Hammerli 280 32 S&W Long Barrel

[Steve K]

I had asked in a previous post about ammunition for the 280 in 32 S&W Long. I tried a variety of loads for 50 yards and nothing works well. Some respondents say to change the barrel, but I can't find a different barrel. Does anyone have a recommendation for a barrel i.e. twist, manufacturer, and source? I use a 280 in .22 LR, and Gold Cup for .45, now I need a centerfire that will hold the black at 50 yards.

[fc60]

Greetings,

The 280 factory barrels shoot well with GOOD bullets.

An example would be the 0.314" 100 grain H&N HBWC. Sadly, these are hard to get in the USA.

Good results may be had with cast bullets sized to 0.314"-0.315". For best results, you need to cast your own.

The other option is swage your own. Corbin sell presses and dies for this endeavor.

Personally, I take the Speer 98 grain "Plinkers" and "bump" them up to 0.314" and at the same time clean up the base. Corbin can make dies to do this.

Oh yes, regarding a replacement barrel. It is a rather complicated piece of machining followed by a special heat treatment that hardens the surface of the barrel. An expensive option when doing one off barrels.

Cheers,

Dave

[Shiloh]

Call Penn Bullets (in PA). They will make 32 S&W Long cast bullets in just about any diameter you want.

[David M]

It may not be just the bullets, it can also be your dies.
Most factory dies are .311-.312 dia, you may need a
set of oversize dies to load .314.
The Hammerli 280 and the later SP20 both like a .314
cast or HBWC shooting 780- 810 fps.
A good test is to measure a bullet, load it into a case
and then pull the bullet and remeasure it, it should not
be swagged down by the dies.

[Steve K]

Thanks for the great advice.
Dave, I just realized you were recommended by forum members on another site to make a barrel and I sent you an email. Please disregard. I'll look into your suggestion; it sounds good.
Again, thanks for the replies.

[Steve K]

Help
The only place I can find Speer Plinkers is "Cheaper than Dirt" and they cost more than Lapua Competition. Lapua is the only 100 grain bullet in .314 I saw. The others are Magnus, Dardus, and Speer LHBWC, all in 98 grain. The Lapua costs about twice as much as the others. Is it worth it? I don't mind spending the money if is worth the results. How about the other manufactures and using the Corbin dies? What do you think?
Thanks

[fc60]

Greetings,

The Speer "Plinkers" are packaged 1000 per box.

I have been paying about $65.00 per thousand/box.

Many folks say the Lapua bullets are "extremely accurate". However, I have not seen any scanned and posted targets to attest to this statement.

Cheers,

Dave

[Steve K]

What source do you use for the Speer Plinkers?

[fc60]

Greetings,

Last purchase was from Bud's Gun Shop.

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/pro ... 1000%2FBox

Free shipping if you buy enough.

Cheers,

Dave

[divingin]

Call Penn Bullets (in PA). They will make 32 S&W Long cast bullets in just about any diameter you want.

Dardas Cast Bullets has, (as I recall) .312, .313, and .314 as standard, will likely (this is a guess) size to whatever you need. They also offer instructions and evaluation of barrel slugs so they can suggest a diameter for your barrel.

[Steve K]

Hi:
I've been working of this and have had a lot of advise from David Wilson. However, I did not have good results and I think it is because I sandbagged the gun. I went to the range today with two Range Officers that Dave Salyer accurized and found I had much better results firing offhand than from sandbagging the guns. Dave suggested my trigger pull and using two hands on the rest compromised the results. I plan to start from square one with the .32 and see if my groups improve.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

[shootaholic]

Hi Steve,
I have a 280 that had a bulged barrel and the quote to replace it was scary.
After having a good look at the rear of the barrel with an magnifier, I noticed the barrel and block are in two parts. You can see a faint join line.
From there is was fairly easy and by luck I had inherited a full .314 , I in 14 Shilen blank from a deceased estate.
I chucked the barrel in the lathe and slowly bored out the chamber till I reached the join line and uncovered the silver solder joint.
After turning a piece of the Shilen blank to match the original barrel dimensions, I silver soldered the two pieces together, then chambered the barrel with my JGS .32 reamer to establish head space.
Then I used a dremel with an elliptical fine burr to carefully cut away the feed ramp area to match up with the block, finishing it off with the Dremel bullet shaped rubber polishing bit.
Problem solved and it shoots very well.
I actually chambered mine to a .32 S&W long case trimmed down to the same dimensions as the 32acp and can use both cases although the trimmed S&W long cases are more reliable.
I'm using the Accurate 62grn SWC sized to .315.
I have also been coating the projectiles with Emralon which is a baked on finish then sized afterwards.
With the 3 barrel weights attached, there is very minimal muzzle rise.
Regards
Shootaholic

[fc60]

Greetings,

Shootaholic's comment about the barrel being a two piece affair made me go have a good look at my 280.

Sure enough, there is a part line when examined with a loupe and strong light.

Actually, both my barrels, 22lr and 32 S&W Long, have the part lines.

Now I have to wonder how they preserved the heat treatment of the 32 barrel. Silver Braze flows about 1,000 degrees F.

The 280 and SP-20 32 barrels have a hard surface finish. The stainless brush Haemmerli provides will not scratch the surface.

I will be quizzing my welder friends to see what their thoughts are.

In any case, this new information now enables me to repair bulged barrels, should they present themselves.

Many thanks Shootaholic!!!

Cheers,

Dave

[PFribley]

Shootaholic you are the man!!!

[Gregbenner]

I have purchased the Speer Plinker from Hinterland Outfitters, around $65/1000. (They advertise the price per 500, but the boxes contain 1000.??)

I have experimented with cast bullets from several manufacturers, including Penn and Magnus. Using a Ransom Rest I was never able to get any reasonable accuracy at 50 yards, only fair at 25.

I generally get very good results at 25 yards using the Speer Plinker, and at under 7c/bullets they are as cheap, or cheaper than most cast bullets.

At 50yards, I have only found good results with H&N and "bumped" Speer Plinkers (as mentioned by FC60).

My tests have been with a Benelli, a GSP and a Pardini.

I recently purchased another GSP with a Dave Wilson barrel, but have not tested it yet. Have high hopes!!

https://www.hinterlandoutfitters.com/sp ... 11446.html

[oldcaster]

Cast yourself some Saeco #323 100 grain bullets from an alloy of around 8-9 BHN and lube them with soft lube. You will need to expand your cases to .314 also and pay attention to which brand of cases you use because some of them get thicker the deeper you go and will squash the base of the bullet. You will get excellent accuracy. If you ignore any of these principles, your success will diminish proportionally.