While it is a browning design, its not a 1911 and doesnt have any aftermarket support.  I'm just glad Wolff even makes an oem spring kit.  They do make a + power mag spring for the gun but thats it I think.

Thanks for the recommendation on powder to try; I'll give it a shot (ha ha) if the HP38 doesnt work.

I'm playing around with the crimps now - it seems some 32's headspace off the case mouth, while others use the semi-rim on the case like a revolver.  Mine appears to be the revolver type as you can see the little ledge in the barrel to catch the rim.  Overcrimped test rounds will chamber identically.  I should be able to crimp, but is it necessary outside of just the seating step (Lee die with integral taper crimp)?  I have the Lee FCD (its supposed to roll crimp like a revolver) but I believe that to be overkill at this point.  I'm manually cycling these dummy rounds a few times to see if the OAL changes dramatically or not.

Oh well, it was worth a try with Wolff. They carry so many springs for old and out of production guns I thought they may have something.

That is interesting to see your 32 acp headspace on the rim. I would try a dummy round or two without a crimp. Then try a couple with a slight taper and see if they chamber properly. I suggest the slight taper anyways. But only because I don't have any experience with this exact cartridge.

I don't have much experience with HP38 yet. I have some but I have not played much with it. I use a lot of Titegroup in numerous cartridges. I find it to be a good all around powder that gives me good consistency and accuracy. It can be a little dirty but not as dirty as other powders like Unique. I looked at the Hodgdon's reloading data and Titegroup seems to provide slightly higher velocities than the other recommended powders except Autocomp. It may feel a little snappier than HP38.

I sure jacked this thread, didn't I?

Allow me to present a sample of the first batch of cartridges made wholly possible through the impetus of this thread, and the patient guidance of our very own, highly regarded ballistics engineer, oldfart 

It was my goal to replicate as closely as possible the often lauded 73 gn FMJ factory load by Sellier and Bellot out of the Czech Republic, which functions well in my pistol.  The brass colored bullet is the factory S&B and the copper colored is a plated 71 gn Berry's.  Matching the crimp and case dimensions took a bunch of tweaking, but I think I managed to get them as close as the limits that my cheap ebay/amazon calipers would allow.  They stack in mags, feed, chamber, and eject as well as factory after manually cycling them a few times.  I'm using regular CCI small pistol primers, but I want to give Federal a try as well.

Now all I need is some time to see how they shoot.  I loaded up 2.1-2.3 gn charges per the Hodgdon manual and manually weighed each of them after they dropped out of the powder measure.  I must say, the cheap Lee Auto Drum powder dropper is phenomenally accurate with the HP38.  It has very fine adjustments that seem to handle this small range of charges to the point where I'm comfortable running this in a high throughput mode with occasional spot checking.

Materials cost for 100% new is 37 cents/rd (18 cents/rd if you don't include the virgin starline brass) at full retail prices total, exclusive of equipment costs.  This is a big win already, as ammo availability locally is poor, and if I can find it, I would normally be set back around 50 cents plus a pop for these little guys.

I sure jacked this thread, didn't I?

Allow me to present a sample of the first batch of cartridges made wholly possible through the impetus of this thread, and the patient guidance of our very own, highly regarded ballistics engineer, oldfart 

It was my goal to replicate as closely as possible the often lauded 73gn FMJ factory load by Sellier and Bellot out of the Czech Republic, which functions well in my pistol.  The brass colored bullet is the factory S&B and the copper colored is a plated 71g Berry's.  Matching the crimp and case dimensions took a bunch of tweaking, but I think I managed to get them as close as the limits that my cheap ebay/amazon calipers would allow.  They stack in mags, feed, chamber, and eject as well as factory after manually cycling them a few times.  I'm using regular CCI small pistol primers, but I want to give Federal a try as well.

Now all I need is some time to see how they shoot.  I loaded up 2.1-2.3 gn charges per the Hodgdon manual and manually weighed each of them after they dropped out of the powder measure.  I must say, the cheap Lee Auto Drum powder dropper is phenomenally accurate with the HP38.  It has very fine adjustments that seem to handle this small range of charges to the point where I'm comfortable running this in a high throughput mode with occasional spot checking.

