Loading .32 S&W

grayingghost

April 02, 2012 15:41

I have a couple little .32 S&W revolvers, one a Forehand Arms with the only pat. date of 1881 and the other an Iver Johnson safety hammerless which letter prefix and # indicate 1923. I followed advice in Lyman loading man. using starting loads of 1.1 gr. Bullseye behing 85 gr. lead. I have a couple books stating that load duplicates factory ball. This load is pitiful, it won't penetrate a hardwood plank at 15 feet, just makes a notable dent and bounces back! Is the .32 S&W really that weak? Seems to me all that would do is make the neighbors cat angry!

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  charliemeyer007

  April 02, 2012 17:35

  Yep they are that weak. I will tell you that a 44 Mag full of 4Fg is a respectful load. A 458 full of 3F and a big bullet is still hot.

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  navc130

  April 02, 2012 17:43

  Yes, the 32 S&W is very weak. Notice that the max load in the Lyman book is 1.5 g. of Bullseye for that bullet. One of the problems with those revolvers is the overly large cylinder-to-barrel gap, which allows a lot of gas to escape. Be careful of a stuck bullet in the barrel.

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