Pardini HP 32, ammo talk

[10M_Stan]

This may be a somewhat ignorant question, but what is the advantage of the 32 ACP compared to the 32 S&W long wadcutter? Is it cost, availability of brass, or some other factor? Part of reason for my query, it it seems most 32 ACP barrels are 0.311" diameter and most 32 S&W long barrels are close to 0.313". It seems that Pardini (who have done this a while) took a 32 S&W long barrel (0.313" diameter) and rechambered it for 32 ACP. I expect there is a reason. Maybe the 32 ACP has a better ballistics coefficient (i.e bucks the wind better)?

[fc60]

Greetings,

The 32 ACP, as offered by PardiniUSA, will shoot inside the ten-ring with high X-counts at 50 yards using the Hornady jacketed 60 grain XTP bullet.

The 32 S&W Long WadCutter was able to do this with the H&N 100 grain HBWC bullet, as well.

The H&N bullet is no longer available.

Also, I am told that the felt recoil of the 32 ACP is much less than the WadCutter pistol.

Remember, it's only money. Go ahead and get one.

Cheers,

Dave

[Emmett]

Hello again everyone,
After quite a while of getting the equipment and practice of reloading .32 ACP, I have some accuracy questions that I hope y’all can address for me. I have gone through all the forum talk and reloading data and decided on the following parameters: case length .670 to .674, OAL .851, crimp .332, bullet 62 LSWC (Travis bullets). I have decided on the OAL of .851 vs the recommended .885 because I felt uneasy with the round not setting fully in the chamber. It seems that the .851 sits well without pushing the bullet into the rifling. Likewise, I tried case lengths from .670 to .674 and see no difference in performance. I have tried Bullseye and N310 powder. I have tried 1.9 and 2.0 gn of Bullseye and 1.6 and 1.7 gn of N310. The short length of the round has not caused any feed issues with one exception. I found that the rounds need to sit flat against the rear wall of the magazine. In one instance I found that second round in the mag moved slightly forward and during feed, the rear of the top case caught on the bottom of the second round and the round did not feed. The interference caused the top round to nose down and not feed. I found when I reset all the rounds against the back wall then feeding was smooth. So what is my question? My results are terrible. At 25 yards with the four different powder loads, the typical grouping is 2 inches. The 50 yards results are worse. Typical grouping is between 4 and 5 inches. I have tried a number of loads on different days. All results are the same, even with the Hornady 60 gn XLT ammo. I only have a few chronograph numbers. Most are in the low 900’s. I found it’s usually too busy or too cumbersome to set up the chrono. The other shooters don’t like waiting for me to get it set up and working. The results are all with a ransom rest. I know there are some techniques to get the best results with a Ransom. However, if I do the same thing for every shot, then the grouping should be consistent. Anyway, I’ll try loading some more when I get a chance and shoot from a sandbag and see what I get. It’s a mystery to me. I sure would like to see some good groupings like everyone else seems to be getting. Thanks for reading this far. I welcome any comments, good and bad. Unfortunately, my timing will have to slow down until I get the taxes finished. The boss has convinced me that I’ve put it off long enough.

[zanemoseley]

How well does the Fiocchi 32acp 73 grain ammo perform? Its less than $.25 a round and gets great reviews.

[fc60]

Greetings,

The Fiocchi 73 grain round nose ammo is a poor choice.

My friend bought a case of it.

Bullets measure 0.308" and rattle down the 0.314" groove diameter of the Pardini.

I was unable to keep all the shots on a full face target, 21"x24" at 50 yards via the barrel tester.

To make matters worse, the brass is thick walled and inconsistent. Horrible to reload. I had to machine custom dies to load new bullets.

I seriously doubt the ammo would shoot at 25 yards.

Cheers,

Dave

[zanemoseley]

Ouch that's rough. Guess I can count out that option. I really want to give the 32acp a try but it seems like a PITA.

[oldcaster]

So far the only PITA I have experienced is difficulty finding my brass among all the 22 shells after firing. I can't get them to all go into my rather large net because some go straight up but I think I can put up with it considering it only takes 1.5 grains of powder per shot and only 62 grains of lead plus excellent accuracy.

Emmett, when you get a chance try and shoot some rounds off sandbags. I can always shoot off bags as accurately as my Ransom Rest particularly with the Pardini since the blocks have to be square which I don't think is good. The hard part is that it is a lot slower because you have to be so meticulous whereas with the RR it is quick and easy.

The next thing may be the bullets. I don't know if the Travis bullets shoot well or not because I have never tried them, but if these things don't work for you send me an Email with your address and I will send you several hundred that I have personally casted to see if that is the problem.

One more thing might be that your cases need to be expanded more. You can try to load some cases that have already been fired without sizing to see if that helps but of course only do this with the oversize cast bullet. I don't think the jacketed bullet would be tight enough. I have tried this and can only get away with this method one time and then they are too big.

[Emmett]

Thank you Sir for the feedback. I’ll try that out. Thinking about it now, the Pardini in the Ransom is a pretty big cantilever, not to mention the adaptor mechanism. I have had good luck in the past with a rest and bags, I just thought I could impress myself with a Ransom Test. I think I may have a small scope somewhere in all my stuff that I could use to point a little more accurately from a rest. When I get some updated test results I’ll be back in touch. Thanks again. Best Regards, Emmett

[ghillieman]

Dave, I have a question for you.

You installed a wadcutter barrel in my Pardini. Does the .32 S&W Long headspace off the rim? Have you ever tried trimming the brass back and loading with swc, rn, ect.?

Thanks, Dan.