Materials cost for 100% new is 37 cents/rd (18 cents/rd if you don't include the virgin starline brass) at full retail prices total, exclusive of equipment costs.  This is a big win already, as ammo availability locally is poor, and if I can find it, I would normally be set back around 50 cents plus a pop for these little guys.

oldfart is da man!

Allow me to present a sample of the first batch of cartridges made wholly possible through the impetus of this thread, and the patient guidance of our very own, highly regarded ballistics engineer, oldfart 

Oh wow! Congrats! That's awesome for your first try. My first try turned out almost as well yours. I haven't tried to shoot it yet but I'm sure it will be pretty accurate with the truncated nose and all.

Oh wow! Congrats! That's awesome for your first try. My first try turned out almost as well yours. I haven't tried to shoot it yet but I'm sure it will be pretty accurate with the truncated nose and all.

she go

Heh I didnt have anything that serious happen yet.  I did have a problem with the powder-through expander wrecking the mouth on a few cases (not my picture, but same problem) but I believe I tracked that down to inadequate case lube and the expander die getting gunked up with thin brass shavings.  It seems the starline brass is slightly longer or has some tolerance differences at the mouth causing occasional light shaving of the mouth area leaving some dust.  The once-fired brass doesnt ever do that.  Also, I run the rounds through a lee factory crimp die that also resizes the entire round and find that the starline brass often requires more love than once-fired stuff. 

that looks fine to me farknocker
======
I was about to say that I was picking farknockers brain about the 32 since he is the only other loader with experience. So mahalo to farknocker for the insights.

now the warnings......
Even though the ammo that shdows made looks great, the bullet available is still a plated bullet, so I would not be surprised if it did not shoot as well as factory.
Beyond that, there is even a possibility that the round nose could jam on the feed ramp because it's not a regular jacket. Plated bullets look hard, but are actually pretty soft.
He needs to watch for tumbling due to diameter mismatch.

yall cross your fingers for a happy ending

that looks fine to me farknocker
======
I was about to say that I was picking farknockers brain about the 32 since he is the only other loader with experience. So mahalo to farknocker for the insights.

now the warnings......
Even though the ammo that shdows made looks great, the bullet available is still a plated bullet, so I would not be surprised if it did not shoot as well as factory.
Beyond that, there is even a possibility that the round nose could jam on the feed ramp because it's not a regular jacket. Plated bullets look hard, but are actually pretty soft.
He needs to watch for tumbling due to diameter mismatch.

yall cross your fingers for a happy ending

There sure seems to be a lot of gas-passing around these parts. 

There will be no ending until I'm happy.

I've scoured the internet for other bullet choices that are not back ordered indefinitely right now and there really arent a whole lot of options other than these plated berry's.  Another option is Hornady/Sierra but those are $$$ with the final choice being casting my own through a bullet mold.  A lot of the commercially available 32 bullets are made for revolvers and are heavier weights than you'd see in an auto.  I believe that to be getting way ahead of myself though at this point.  If the rounds cycle, I'll be happy.  If I can get on paper, thrilled.  The tiny crappy 1911 GI style old school sights along with the distances at the pistol range already prove a challenge without throwing in extra variables like these custom loads - wish me luck.

I'm hoping I dont get any feeding issues, but I cant be sure until I live fire.  If I load the mag and manually rack the rounds through, it requires minimal effort with no binding feeding to chamber and ejecting.  This particular pistol never had any feeding issues with any type of ammo, including blunt little JHP rounds that were considerably shorter in OAL.  You are right that the plated bullet definitely isnt as hard as a jacket as it behaves more like plain lead - even the lightest of crimps will leave a noticeable crimp line on the bullet after being seated, crimped, then pulled for inspection. 

As for the tumbling due to mismatch, is that bullet diameter to barrel mismatch?  Like the bullet is too thin going down the barrel, introduces some back and forth play, then begins to tumble as it exits the barrel?

