Pardini 32 ACP bore size

[pistol champ]

Has anyone slugged a new 32 ACP barrel? I'm looking at getting a mold and would like it to be sized right. I would do it myself, but my barrel is in Italy right now.

[mahoak]

Mine, bought last spring, is .3135

[j danielsson]

And the twist?

[pistol champ]

And the twist?

The twist is 6D X 450 mm about 1 in 17.71" the bullet is much shorter than what is used in the 32 S &W Long only 0.370 long so it is much better stabilized especially when you add that it is moving at 1000 ft/sec.

[pistol champ]

Mine, bought last spring, is .3135

Thanks, this lets me get started.

[oldcaster]

When you get a mold, be sure to get a bullet that isn't long. None of the full size part of the bullet can be in front of the base because it will hit the rifling and get shoved back in the case. Not much can stick out in the front either because the magazine isn't that deep and the curvature of the nose relegates how long the OAL can be. The inside of the cases are tapered and start getting smaller somewhere in the neighborhood of .250 deep or perhaps a little less. As far as I know there is no mold of commercial manufacture that will work in this gun so you will have to get a custom mold designed specifically for the Pardini 32 ACP. Soon I am going to order a mold that closely replicates the Jacketed Hornady 60 grain bullet and more than likely will get it from Accurate molds. I already ordered one of their 85 grain molds and it was too long and caused me troubles because of what is mentioned above. If you get a mold let us know how it works.

[pistol champ]

Oldcaster thanks for the input. The Hornady 60 gr XTP #32010 is what my barrel is being machined to accept in Italy right now. I would be very interested in what Accurate is making for you and would like to buy a similar mold for myself to test out. Are you planning on getting it in a hollow point version?

[oldcaster]

I haven't ordered the mold yet and the sensible thing to do would be for me to send you some of the bullets I already made from the other mold and you can try them to see if they are accurate in your gun. I tried them (as is) and got accuracy with 20% flyers so I trimmed .030 off the back of the mold and got less accuracy with no flyers or maybe flyers that were not as bad. The first groups at 50 yards without flyers were I think around 1 1/4 and the second groups were about 4 to 5 inches if I remember correctly. When it is no good, I don't stick around measuring and remembering but move on.

I would expect the same results in your gun but if you want to try them, I have some left and they will just go back in the melting pot because they are worthless to me.

A friend has a box of 60 grain hornady bullets and I am going to get one so I can measure and have Accurate make a mold for me as close as makes sense. It would be best if you waited to see if I know what I am doing and prove it is the best kind of mold to have before you buy or maybe both of us will have a mold that has no value for the Pardinis. I will get the order off probably sometime Monday of Wednesday of next week and the mold takes several weeks for them to make depending how much under the gun they are. If I get good results, I can send you some to make sure your gun will like them also. -- Bill --

[pistol champ]

Bill,
Thanks for the information and yes I would like to try out what your working on. I would also like to know your loading information so I have a good starting spot. If you can not get a sample of the Hornady 60 gr I can send you some. I will pm you my contact info.

[oldcaster]

OK Champ, I will send you some of the longer bullets from the mold before I cut it off and some of the shorter ones also. Don't worry about any money because the amount is too petty to be concerned about. I will of course also let you know on this site what loads I used and how fast they went as soon as I have time and what happens in the future.

[pistol champ]

Oldcaster,

I got your very large amount of bullet samples today and the way you packed them worked out nicely. I will try to get some loaded and tested in the next few weeks. What loading combinations have you tried?
How are you coming with your mold for the copy of the Hornady bullet?

[oldcaster]

I tried to pack them as perfectly as possible because they are a BHN of about 10 and I didn't want them to get banged up in shipping. I originally said that they were all lubed with NRA 50/50 but realized the bullets on the left that are sized .314 were lubed with Saeco soft lube. I like the lube but it won't stay in the bullets when they are handled so you may have to relube them.

As far as powders go, I have tried 231, #2, Power Pistol, Russian Unique, (a pull down powder) Unique, and Trail Boss. The only ones worth using as far as I am concerned are the #2 and the Power Pistol because of the small amount and the difficulty metering it correctly. I have shot from 1.2 to 1.8 of each with the #2 acting a bit faster of the two. Velocities are from about 580 to 800. The 580 works the action fine and the 800 seems like it is getting too stiff. A 60 at 800 would probably be all right but an 85 at that speed is too fast in my opinion.

I thought I was going to have a 60 grain Hornady XTP to look at in order to make a decision on the shape and size of the mold but both my friend and I had 60 grain Speers and 85 grain XTP"s so I wasn't able to do it. -- Bill --