oddball chambering, can use ideas

[BHJ]

I picked up a very old Stevens Favorite boys gun a while back chambered in .32 shot. Yes that's no typo shot not short and it's a smoothbore. It's an old obsolete black powder rimfire cartridge. The hang tag said curio and relic ammo not available so I took that as a challenge and figured It would keep me busy for a while.
So far I have located some brass from Dixie gun works that is supposed to be used with a .310 round ball. It has an offset primer pocket that uses a .22 starter pistol crimp for ignition. It is turned from bar stock and is pretty pricy as far as brass goes. I found some load data online for the black powder .32 rimfire and since black powder is relatively low pressure I'm comfortable with it. I have loaded 10gr of fffg behind a wad made from egg crate, (A .30 cal gas check was too big to fit in the brass) topped with a 70gr load of #9 shot encapsulated in a hand rolled tube of typing paper. I have also tried using a drinking straw (looks great) to contain the shot but it leaves the muzzle as more or less one piece and doesn't pattern. I'm also scared of melting plastic in the brass or barrel.
I have a couple of experimental ideas for working around the rimfire problem if I can find a suitable centerfire parent case. I'm thinking I could bore out the primer pocket to accept a .25 or .27 rimfire ramset charge used to drive nails in concrete which should provide a rimfire charge that the firing pin can strike and should drive my 70gr shot load quite well.

The dimensions of the current brass I'm using is .760 long, outside diameter of .315, Inside diameter of .285, the rim diameter is .375. if the brass was longer it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all as my OAL is 1.65".

Anyone with suggestions on a parent case that may fit or input on components that may help recreating this obsolete cartridge are welcome.
Yeah I did it, but their has got to be an easier way.
Pictures left to right
.38 special, .32 rimfire milled from bar stock,.32 rimfire shot experimental with drinking straw, .32 rimfire shot paper, .410 2 1/2" handgun load, .410 3" high brass birdshot
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Any and all help appreciated. Thanks BHJ

 

[JHV2]

That's pretty close to a 32 short colt isn't it?
neck diameter .313
base diameter .318
rim diameter .374
Length ~.95?

I may be way off but if you had the chamber bored just a tiny bit couldn't you use some trimmed S&W long? What's the barrel bore?

 

[RET E-7]

May have to switch the hammer out.
Not familiar with that model.
Might be able to make the switch and find you a part at E-guns (Numrich) http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Models.aspx?catid=386

Starline sells 32 long brass but I do not see you buying 500 pieces.

Tom

 

[BHJ]

Yeah pretty close to .32 short colt which is also classified as obsolete. It can be found but is not readily available. I wish I could find a couple of pieces to play with without spending a fortune or winding up with more stuff I cant use.
I've had an old school smith that has just about done it all and is quite skilled at making parts give er a look and switching it over to centerfire actually gets really complicated real quick. A barrel swap to .22 rimfire wont work because of the firing pin location. all of these things would take away from the authenticity of the original piece as well but thanks for the suggestions. Reaming a hair out of the chamber would probably be the best/easiest solution but I'm still not sure using a ramset charge in a centerfire case will work and you cant put the metal back.
The OAL I've listed is just where the crimp wound up after I loaded it and I'm sure longer would be no problem. getting rid of the paper and using a longer solid brass cartridge would be far preferable as the shells I'm building are fragile and labor intensive.
I have not done a cerro safe cast to get the true chamber dimensions but the brass I obtained from DGW does fit and fire.
If you see a guy at the local hardware or gun store walking around measuring everything in sight with a pair of calipers It's probably me.
Thanks for the suggestions and keep em coming.

 

[loadnplenty]

32 acp is semi rimmed, might not hold in your chamber but probably worth trying.

 

[BHJ]

Too fat, thought I really had something when a buddy gave me a .32 h&R mag to try but it also was too fat.