There sure seems to be a lot of gas-passing around these parts. 

There will be no ending until I'm happy.

I've scoured the internet for other bullet choices that are not back ordered indefinitely right now and there really arent a whole lot of options other than these plated berry's.  Another option is Hornady/Sierra but those are $$$ with the final choice being casting my own through a bullet mold.  A lot of the commercially available 32 bullets are made for revolvers and are heavier weights than you'd see in an auto.  I believe that to be getting way ahead of myself though at this point.  If the rounds cycle, I'll be happy.  If I can get on paper, thrilled.  The tiny crappy 1911 GI style old school sights along with the distances at the pistol range already prove a challenge without throwing in extra variables like these custom loads - wish me luck.

I'm hoping I dont get any feeding issues, but I cant be sure until I live fire.  If I load the mag and manually rack the rounds through, it requires minimal effort with no binding feeding to chamber and ejecting.  This particular pistol never had any feeding issues with any type of ammo, including blunt little JHP rounds that were considerably shorter in OAL.  You are right that the plated bullet definitely isnt as hard as a jacket as it behaves more like plain lead - even the lightest of crimps will leave a noticeable crimp line on the bullet after being seated, crimped, then pulled for inspection. 

As for the tumbling due to mismatch, is that bullet diameter to barrel mismatch?  Like the bullet is too thin going down the barrel, introduces some back and forth play, then begins to tumble as it exits the barrel?

.....
No worry about tumbling yet. Probably won't happen.
But if it does you'll know it. The bullets will group about 3 feet and hit sideways.

.....
No worry about tumbling yet. Probably won't happen.
But if it does you'll know it. The bullets will group about 3 feet and hit sideways.

Gotcha.  I'll watch out for keyhole impacts.

Check out the keyholing on this target.  I heard that "some guy" made gluestick bullets and fired them in his garage with primers.  He told me they really come out flying but they keyhole at 2-car garage distances but still punch through 2 layers of thick cardboard 

While it is a browning design, its not a 1911 and doesnt have any aftermarket support.  I'm just glad Wolff even makes an oem spring kit.  They do make a + power mag spring for the gun but thats it I think.

Thanks for the recommendation on powder to try; I'll give it a shot (ha ha) if the HP38 doesnt work.

I'm playing around with the crimps now - it seems some 32's headspace off the case mouth, while others use the semi-rim on the case like a revolver.  Mine appears to be the revolver type as you can see the little ledge in the barrel to catch the rim.  Overcrimped test rounds will chamber identically.  I should be able to crimp, but is it necessary outside of just the seating step (Lee die with integral taper crimp)?  I have the Lee FCD (its supposed to roll crimp like a revolver) but I believe that to be overkill at this point.  I'm manually cycling these dummy rounds a few times to see if the OAL changes dramatically or not.

I couldn't find the type of .32 ACP firearm you are using in your posts. Which mouse gun are you shooting? Colt 1903?

I couldn't find the type of .32 ACP firearm you are using in your posts. Which mouse gun are you shooting? Colt 1903?

I couldn't find the type of .32 ACP firearm you are using in your posts. Which mouse gun are you shooting? Colt 1903?

What bullet/brass/primer/powder load did you settle on for your 32 reloads?

Gentleman, I have good news to report.

They all went bang, and if I did my part, they hit the target and did not keyhole.

Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between the 2.1-2.3 gn powder charges in feel.  The 2.3 kinda feels closest in snappiness to the S&B ammo or Winchester JHP, but it could also be in my head because I knew it had more powder in it.  There wasn't any difference in the brass as well.  Please have a look at the pictures and let me know if you can see signs of me doing something wrong.  The cases have some irregularities in them, but the factory ammo also displays the same patterns in the brass.  I fired a few rounds with elbows on the table for support, and the only thing I could notice was the point of impact was lower on my loads than the factory stuff.  This is good for me, as I normally have to aim biased towards 6 o clock to hit center.  Now I can aim true to the sights. 

