How many calibers is too many

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racer265
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How many calibers is too many

Post by racer265 »

Thinking about picking up a 32 caliber revolver. They just seem interesting and I have been looking at them for awile now..
>>>>>BUT>>>>>>
I am already loading for 380, 9mm. 40 sw, 45 acp, 38 spl ,357 mag, 7,62x54, 7.62x39, 30-30, 308, and very soon 223. If I get a 32 cal revolver I would reload for it also as the ammo is very expensive comparatively. SO when does it stop? MY load bench already looks like an ammo factory..
SMMAssociates
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by SMMAssociates »

Racer:

You stop when the bench self-destructs due to the weight. Or buy a new bench.... :D

In my case, the Dillon wants $300-ish to add a caliber, which could be fatal if the wife ever figures out how much I spent on the thing thus far. She liked the idea that I was saving a pile on the reloads v.s. getting range loads from the local gun pusher. But since the prices have dropped a bit since I started (October 2012) it's more fun than savings.

'Course, none of my calibers are exotic. 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP, thus far.... I need to add .38Spl one of these days.... I more or less only shoot pistols, and while I have .380 guns, I don't shoot them enough to even justify the cost to me, let alone the wife :) .... (I'd like to add .45LC and .44Spl and Magnum, too, but then I'd have to buy guns to go with 'em. The wife knows how to shoot, and where at least one gun is.... :mrgreen: )

One of my buddies offered me a shotgun shell press. I have a shotgun, at least, but....

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Stu.

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Sevens
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by Sevens »

In my experience... it does not stop. I kind of got to a point where I thought I had "enough" also, but then added a new one in December. And the one I added was a real oddball and my first true Wildcat.

I think that as long as you continue to enjoy it and you don't turn it in to a chore, adding the next one is almost a natural development.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: How many calibers is too many

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Brian D.
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by Brian D. »

I added a bunch of calibers over years of various handgun/3gun competition. Now that I mostly just shoot on my own, or with a small group of friends whose skills match/exceed mine, haven't added any new flavors to the mix for a long spell. But it's not like I want to sell off any die sets, either. When I retire from full time work, will probably dust off some of those less-used guns, and will need to make something for them to run on.
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by bkb »

Holding steady at four, but I get tempted too.
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budman70
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by budman70 »

I do right around dozen. I started with 57x28 after I bought the gun and discovered there was no ammo for it at that time. Then just started adding since I enjoy loading. It's like knitting for men. lol
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evan price
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by evan price »

The BEAUTIFUL thing about the 32 caliber is very often the same dies can be used to load for 32 ACP, 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R Magnum & 327 Federal Magnum. So by opening your mind to one new caliber, you are actually now opening up to FIVE new calibers. (And yes, one cast bullet can be made to work for all five!)
Imagine how many firearms you can now look at acquiring if you have ammo loading available.

Besides, I greatly enjoy shooting and loading 32 S&W Long, the little "I" & "J"- frame Smith & Wessons that shoot it, and the small frame Colts, like the Police Positive 32 and 32 Detective Specials too!
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by mreising »

evan price wrote:The BEAUTIFUL thing about the 32 caliber is very often the same dies can be used to load for 32 ACP, 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, 32 H&R Magnum & 327 Federal Magnum. So by opening your mind to one new caliber, you are actually now opening up to FIVE new calibers. (And yes, one cast bullet can be made to work for all five!)
Imagine how many firearms you can now look at acquiring if you have ammo loading available.

Besides, I greatly enjoy shooting and loading 32 S&W Long, the little "I" & "J"- frame Smith & Wessons that shoot it, and the small frame Colts, like the Police Positive 32 and 32 Detective Specials too!
Good Points Evan. Just a caution to those that load multiple versions of 32: The 32 ACP will fit into a 32 S&W cylinder and it can be fired, which is bad as it is a higher pressure round than the older 32 S&W rounds. So, pay attention to which ammo you're using and don't mix them up. We had a student show up at class with an old 32 S&W chambered revolver, don't remember the manufacturer but possibly an old Iver Johnson, and she had 2.5 boxes of 32 ACP which she had purchased a a local gun store. Before she showed up at class, she had shot half of one box through that gun without any obvious ill effects. We kept her from using it in class, had her shoot one of our guns, and we bought the ammo from her to use in our Beretta Tom Cat. I always explained the possibility of fitting a semi-rimmed 32 ACP into a 32 S&W chamber during my ammo lecture, and that it could have potentially disastrous effects and should not be done; apparently the store clerk had not attended that lecture.
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racer265
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by racer265 »

Well as far as the load bench crumbling to the floor...UM that already happened. and I was able to scrounge up a solid surface counter top that was 18 inches deep and made a very nice looking bench out of it. Now it will probable hold TONS :twisted: of components....

Evan, That's what I'm talking about if I go down the 32 road I WILL end up with all the available calibers.....I am the kind of guy who finds brass on the ground at the range and then decides to buy a gun for it cause you can't let that good brass go to waste........ I really like the smith j frame revolvers in 32 sw long though..
racer265
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by racer265 »

SMMA....I left out the shotshell press ... Been working on some smoking 20GA turkey loads lately...Man I got too much stuff.
The German
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by The German »

It's like with women - who wants to settle with just a few in the collection :D (and yes, I surely hope my wife will never read this comment :P )
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Re: How many calibers is too many

Post by Sevens »

Sometimes it isn't necessarily about adding a caliber but the net result is similar. Bout a year and a half ago, I came upon a phenomenal Smith & Wesson pre-Model 10 K-frame that had been skillfully crafted in to a PPC revolver. As the meat & potatoes of these conversions is a sublime and very light double action trigger pull, the action had been skillfully cleaned up, tuned, springs lightened and mass was subtracted from the hammer by removing the spur.

Hand in hand with the incredible trigger pull you end up with is that the hammer simply has no chance to hit with the same authority of a stock, untouched double-action S&W revolver. So you either have to add more energy to that hammer to shoot "any" ammo, or you move to using the softest primers available on the market so that you reliably get a BANG every time and never a "click."

So that is what I did...
I bought a few thousand Federal small pistol primers and went to work developing loads specifically for that one revolver in my safe. And it's been worth every bit of energy. :)

Last November...
Had to do it again when I finally took the plunge and bought a Smith & Wesson Model 52-2 pistol. This is a very specialized target pistol that wasn't simply available in just one caliber -- but it runs on just one particular LOAD in a caliber. The pistol will only feed, fire, extract and eject a .38 Special full wadcutter, flush-loaded to the end of the cartridge case. And in all my years at the bench, I never had occasion to craft full wadcutter loads, but with this pistol -- I absolutely must do that.

So these two ventures were very much like "adding another caliber" to my bench. The brass and the dies are the same, but all else is different. And I have been focusing on two particular headstamps to simply make it far easier to keep components segregated for clarity.

Let me just close this by saying...
If you are a handloader and you have the ability to roll full wadcutter .38 Special loads... the Smith & Wesson Model 52 "38 Master" is a handgun you need to explore. If you haven't looked in to one of these pistols -- if you have never had one in your hands to feel the fitting, the build quality, the trigger and trigger reset... well, I think you've cheated yourself thus far. Go find a S&W 52 and investigate it. You may thank me later. :wink:
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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