Paul Harrell: Top 5 Tips for Training During the Ammo Shortage

 Some tips if you find yourself low on ammo:

Loaded Some .32 Smith & Wesson Longs

 Today I loaded up 50 rounds of .32 Smith & Wesson Long. My recipe today was:

• Mixed brass, mostly Fiocchi
• Sellier & Bellot small pistol primers
• 2.7 grains of Alliant Bullseye powder
• 96 grain round nose flat point bullet from Desperado Cowboy Bullets

Actually, since I used a RNFP bullet, I could call them .32 Colt New Police loads. :)

   

I ran into an issue priming the cases, however. I generally use a Lee hand priming tool, but today it decided it didn't like the combination of Fiocchi brass and S&B primers. Fiocchi brass tends to have snug primer pockets. I would up using my antique Ideal tool for .32 S&W to prime the cases. It's slow, but it works.

According to the data I have from Loaddata.com, this should give about 910 FPS from a 4" barrel. I'll probably shoot this batch from my Ruger Single Six Vacquero, chambered in .32 H&R Magnum.

I have plans to head to a friend's place tomorrow to burn it up.

RCBS Little Dandy Powder Measure

 I’m a fan of the RCBS Little Dandy powder measure, which uses small, fixed-capacity rotors for volumetric measuring. I use it when loading smokeless in .32 S&W Long, .38 Special, .38 WCF, and .44 WCF.

I recently picked up a storage block for the rotors from an eBay vendor. It’s made from red oak and will allow me to keep the rotors more organized.

Link to the eBay listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Oak-Storage-Block-for-RCBS-Little-Dandy-Powder-Measure-Rotors/254740430297

The dimensions of the block are ~7.5” x 4.75” and with the rotors in it, about 2.75” tall. I ran out to Lowe’s today and picked up a small toolbox that holds the storage block in the bottom and the measure on the top tray. There’s plenty of room left in the toolbox for related items. E.g., you could easily fit a pocket-sized electronic scale in it.