If you're of the habit of periodically making the rounds at your local sporting goods retailers and have strolled the isles lately, you've doubtless taken note of the sharp increase that the price of store-bought ammunition has taken of late. At one of our premier "big box" stores here in Boise, A 500-round “value pack” of .22 long rifles that sold for $11.99 back before Christmas (2007) is now "on sale" for only $15.99 ("regularly $19.99", the sign says). The cheapest 50-round box of factory-loaded .45 Colt cowboy ammunition will set you back at least $30, compared to around $20 just a few months ago. CCI Blazer ammunition, that aluminum alloy-cased fodder that was once an economical choice for general plinking and informal target practice, has taken its place among high-end brass-cased ammo from the likes of Winchester, Federal and Remington. Even Sellier & Bellot, and Wolf (both Eastern European-manufactured, primarily full metal jacketed boxer-primed handgun ammunition), that once was about the cheapest factory ammo around, have taken substantial markups in recent weeks.
As a die-hard practitioner of hand loading and reloading since the mid ‘80’s, I've noticed of late a pronounced ache in my back pocket as the same establishments that sold a box of 500 Oregon Trail LaserCast® bullets (.452 diameter, 250 grain lead flat point) for around $40 last autumn jacked their prices up to over $70 for that same 500-count box in time for this year’s vernal equinox. As I write this, lead is trading at about $1.26 per pound, copper (the major component in both bullet jackets and cartridge brass) is going for about $3.87 a pound, and tin (alloyed with lead to increased hardness) commands more than $10 per one-pound bar. Primers have about doubled in price over the past 5 years, as has smokeless powder. Even with skyrocketing base metal prices and the steadily increasing costs of primers and powder taken into account, however, reloading is still the biggest bargain in town, and hand loading is a close second.
So how does the hand loader/reloader stretch his ever-tightening budget to maximize the per-shot savings over factory-loaded ammunition? One way (the way we’ll focus on herein) is to take good care of the re-usable components, of which there is pretty much only one: the empty brass cartridge case.
Modern ammunition comes to us from the various manufacturers primarily in brass cartridge cases stuffed with smokeless powder of one blend or another and topped with a projectile of some kind. Smokeless propellant cartridges typically don’t dirty up cartridge brass to an appreciable degree when fired, nor is their residue generally corrosive to brass. Once in a while – mostly in handgun calibers – the empties will come out with a smudge of what looks like candle soot running the length of the cartridge case on one side. The majority come out of the chamber(s) only slightly less shiny than they were before they were fired and cleaning them usually does little more than increase their cosmetic appeal (which appeals to me, which is one reason why I tumble every batch of brass before re-loading). All that is needed to produce reasonably clean, reloadable brass is to wipe them off with a soft, clean cloth (I prefer laundered cotton baby diapers). You may still have to wipe or spray the brass with an appropriate lubricant just before re-sizing, depending on whether your resizing die is standard or carbide. Bottle-necked handgun brass such as the .32.-20, 38.40, and .44-40 must be lubricated, as carbide sizing dies are not available for them.
Firing brass cartridges, re-sizing them, reloading them, and firing them again subjects the brass to mechanical stresses called “work hardening”. As the brass is work-hardened, it becomes more and more brittle and is subject to cracking, especially around the mouth of the case (where the expander ball flares it a bit to allow an easier start for the bullet as it enters the seating die). While revolver cartridges with case mouths cracks of 1-2 mm in length can usually be reloaded and safely fired using standard data and components, doing so almost always results in a linear full-length crack that means sticky extraction and the end of the line for that round of brass.
Let’s assume that I shell out $30 for a factory-fresh box of .45 Colt ammunition in its standard loading of a 255-grain lead bullet over some kind of smokeless powder and that when I reload it, I use standard components and published data that approximates the factory loading. It has been my experience that out of the 50 rounds of factory ammunition in that box, as many as 5 cracked cases will emerge from the first firing, for a 10% “crack rate”. Successive reloading and firing of the remaining crack-free brass from that box will generally result in between 10% and 20% cracked cases on the second firing. The crack rate goes up considerably after that, as high as 50% by the third firing. By the 4th firing, only a cylinder full or two of crackless brass may remain. So, after 4 firings, my original complement of 50 rounds of brass will have dwindled to 12, if I’m lucky. About now my back pocket is starting to ache again as I consider the prospect of laying down another 30 simoleons for a fresh box.
