Reeder Custom Guns - Shooting The Old H&R This Morning

I got to messing around with the old H&R this morning, wanting to shoot it. I had noticed weeks ago that the 9mm case is just a tad shorter than the .38 S&W case. I pushed a .375" diameter round ball on the end of a 9mm case and dropped it in the chamber. Lo and behold it was the exact length that would be needed. So today I decided to shoot some of them.

I loaded one with 1.5 gr. Bullseye and fired it into a wadded up old flannel shirt. It was quite wimpy and did not even penetrate the cloth. So back to the shop and I loaded one with 2.0 gr. Bullseye. Fired into the shirt it still did not penetrate 1 layer of cloth. A fun load for shooting rats but I am not sure it would hurt them severely. Back to the loading bench and this time 2.6 gr. Bullseye. The report was more like a gun and the wadded up shirt was knocked off the table I had it on. Checking I found it penetrated 1 layer of cloth and dented the next layer. THIS would be a rat load!

None of the cartridges swelled out to the chamber at all. All 3 were smoked pretty well. I don't trust this old gun too much and don't plan on going any heavier right now. I may work up to 3 gr. in a couple steps, but I am not real sure I want to. It's more for fun than anything else.

Here's some photos of the steps during testing this morning.

9mm with .375" round ball .. lubed with grease
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Chambered it is just about perfect length.
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Fired, the hammer drives the case on into the chamber. Have to use a small rod to eject the cases.
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Fired .375" balls measure .359"
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recently with 32 S&W loads for an H&R Young America. The advantage being - 32 Browning brass has a small but useful rim. I think they call it "semi-rimmed" but anyway, it headspaces just fine in the old popper. Which is a good thing as the chambers are bored straight, no step to stop a roundball like in your 9mm loads.

--
I'm a peaceful man and prefer the pursuit of peaceful sports. Those involving teams and balls of any sort tend to be deleterious to one's body and promote violence by both spectators and participants.

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which is a heeled bullet. I rechambered an old Pocket positive for .32 S&W once and it worked fine. That "made" the stepped chamber as the cylinder throats and bore were around .312". While it crushed what little collector interest it had it truly opened up the usefulness to the point it overcame it's former value.

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it's stamped 32 S&W, but won't be able to check 'til I get back up there again. Swapped a Jennings 22 for it. The little H&R is one of the nicest ones I've ever seen. The kid who swapped it to me proof fired it with some 32 ACP ammo. No signs of damage, but we won't be doing that again. It's nicer than the old Young American in 22 Short a friend gave me back in the day. That one had been allowed to rust, especially the inside of the barrel (guessing corrosive and/or black powder loads waaay back when) but it cleaned up surprisingly well. It went down the river when I let a lady who wanted something handier than the old rifle she had for personal protection have it. She passed away recently, wonder if her kids have that old popper or not.

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a thin (semi-rimmed) .32 S&W Short. If it fits I'd agree it's not an original .32 Colt chamber. But unless it was some unique commonplace it should have a stepped chamber at either .32 S&W Short or .32 S&W Long case length. I cannot figure a simple ream job at the factory with common "chucking reamers" of straight configuration. But I'm open to about any theory these days.

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I'll give them to you next time I see you. You planning on the Spring Shoot at Clarksville?

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has asked me to do the wedding service. Hang onto them. They only increase in value.

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This year Doug is hopefully going to go with me and Stonecold and his lovely wife are slated to meet everyone.

It will almost spoil your fun but I need to get these factory loads to you, I have no use for them. They will only cause me trouble, likely S&W DA trouble, if they hang around much longer.

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They made .32 and .38 short Colt of late with heeled bullets. The .38 Long Colts I saw were hollow base inside case bullets, ditto the .41 Colts. I think I have some .44 Colt (late production) that are inside case bullets too. It fits in a .44 Special but I never looked close at the numerical dimensions or shot any. Looks like they'd shoot fine.

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The old pot metal Titan Tiger 38 spl I have.

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Shooting The Old H&R This Morning

Reminds me of some of my experiments

Sounds like it was chambered for .32 Colt

I'm pretty sure

Dimensionally I think the .32 ACP is close to being

I found a full box of .38 S&W in my kit!

No. My grand-daughter is getting married and ..

Well shoot, that's more important. We'll miss you

Think I may have half a box somewhere

The old heeled Colt rounds are hard to find

Here's the ones I found, won't fit in