to shoot all groups at 20 yards, with the exception of the group that showed excessive pressure to the cases and the “keyholing” noted on the target. Case life appears to be very good as some of the cases have been reloaded and fired at least 10 times.
If trimmed cases are to be used, extreme caution should be used with powder charges. Even the starting loads listed may cause pressure problems in some firearms. They all appeared safe in my particular rifle.
Untrimmed cases were used to shoot all groups at 20 yards, with the exception of the group that showed excessive pressure to the cases and the “keyholing” noted on the target. Case life appears to be very good as some of the cases have been reloaded and fired at least 10 times.
If trimmed cases are to be used, extreme caution should be used with powder charges. Even the starting loads listed may cause pressure problems in some firearms. They all appeared safe in my particular rifle.
Before the bullet was seated into the case, the case mouth was “very slightly” egg-shaped by pressing it against the reloading bench. This allowed the bullet/case to make a distinct “snapping” noise when the bullet was pushed into the case. Bullets were held in place fairly tight using this method.
Groups with the N.E.I. bullets were only tested with the powders that produced the best groups with the Winchester bullets.Velocities were chronographed at a distance of 5 feet from the muzzle.
All velocities listed are with Winchester bullets. Not shown in the chart is the velocity of the 3.0 grains of Unique and the N.E.I. bullet. This combination produced an aver-age velocity of 1130 fps. Yes, I checked and rechecked this velocity and it is what it is! Unique, CCI 500 primers, and the N.E.I. bullets are my choice for this rifle.The barrel of this rifle was cleaned using Sweet’s 7.62 and a bronze bore brush after every 10 rounds of ammo were fired.
It was an interesting and challenging project and an old firearm gets put back into use again.
Groups with the N.E.I. bullets were only tested with the powders that produced the best groups with the Winchester bullets.Velocities were chronographed at a distance of 5 feet from the muzzle.
All velocities listed are with Winchester bullets. Not shown in the chart is the velocity of the 3.0 grains of Unique and the N.E.I. bullet. This combination produced an aver-age velocity of 1130 fps. Yes, I checked and rechecked this velocity and it is what it is! Unique, CCI 500 primers, and the N.E.I. bullets are my choice for this rifle.The barrel of this rifle was cleaned using Sweet’s 7.62 and a bronze bore brush after every 10 rounds of ammo were fired.
It was an interesting and challenging project and an old firearm gets put back into use again.