So I whip out the debit card and limp home with a box of 50 shiny new .45s in hand – same brand and bullet weight as before. I know from experience that at least 5 of them will crack on the first firing. Not much I can do about that. But there is something I can do to drive the crack rate way down on successive reloading/firing cycles. And that something is called annealing.
What annealing is, in short, is the even heating of the mouths of empty cartridge cases, typically through the application of an open flame (I use a propane brazing torch with the flame set very low). What it does is soften the work-hardened brass so it can be worked some more without as great a risk of cracking. Much has been written by our era’s most notable gun scribes about how to anneal brass cartridge cases. Most advocate the use of water to quench the heated cases or to keep the case heads reasonably cool while the case mouths are being flamed. If that works for them and they’re happy with the results, more power to ‘em.
My way of annealing is a bit different but it has worked very well over the 25 years or so that I’ve been doing it this way, so I see no reason to fix what ain’t broken. The process goes something like this: first, I tumble the brass until it’s clean and shiny. Then I inspect each case for cracks – those that have them get set aside, those that don’t go into a plastic bowl of sufficient size to hold the lot, from which I’ll pick them out one at a time for annealing. Once I set up the brazing torch, light it and set the flame where I want it, I pick an empty case out of the bowl, hold it gently by the rim with a pair of pliers, and rotate the case mouth evenly in the flame until a golden-brown ring forms about halfway down the case wall. I never allow the case mouth to become red hot, nor has it been my experience that heating them to that extent is necessary. Next, I release the case onto a clean cookie sheet that sits atop a wooden cutting board and repeat the process until all the non-cracked cases have been similarly treated. Once the annealed cases have cooled to room temperature, I either store them for future use or head on out to the garage and reload them on my RCBS Rock Chucker/Piggyback III progressive press.
Next time I fire this lot of .45’s, I know with a fair certainty that instead of 10% - 20% cracked cases, it’s likely there will be none. And if I anneal them again before the next loading cycle, I may not find a cracked case after the third firing – or even the fourth! I may still have 45 crackless cases out of the original 50! Beyond that, a crack or two will show up now and then, but at nowhere near the rate for non-annealed cases. Historically, some of my .45 cases have survived as many as 8 firing/annealing/reloading/firing cycles with no evidence of case mouth cracks. I have a number of cases (a couple hundred at least) that have been in service for two decades, and although they have not been subjected to constant firing and reloading during those years, they have served well in a number of my .45 revolvers and rifles and have remained crackless through repeated firings.
So, is annealing worth the time and trouble? I guess that depends on how deep your pockets are, and how much enjoyment you derive from creating your own custom-made ammunition from empty brass and new expendable components. There’s a satisfaction in that process – akin to alchemy – that comes from turning lead, brass, powder and primer into gold of a sort – the kind of gold that you save by not spending $30 for a fresh box of factory loads, the kind that stretches your shooting budget in meaningful ways. That works for me.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Wolf Gold .32ACP 71gr FMJ
Gun scribes I've read over the past 30 years mostly have given short shrift to the .32 ACP as a defensive handgun caliber, if they mentioned it at all. You know the drill: it's anemic, underpowered, a "mouse gun" - a handy thing to have with you when you're not carrying a gun. Yadda yadda. And, while it's sound advice for any who by choice or vocation lawfully carry a firearm to "bring enough gun" to cover one's bets when one goes heeled, circumstances may place dimensional restrictions on what "enough" gun is. Maybe it would be better to advise, "bring the most gun you can". On a crisp fall morning out in the piney woods that might mean a full-sized .44 magnum sheathed in a heavy leather cross draw or shoulder rig. Walking fido during the dog days of summer could argue in favor of a smaller, lighter-weight, more concealable platform tucked into the cargo pocket of your khaki shorts - something along the lines of one of those pint-sized, razor-thin, flat-sided .32's they make nowadays.