[Emmett]

Hello again everyone. I was wondering if I could get some opinions on what is going on with this target. I was shooting a variety of load recipes, some with LSWC and JHP. This was a sighter target using factory Hornady .32 ACP. I shot the first, closest 5 rounds as a baseline then started shooting assorted loads. As I was shooting the other loads I gradually noticed the groups getting larger, every load terrible and a little worse than the previous. After about 50 rounds and probably an hour, I shot 5 factory rounds at the original target to see if I was still at a recognizable baseline. Imagine my surprise to see to group center move over and open up significantly. Same box of ammo. Scope still secure in place. (I was shooting from a rest and I had mounted a small rifle scope to the gun to ensure I was aiming at the same point). My older brother who shoots a lot suggests either a hot barrel condition or a fouling of the barrel. I suppose those are both good ideas but, really, after 50 rounds the gun pattern looks like this? From the great and powerful Pardini? At this point there is no predicting what load recipe would work if I can’t get repeatable performance. I suppose I will try to shoot the .32 one more time using a bore snake every 5 rounds but I am at the point where I think shelving the .32 Pardini and working on the 9mm would produce better results. Probably an dumb idea to chase this .32 idea just because I have a lot of money and time invested.

[6string]

I don't have a Pardini 32, but have used the 22 a lot.
If I were to have an experience on the range like what Emmett has just described, one thing I'd check would be the tension on the bolt under the muzzle that holds the barrel to the frame.

Jim

[Dipnet]

Emmet,
I see one great group and one not-so-great and suspect something happened between the 1st 5-round magazine and the second (loss of sharp focus, trigger jerking, rest moved?). I've been slow to post data, but just updated my excel sheet on loads testing I have done for the 32 ACP; a pdf is attached. I think you will find that the 32 is very accurate, quite fun to shoot, and really easy to load accurately (essentially a mini 45 ACP). I only shoot mine during 2700s and at times when I'm behind on 45 reloading (you have to shoot a 45 well to become a master/high master (that's my goal). Regardless, I enjoy the 32 every time I shoot it.

I mostly shoot the 62-gr LSWC developed by Oldcaster and sold by Travis Bullets. I weigh each one and sort into 0.3-grain groups (small variances in parameters, e.g., bullet weight, crimp, powder charge) can have significant effects because these variables are small to begin with. I only worry about bullet weight groups for the long line; not nearly as important at 25 yards. You will note in my data (bottom of sheet) for the "75" grain Rimrock bullet (actually 77-78 grs.), that one 5-shot group was 1.3" at 50 yards and I wasn't using a Ransom rest. I was so elated I blew second magazine. Cheers, dipnet

[javaduke]

I'm getting a new Pardini in 32ACP and trying to figure out which die set I need to purchase. I'm going to load my ammo on Dillon 650, and use the 62gr LSWC bullets. Will I be better off with Lyman or Redding dies? And can I use the standard Dillon powder funnel expander? I'm also going to purchase Uniquetek powder bar with micrometer adjustments.

[fc60]

Greetings,

Tested some Hornady 85XTP bullets in the 32 ACP yesterday. Initial groups look promising.

The only on-line data I found was from Accurate Powder website.

If anyone has a new Hornady Load Book, see if they list loads for the 85XTP for the 32ACP. If so, PM me the data so I can safely test other powders.

Cheers,

Dave

[Franklin]

This is a response to an earlier post (March)

I don't have a Pardini 32, but have used the 22 a lot.
If I were to have an experience on the range like what Emmett has just described, one thing I'd check would be the tension on the bolt under the muzzle that holds the barrel to the frame.

Jim

Yes, and not only the assembly bolt mentioned by 6string, but also the 1/2" diameter threaded steel stud that it screws into. A couple years ago I was having seemingly random widening groups that disappeared when the assembly bolt was retightened...the root cause, however, was not a loosening assembly bolt but that the internally threaded steel stud the assembly bolt threads into was coming loose! The threadlocker adhesive with which the stud was installed in the frame had failed. That stuff looked like clear model airplane glue. I reinstalled it with some high strength (Loctite) threadlocker and no more problems. Good idea to check that occasionally too, just in case.

Franklin

[Gregbenner]

I have a noob question re: brass. I have just started the fun of 32ACP reloading and have 500 Starline brass, which I am having good luck with so far (Sl only).

However, I seem to see several references to R-P and W-W brass as being excellent? When I google this I can't seem to find any sources of either other than used?

[sparky]

I have a noob question re: brass. I have just started the fun of 32ACP reloading and have 500 Starline brass, which I am having good luck with so far (Sl only).

However, I seem to see several references to R-P and W-W brass as being excellent? When I google this I can't seem to find any sources of either other than used?

R-P is Remington-Peters; Remington brass often has this head stamp.
W-W is Winchester-Western; Winchester brass often has this head stamp.

[fc60]

Greetings,

R-P and W-W 32ACP brass is not a big seller. They make a run when all the 9mm and 40 S&W orders are caught up.

The wall thickness of the R-P and W-W brass I have measure 0.010" and works well for 0.314" bullets.

Cheers,

Dave

[Gregbenner]

Greetings,

R-P and W-W 32ACP brass is not a big seller. They make a run when all the 9mm and 40 S&W orders are caught up.

The wall thickness of the R-P and W-W brass I have measure 0.010" and works well for 0.314" bullets.

Cheers,

Dave

Thx Dave. I googled again this morning. I find no-one who lists it on their web sites (either in or out of stock). All I seem to find is Star Line. I was hoping to get some references to one of the retailers that sells it., even if they are temporarily out. Its not critical, the SL will work fine.

[pistol champ]

It is out of stock right now.
https://www.natchezss.com/remington-unp ... 00-ct.html