Ed,
Yes, Federal 327 brass. I bought the brass from Freedom Arms ”€œ as far as I know they are they only one selling bulk 327 brass.
I'll post some on the Freedom Arms 327 thread as the Ruger Blackhawk and the Freedom Arms guns are unique in their strength.
My wife and I started shooting the 32H&R Magnum right after the Ruger Single Six appeared. At the time we were living in San Antonio and there were a number of silhouette shooters and handgun varminters jumping on the 32 Magnum. We all overloaded the cartridge in the beginning with their being two distinct groups of shooters. The first group tried light bullets, 100-grains and lighter, at the highest velocities possible. The second group tried the heaviest bullets possible, we were looking for velocities as close to 1,300 fps as possible ”€œ we could not get there.
We had problems with the early Federal 32 H&R Magnum brass. The empty brass was not available in bulk, only in the 50 round Federal boxes. A gun store named Drury's was kind enough to stock it in case quantities for us. Drury's was the only outlet I ever found for Federal, empty, unprimed 32 H&R Magnum brass and we sure appreciated Drury's for stocking it. What we did not appreciate was the cost, $9.00 for 50 cases,
Our problems were the brass exhibited an epidemic of vertical splits up the case body, often on the first shot using published load data.
With our tendency to overload the cartridge we had quite a problem with expanded primer pockets. With our initial reliance on Alliant 2400 we experienced many expanded primer pockets using heavy for the caliber ”€œ over 115-grain ”€œ bullets.
Some of our Ruger and Charter Arms handguns and the TC barrels did have rather large chambers at the pressure ring and these cases would swell just above the case web. The cases looked odd even after full length sizing. Many Rugers and the K-frame S&W revolvers had close chambering and the cases did not swell at the pressure ring. We experienced the same case loss due to body splits and this was frustrating considering the price of the cases. The custom revolvers I have seen were close chambered and they experienced the same body splits and expanded primer pockets with the early Federal cases.
I have a few of these cases with primer pockets not punched through. There is a hole and they probably let enough light through to get past the inspection process.
I find the 32 H&R Magnum more useful for the smaller critters we hunt around our property. My wife is sensitive to tearing the critter in to rather than just a killing shot.
The 327 Federal exhibits serious expansion with 100-grain and lighter jacketed bullet. We use the 327 Federal for the heavier bullets and use the cartridge for raccoon and porcupine. With the fires in our area we are overrun with displaced, hungry critters. The 125-grain NEI bullets seem to be ideal for the 327 Blackhawk and GP 100. We originally envisioned the 32 Magnum in this role and were initially disappointed the Magnum would not handle the heavy bullets at high speed.
We have changed our opinion and now find the 100-grain and lighter cast bullets driven to 850 to 950 fps to be about ideal killers, while not cutting the animal in two and making a mess in the back yard.
I have been studying the pre-WWII thoughts of F.C. Ness and Al Barr on small game cartridges, particularly the 32 Long rimfire and the 25 Steven. I believe there is room for these cartridges today but it is a small market. The trajectory of the bunny gun loads limits us to a 75-yard point blank range and this is not attractive to shooters used to today's varmint cartridges.