So you pays your money and takes your choices, and a .32 it is. If you're wise and responsible, you'll go practice with it - alot - until you can reliably hit a target of reasonable size from every reasonable shooting position at any reasonable distance. And you'll practice with the factory ammo you carry (or if you're a capable handloader, with carefully developed handloads that duplicate the factory stuff).
A wide variety of factory-loaded ammunition in just as wide a range of price, brand and bullet configuration is available for the .32 ACP. Hollow points, "hard ball" and high-end specialty rounds can all be had. Due diligence is required on the part of the shooter to fit the ammunition to the purpose, environment and circumstances in which it might (but hopefully never will) be pressed into service. Whichever round seems most closely to fit your specific requirements is most likely the one worthy of consideration. A no-brainer, right? Right.
I've tested a number of .32 ACP rounds of various brand and bullet type against such varied and menacing targets as angry cantaloupes, maruading plastic milk jugs full of water, hulking hunks of firewood, and plain old 25-yard slow-fire pistol targets. In general, hollow points give more dramatic results vis-a-vis expansion than does hard ball, but hard ball offers better penetration. Both dynamics are worthy of factoring into the equation when it comes to choosing the right round to carry. But the most important factor is neither expansion nor penetration. It's ignition; i.e., does the round go BANG! when you press the trigger, and is the round thereafter sent downrange with sufficient vigor to accomplish something worthwhile at the terminus of its flight. Therein lies the rub.
Just prior to a recent trip to the range, I laid out close to 30 clams for a couple of boxes of Wolf-brand "Gold" .32 ACP ammo in the 71 grain FMJ configuration. I had it in mind to see how they stacked up against the hollow point fodder from Speer, Magtech and Federal that I'd been practicing with up until then. The Serbian-made Wolf ammo wasn't particularly cheap - in fact, as I recall it was about the same or slightly more costly than its American-made counterparts. One never knows when one will happen across a pill more easily digested by a sometimes finicky sub-compact autoloader, however, and since I hadn't yet tried Wolf handgun ammunition in any caliber, I thought it a worthwhile exercise to give it a shot, as it were. I'm glad I did, because now I know that the Wolf can't be trusted to hold up its end of the bargain.
Out of 100 rounds I sent downrange, at least 10% were squibs - noticeably underpowered - so much so with one in fact that I unloaded the magazine, cleared the chamber and checked the tube to be sure the bullet had in fact found its way out of the muzzle. Another 10% were hot loads by sound and feel, probably bumping up against the ragged edge of what a "proof" load would be like to touch off. The rest fell somewhere in between, and seldom were any two alike in terms of report, accuracy or felt recoil. Thus by such experiments do we live and learn. But we are not amused.
So, from here on out, no more wolves in the magazine, whether for practice or for carry. Oh, I'll reload the empty Wolf cases with 71 grain FMJs using data from one of the big-name manuals and use the reloads for plinking and for range practice - that's a fact. But I wouldn't trust my life to a Wolf, and that is also a fact.
Post Script: Reloading the Wolf .32ACP brass went off much more reliably than did the factory-built ammunition from whence it arose. Each backed by a Winchester small pistol primer, 3.2 grains of Alliant Power Pistol, and topped with a Mag Tech 71 grain full metal jacket bullet, 50 re-invigorated Wolf cartridge cases rolled off my RCBS Rock Chucker/Piggyback III progressive combo in a leisurely 15 minutes, using RCBS carbide dies. A single factory primer that (apparently) stuck to the decapping pin and got re-seated with the priming stroke constituted the only fly in the ointment and was easily remedied.
The reloads performed flawlessly. Accuracy was far better than had been expected. Shot-to-shot uniformity in terms of report, felt recoil, extraction and ejection was excellent, indistinguishable from Mag Tech or Winchester FMJ factory loads.
The long and short of it stacks up like this: while I can't recommend Wolf .32 ACP ammunition for reliability out of the box, their brass cartridge cases reload as good as any. So, if the Wolf is holed up in your stores of ammo and you have the where with all to reload it, go punch some paper with the factory stuff. Then, depending upon where your .32 shucks the empties, you'll have the beginnings of some reliable ammo laying at your feet.
