Round balls, cat sneeze, indoor shooting -

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Last Post 27 January 2012

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bruce posted this 07 March 2010

In the process of evaluating a bit of powder I had acquired, I got the idea to pack it in a .32 S&W case and fire it in my basement. It was black powder, so there was a bit of smoke and odor involved. This got me to thinking that there are probably better loads for this, maybe a round lead ball and a grain of Bullseye? I have read the 0 buck is ideal for stuffing in .32 S&W cases. In Longs, it can be nicely pushed in so that none protrudes from the brass. The standard .32 S&W case is much too short for that

Anybody else do these things? When I was in college, my dad turned some black teflon on a lathe and made some very mild loads for his Marlin .44 mag carbine that we fired a few times in the basement.

Has anyone built a .32 ACP round ball load that can cycle a slide? That would need some ummph in the powder department, these balls weight about 49 grains I think.

I would imagine that there are loads of round ball loads for rifles that people have shot.

One more: has anyone loaded a .22 airgun pellet in a .22 Hornet? I tried, but I think I had trouble finding anything to crimp on its little wasp waist. (That may have been a pun). Probably call for just a magnum primer and a drilled-out flash hole.

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billwnr posted this 07 March 2010

I shot pellets out of a Hornet and didn't use powder nor drill the primer hole out. Just wanted to see if it could be done.

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Buffalo Bill posted this 07 March 2010

I have shot .22 airgun pellets out of a T/C Contender pistol chambered for the K-Hornet. This was many years ago. However, if I remember correctly, I just pushed the pellet into the chamber with a short wooden dowel rod. Then I chambered a regular primed case. No powder was used. Accuracy was very good.

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Buffalo Bill posted this 07 March 2010

Bruce, regarding my experience with .22 airgun pellets in a T/C Contender chambered for .22 K-Hornet, I suspect that the primed cases had not been resized. Also, I MAY have flared the case mouth a little. Sorry I can not remember all the details. FWIW. Good luck on your experiments with subsonic loads.

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mike morrison posted this 07 March 2010

20 some years ago when i had a 223 i opened up the primer pocket to accept a shotgun primer and thumb seated a 22cal air gun pellet in the neck.no powder. made one heck of a pellet gun. accurate too. m

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NoDakJak posted this 09 March 2010

About 25 years ago I fired quite a few round ball loads through Colt Police Positive. I used a small taper reamer to enlarge the primer orfice and normaly used magnum primers. The balls were thumb seated flush with the case mouth and then daubed with a bit of Crisco. Your question has renewed my interest and I think that I will resume testing. Neil

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CB posted this 14 March 2010

In the winter of 1960-61 we lived in an apartment in Washington D.C. Probably due to a case of urban cabin fever the starlings hanging around enjoying the warm air from the vents in an adjacent, and somewhat lower, apartment house roof began to look like varmint hunting opportunities.

I didn't have a serious enough case of cabin fever to try my groundhog loads for my 222 and I didn't have an airgun. I rigged up a 30 foot range in the apartment for load development and used 22 air gun pellets in unaltered 222 cases and standard primers -no powder.

I found a procedure, involving wax to hold the pellets in the neck, that produced minute of starling accuracy but I was afraid even the small report would bring more attention than I wanted.

The next step was a paper towel tube silencer with cardboard baffles

The outfit worked well and accounted for quite a number of starlings before they concluded that that set of vents apparently belched unhealthy air that caused cardiac arrest to members of the flock.

Never underestimate the foolishness of a gun loony or the intelligence of starlings.

John

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bruce posted this 14 March 2010

The .222 pellet gun with paper towel tube silencer would be extremely silent I think. I must try the wax trick to get the .22 pellets to stick in my Hornet cases. Since I have the pellets, brass & primers, this would be way cheaper (and quieter) than getting a pellet rifle.

On the .32 ball topic, I see that Hornady calls 0 buck .320". Perhaps these should be sized first or do they shave when pressed into a brass case? It would seem like they would be “ball expanders".

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Al_Sway posted this 15 March 2010

I have tried .32 S&W Long with round ball. I seated them to mid circumfrence with a light crimp. I used about 1.5 grain of powder (700-x, 231, etc), but it was for outdoor use. Accurate enough at 20 yards. As for .22 pellets, I tried them for a while in a .222 Remington. The trick was to load them backwards and push them flush with the case mouth (this could be done by thumb pressure). I gave up after a while, even though they were accurate enough at basement ranges. I decided I would be better off with a air rifle.

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Ed Harris posted this 17 March 2010

I used to use a cast .314-.315 soft-lead round ball pressed flush with the case mouth into .32 ACP or .32 S&W cases with 1 grain of Bullseye. It shot only “OK."

Accuracy is VERY much better using the NEI #82, which casts .315 driving bands with a .303 bore riding nose, having the body length shortened to 88 grains, leaving only the top lube groove and 2 driving bands. Seat crimping over the front driving band with 1.5 grains of Bullseye in either .32 ACP or .32 S&W or S&W Long cases. This is a wonderful indoor gallery pistol and revolver or low noise Rook Rifle type load.

This is the lightest charge which will reliably cycle my CZ27, Colt M1903, FN M1922, Walther PP, Beretta M1935 and Tomcat pistols. The key to reliable cycling is having a somewhat heavier than standard bullet weight to provide sufficient recoil impulse. This also aids getting a “clean burn” with light charges of pistol powder. These loads shoot to the sights at ten yards with most .32 ACP pocket pistols and when loaded in S&W or S&W Long cases fired from my S&W .32 Hand Ejector revolver.

When fired in the H&R Bunny Rifle these are almost silent, but work well on small game within 25 yards. I probably shoot more of this particular round than all of my other .32 plinkers rolled together.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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