The target picture is comprised 100% of reloads (please excuse the flyers, i just changed grips....errr..hah  ) both once fired brass and also new brass. 

I'd like to thank you all for giving me a kick in the ass to get going on this.  I already told oldfart, but I should have been doing this for years!  HUGE thanks to oldfart - without him, I'd still be putting factory lead down range.

Gentleman, I have good news to report.

They all went bang, and if I did my part, they hit the target and did not keyhole.

Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between the 2.1-2.3 gn powder charges in feel.  The 2.3 kinda feels closest in snappiness to the S&B ammo or Winchester JHP, but it could also be in my head because I knew it had more powder in it.  There wasn't any difference in the brass as well.  Please have a look at the pictures and let me know if you can see signs of me doing something wrong.  The cases have some irregularities in them, but the factory ammo also displays the same patterns in the brass.  I fired a few rounds with elbows on the table for support, and the only thing I could notice was the point of impact was lower on my loads than the factory stuff.  This is good for me, as I normally have to aim biased towards 6 o clock to hit center.  Now I can aim true to the sights. 

The target picture is comprised 100% of reloads (please excuse the flyers, i just changed grips....errr..hah  ) both once fired brass and also new brass. 

I'd like to thank you all for giving me a kick in the ass to get going on this.  I already told oldfart, but I should have been doing this for years!  HUGE thanks to oldfart - without him, I'd still be putting factory lead down range.

OF is the best! Just don't encourage him to show his coconut bra and grass skirt. 

OF is the best! Just don't encourage him to show his coconut bra and grass skirt. 

...
Hey hey hey.....no make fun.
My daughter says not to judge people by their looks.
.....
 
Wow, the results look better than I expected.
Congratulations, that looks like a happy ending.
How old is that 1903?

Gentleman, I have good news to report.

They all went bang, and if I did my part, they hit the target and did not keyhole.

Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between the 2.1-2.3 gn powder charges in feel.  The 2.3 kinda feels closest in snappiness to the S&B ammo or Winchester JHP, but it could also be in my head because I knew it had more powder in it.  There wasn't any difference in the brass as well.  Please have a look at the pictures and let me know if you can see signs of me doing something wrong.  The cases have some irregularities in them, but the factory ammo also displays the same patterns in the brass.  I fired a few rounds with elbows on the table for support, and the only thing I could notice was the point of impact was lower on my loads than the factory stuff.  This is good for me, as I normally have to aim biased towards 6 o clock to hit center.  Now I can aim true to the sights. 

The target picture is comprised 100% of reloads (please excuse the flyers, i just changed grips....errr..hah  ) both once fired brass and also new brass. 

I'd like to thank you all for giving me a kick in the ass to get going on this.  I already told oldfart, but I should have been doing this for years!  HUGE thanks to oldfart - without him, I'd still be putting factory lead down range.

are you left-handed?

HUGE thanks to oldfart - without him, I'd still be putting factory lead down range.

Another convert! Soon you'll be so addicted to reloading that you'll be adding gun powder to your morning coffee.

OF is the best! Just don't encourage him to show his coconut bra and grass skirt. 

 

Wow, the results look better than I expected.
Congratulations, that looks like a happy ending.
How old is that 1903?

She turns 105 this year.  The serial number would indicate it a Type III, though the actual pistol would suggest its a Type II - not uncommon for there to be out of range serial numbers with leftover parts I hear with Colt.  I wish it was in better shape; she was a really good looking piece when new.  This one is a Type I but mine basically looked like this with slightly different grips from the factory.  It has the cool flame blued accents on the safety, trigger, grip screw, and mag catch.  My flame blued-ness is unfortunately heavily faded, pitted, and sad looking.

are you left-handed?

No, you guessing because of the pattern on the target? 

Another convert! Soon you'll be so addicted to reloading that you'll be adding gun powder to your morning coffee.

See attached picture - I did that last night.  I believe I might be forming something of an addiction or new journey in life - to reload for all my things 

wow
105 yrs old?