Good evening,
I have a Colt revolver chambered in 32 Colt New Police. I rarely fire this gun. However, I now have no loaded 32 Colt New Police ammo and about 200 piece of empty, properly head-stamped brass. I want to handload some ammo using the properly head-stamped brass. If anyone can help, I have few questions:
1. Most of the brass I have is balloon head. My Lee dies are having a hard time decapping some but not all of the balloon head brass. I am thinking the flash hole is small on these pieces. Does that make sense? Does balloon head brass use a small flash hole?
2. Data is scarce. I have two printed sources. Both indicate that 32 Colt New Police is the same as 32 S&W Long. Neither source makes any mention of balloon head brass used in the data. Do I need to make any adjustments to the data for balloon head brass and smokeless powder or should I just not use the balloon head brass?
Thanks for the help,
Mark

I know nothing of loading for a .32, but Skeeter Skelton use to write about .32's and loading balloon head cases for .44 specials. A search of his articles might help enlighten you. Good luck.

They were mixed in with a bag o' brass that I picked up at a show. They were discovered when they kept pulling the decapping pin out of the stem during resizing. Really put a hitch in the rhythm. I no longer recall which cartridge case they were but maybe .38S&W?

As for loading, the only cautions I've ever seen were regarding the relative strength of the cases due to both design and age manifested causes (mercuric primers, embrittlement, etc.) If it were up to me, I'd go with some pretty sedate loads and see what happens.

I'VE LOADED A LOT OF BALLOON HEAD BRASS IN .44 SPECIAL, .4-40, .45 COLT,.44 RUSSIAN ONLY TO SEE WHAT THE OLDER LOADS WOULD D ESPECIALLY WITH KEITH'S LOADS AND WITH BLACK POWDER. ..

I can be of no help with the 32 NP, but I am loading a lot of 200 balloon head 45 Colt cases. These are mixed Rem-UMC, Western and Winchester. They work just fine, except the cases don't have the extractor groove and that makes the rim quite small and most 45 Colt shell holders don't work well.

I deprime with a Lyman 310 tool and have not noticed and small flash holes. I size the cases using an older Lyman Shell Resizer which does away with the need for a shell holder in a press. The rest of the loading operations are done with the 310 tool.

The cases will roll snake eyes and when that happens, into the trash they go. I keep the loads on the mild factory load side, using 6.2/Bullseye under a 260 grain cast bullet. Works for me. There really is no need to load these old cases, unless you are an old school nut like me. These are shot in my 1921 Colt New Service revolver.

Thank you for the replies. I will keep you all posted.