So you pays your money and takes your choices, and a .32 it is. If you're wise and responsible, you'll go practice with it - alot - until you can reliably hit a target of reasonable size from every reasonable shooting position at any reasonable distance. And you'll practice with the factory ammo you carry (or if you're a capable handloader, with carefully developed handloads that duplicate the factory stuff).
A wide variety of factory-loaded ammunition in just as wide a range of price, brand and bullet configuration is available for the .32 ACP. Hollow points, "hard ball" and high-end specialty rounds can all be had. Due diligence is required on the part of the shooter to fit the ammunition to the purpose, environment and circumstances in which it might (but hopefully never will) be pressed into service. Whichever round seems most closely to fit your specific requirements is most likely the one worthy of consideration. A no-brainer, right? Right.
I've tested a number of .32 ACP rounds of various brand and bullet type against such varied and menacing targets as angry cantaloupes, maruading plastic milk jugs full of water, hulking hunks of firewood, and plain old 25-yard slow-fire pistol targets. In general, hollow points give more dramatic results vis-a-vis expansion than does hard ball, but hard ball offers better penetration. Both dynamics are worthy of factoring into the equation when it comes to choosing the right round to carry. But the most important factor is neither expansion nor penetration. It's ignition; i.e., does the round go BANG! when you press the trigger, and is the round thereafter sent downrange with sufficient vigor to accomplish something worthwhile at the terminus of its flight. Therein lies the rub.
Just prior to a recent trip to the range, I laid out close to 30 clams for a couple of boxes of Wolf-brand "Gold" .32 ACP ammo in the 71 grain FMJ configuration. I had it in mind to see how they stacked up against the hollow point fodder from Speer, Magtech and Federal that I'd been practicing with up until then. The Serbian-made Wolf ammo wasn't particularly cheap - in fact, as I recall it was about the same or slightly more costly than its American-made counterparts. One never knows when one will happen across a pill more easily digested by a sometimes finicky sub-compact autoloader, however, and since I hadn't yet tried Wolf handgun ammunition in any caliber, I thought it a worthwhile exercise to give it a shot, as it were. I'm glad I did, because now I know that the Wolf can't be trusted to hold up its end of the bargain.
Out of 100 rounds I sent downrange, at least 10% were squibs - noticeably underpowered - so much so with one in fact that I unloaded the magazine, cleared the chamber and checked the tube to be sure the bullet had in fact found its way out of the muzzle. Another 10% were hot loads by sound and feel, probably bumping up against the ragged edge of what a "proof" load would be like to touch off. The rest fell somewhere in between, and seldom were any two alike in terms of report, accuracy or felt recoil. Thus by such experiments do we live and learn. But we are not amused.
So, from here on out, no more wolves in the magazine, whether for practice or for carry. Oh, I'll reload the empty Wolf cases with 71 grain FMJs using data from one of the big-name manuals and use the reloads for plinking and for range practice - that's a fact. But I wouldn't trust my life to a Wolf, and that is also a fact.
Post Script: Reloading the Wolf .32ACP brass went off much more reliably than did the factory-built ammunition from whence it arose. Each backed by a Winchester small pistol primer, 3.2 grains of Alliant Power Pistol, and topped with a Mag Tech 71 grain full metal jacket bullet, 50 re-invigorated Wolf cartridge cases rolled off my RCBS Rock Chucker/Piggyback III progressive combo in a leisurely 15 minutes, using RCBS carbide dies. A single factory primer that (apparently) stuck to the decapping pin and got re-seated with the priming stroke constituted the only fly in the ointment and was easily remedied.
The reloads performed flawlessly. Accuracy was far better than had been expected. Shot-to-shot uniformity in terms of report, felt recoil, extraction and ejection was excellent, indistinguishable from Mag Tech or Winchester FMJ factory loads.
The long and short of it stacks up like this: while I can't recommend Wolf .32 ACP ammunition for reliability out of the box, their brass cartridge cases reload as good as any. So, if the Wolf is holed up in your stores of ammo and you have the where with all to reload it, go punch some paper with the factory stuff. Then, depending upon where your .32 shucks the empties, you'll have the beginnings of some reliable ammo laying at your feet.
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