Interesting Die Label

lizziedog1 · March 8, 2006, 10:50 PM

I have a set Lee reloading dies in .32S&W. I was looking at the sizing die and it has this inscription on it: 32A/S&W. That is the exact phrase. That made me wonder what the "A" stood for. I thought it might stand for auto. I found a spent .32ACP round. I ran it through this sizing die. It went in, the primer popped, all without any effort at all. Now, the other dies in the set do not have the "A" marking on them.

Do you suppose that Lee usues the same resizing die for both the .32ACP and the .32S&W?

Jim Watson · March 8, 2006, 11:02 PM

Yup.

lizziedog1 · March 8, 2006, 11:11 PM

JIM WATSON
Thanks. Do you think that the other dies would work in reloading the
.32ACP? Will the belling and seating die work?

You would think that the sizing die would be the most critical one.

Leftoverdj · March 8, 2006, 11:23 PM

More than that. It'll work for .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Mag, too. With care, you can use it as a neck sizer to cobble up a box or two of ammo for a slew of milsurp stuff you might not want to buy proper dies for.

Before Lee drove the price of dies down, dies could cost as much as twice the cost of a milsurp rifle, and a lot of improvising went on.

lizziedog1 · March 8, 2006, 11:34 PM

LEFTOVERDJ
So, with the Lee .32S&W dies I can safely reload .32ACP ammo? The bullets are the same for both rounds. I would actually have all the components I need to start it up. Any trick or just go?

Leftoverdj · March 9, 2006, 10:43 AM

You may need a different shellholder, but the dies will work. The real problem is metering the powder. Charges are tiny, and don't allow much variation. I don't load .32 ACP, just noted that I could when I read the instructions with my dies, but have had problems with some other bitty cartridges. You'll pretty much have to use a ball powder. I use a MicroDisk kit with a Lee AutoDisk for this. My Uniflow is too erratic with the very small charges.

It's tricky even to weigh every charge. The scale sensitivity is close to the available margin of error. Takes a certain amount of weight to make the scale move so there is a built in possible error of a tenth of a grain or so.

March 8, 2006, 10:50 PM	#1
lizziedog1 Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2005 Posts: 289	Interesting Die Label I have a set Lee reloading dies in .32S&W. I was looking at the sizing die and it has this inscription on it: 32A/S&W. That is the exact phrase. That made me wonder what the "A" stood for. I thought it might stand for auto. I found a spent .32ACP round. I ran it through this sizing die. It went in, the primer popped, all without any effort at all. Now, the other dies in the set do not have the "A" marking on them. Do you suppose that Lee usues the same resizing die for both the .32ACP and the .32S&W?

March 8, 2006, 11:02 PM	#2
Jim Watson Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 18,541	Yup.

March 8, 2006, 11:11 PM	#3
lizziedog1 Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2005 Posts: 289	JIM WATSON Thanks. Do you think that the other dies would work in reloading the .32ACP? Will the belling and seating die work? You would think that the sizing die would be the most critical one.

March 8, 2006, 11:23 PM	#4
Leftoverdj Senior Member Join Date: October 15, 2004 Posts: 934	More than that. It'll work for .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Mag, too. With care, you can use it as a neck sizer to cobble up a box or two of ammo for a slew of milsurp stuff you might not want to buy proper dies for. Before Lee drove the price of dies down, dies could cost as much as twice the cost of a milsurp rifle, and a lot of improvising went on.

March 8, 2006, 11:34 PM	#5
lizziedog1 Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2005 Posts: 289	LEFTOVERDJ So, with the Lee .32S&W dies I can safely reload .32ACP ammo? The bullets are the same for both rounds. I would actually have all the components I need to start it up. Any trick or just go?

March 9, 2006, 10:43 AM	#6
Leftoverdj Senior Member Join Date: October 15, 2004 Posts: 934	You may need a different shellholder, but the dies will work. The real problem is metering the powder. Charges are tiny, and don't allow much variation. I don't load .32 ACP, just noted that I could when I read the instructions with my dies, but have had problems with some other bitty cartridges. You'll pretty much have to use a ball powder. I use a MicroDisk kit with a Lee AutoDisk for this. My Uniflow is too erratic with the very small charges. It's tricky even to weigh every charge. The scale sensitivity is close to the available margin of error. Takes a certain amount of weight to make the scale move so there is a built in possible error of a tenth of a grain or so.