Range Report - Sellier & Bellot 32 Colt New Police/32 S&W Long & Rem. 32 S&W Long

[Malysh]

My friend with the chronograph & I finally got to the range today to clock the two 32 long loads I found to shoot in my 1952 Colt Detective Special 32 Colt New Police revolver. See this thread for some background:
Fed Personal Defense 32 S&W Long ammo any better?

Here's the results for a 5 shot group of Remington 98 gr. and a 5 shot group of Sellier & Bellot 100 gr.

Remington 98 gr. lead round nose
Muzzle Velocity/ Ft. Lbs. Energy
652 f.p.s./ 93 ft.lbs.
689 f.p.s./ 103 ft.lbs.
678 f.p.s./ 100 ft.lbs.
677 f.p.s./ 100 ft.lbs.
703 f.p.s./ 108 ft.lb.s
Average muzzle velocity (5 shots) - 680 f.p.s.
Average foot lbs. of energy (5 shots) - 101 ft.lbs.


Sellier & Bellot 100 gr. lead flat point (round nose)
Muzzle Velocity/ Ft. Lbs. Energy
763 f.p.s./ 129 ft.lbs.
798 f.p.s./ 141 ft.lbs.
766 f.p.s./ 130 ft.lbs.
804 f.p.s./ 144 ft.lbs.
846 f.p.s./ 159 ft.lbs.
Average muzzle velocity (5 shots) - 795 f.p.s.
Average foot lbs. of energy (5 shots) - 140 ft.lbs.

I did some informal researching in various older reloading manuals that were hand-me-downs from my friend, including Speer, Hornady, etc., and the tables in the classic Smith's "Pistols and Revolvers of the World". The average/standard listing for the classic 32 Colt New Police and the identical S&W 32 Long rounds with 98 gr. bullets are 705 f.p.s. delivering 108 ft.lbs. of energy. Pretty anemic.

The S&B round was the highest velocity and ft.lbs. advertised anywhere on the internet compared to Remington, Winchester, Magtech, etc. The 2nd hotest performing brand advertised was the Magtech which one of our members recommended, but I did not purchase any of it.
Neither the Remington or the Sellier & Bellot shot quite as fast or delivered quite as much energy as they advertised at (which I expected). The Remington advertised at 705 f.p.s. and 115 ft. lbs. The Sellier & Bellot advertised at 886 f.p.s. and 174 ft.lbs. I expected both brands would chrono at a little less than advertised claims. My main interest in doing these tests were to see if the S&B ammo came close to their claims because the f.p.s. and ft.lbs. they claimed made the round a little more viable as a close range self defense rd. to me. After all, standard 38 Special goes at about 780 f.p.s. and gets about 195 ft.lbs. But, the 38 Special does have an advantage in a larger cross sectional density.

I am happy to report that the Sellier & Bellot ammo is indeed much "hotter" than any other brand's advertised claims, and is a better self defense round in this loading than the other ammo makers offer.
The figures I reported from the S&B ammo are definitely higher enough compared to the standard offerings citing well established averages for this old chambering. Therefore, to me it is worth buying instead of Remington, Winchester, etc. I initially ordered two boxes of 50 rds. I think I will order two more to make sure I have a good supply of it. It also has the added feature of having a flat nose for us Colt fans instead of the round nose profile of the S&W 32 long lead round nose that everybody else makes. But that adds nothing to performance, of course.

Tenths of decimals were rounded off from f.p.s. and ft.lbs. of energy for this casual report.

[bmcgilvray]

Good post with some useful data, Malysh. I've been thinking about the .32 S&W Long some lately, eying the loading dies and some SWCS I have on hand.

Here's some data I posted some time back of Aguila .32 S&W Long in a Colt, Smith & Wesson, and a Russian Nagant along with some other stuff I was testing at the time.
Chronograph Testing Some Long Colts, .41 AND .32

[guy sajer]

Thanks for your time and efforts . I'm betting this thread gets lots of views

[Colt-SL]

Great detail Malysh. I'm presuming that the figures were taken consecutively and as pressures slightly rose, so did each subsequent velocity number. Any leading in the barrel with those bullets at those velocities? Super good job!!

[Malysh]

Yup, the figures are sequential and consecutive in the the order in which they were fired.
I did not notice any leading during cleaning of the DS.

I liked the S&B ammo so much I bought two more boxes at a local gun show yesterday. It's not rare ammo, but try finding it in stock at a local gun shop.

[Malysh]

Great detail Malysh. I'm presuming that the figures were taken consecutively and as pressures slightly rose, so did each subsequent velocity number. Any leading in the barrel with those bullets at those velocities? Super good job!!

I am much more of a plain shooter and an accumulator of guns than I am versed about ballistics. Why does pressure rise after a few shots?

[Colt-SL]

I am much more of a plain shooter and an accumulator of guns than I am versed about ballistics. Why does pressure rise after a few shots?

They don't always. The only time I noticed consistent increases while chronographing handguns was with lead bullets in the 900-900+ fps range. Unburnt powder fouling and slight leading on the inside of the barrel seemed to cause slight pressure increases and higher velocities. It made me wonder here with velocities under that figure. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can shed some light on this.