Indians For Guns

I was wondering what sort of carry/defensive ammunition was available in India? The. 32 S&W Long remains a popular caliber in India apparently? Do you have just round nose lead ammo or are hollow points available? If not do people modify standard rounds by filing the tips, cutting notches, reloading the bullets backwards etc?

Hi Gatorfarmer,

Welcome to IFG. I hope you introduced yourself in the specific section.

Reloading centre fire cartridges is officially prohibited in India and primers, cases, bullets etc are not sold anywhere. But some people and gunsmiths reload secretly.

.32 ACP and .32 S&W Long remain the most popular cartridges mainly because they manufactured in India.
.22 remains a popular bore for the same reason though most people do not consider it for carry.
.25, which again is not made in India, remains popular because the weapons are small and many were brought into the country before the ban on import in the 80s.

Beyond this, any Indian can carry anything as long as the caliber is not prohibited and available.
I just give one example, a friend of mine who has a .357 revolver has to hunt for cartridges across the country. If he is lucky and the cartridges look fresh on the surface then he pays anything between Rs 450 and 600 for one BANG... One USD is equal to Rs 53 /Rs 54.. please calculate

Cheers

TC

TC,

Not quite - reloading is not prohibited, an arms license holder may reload legally, but since no dies, presses, consumables, etc. are sold, it's pretty much moot!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

Can you make your own reloading tools? Is the commercial ammo loaded with boxer or berdan primers? Is it legal to bring in something like a Lee loader?

I wondered about the 32s since it used to be common to modify .38 and .32 round nose lead bullets in hopes of making them better "stoppers ". I had wondered if a lack of hollowpoints had led to this practice continuing in India. The theory was that flat point bullets caused more severe wounds. A modern example is the flat nose CCI SGB - small game bullet - 22 lr offering.

I ended up owning a pair of 32s and thought the continued popularity of this chambering in India might have led to old tactics and tricks continuing and maybe new ones evolving.

I suppose you could bring in a Lee loader but neither primers, powder or bullets are available for purchase on the open market.

With a .32 ACP or .32 S&W long, you are looking at a very low amount of energy delivered. Being that both cartridges are relatively anaemic, I would think you would want FMJ to maximize penetration. If you flat point the bullets, you might not get adequate penetration, especially through clothing. If your point is sufficiently flat or the projectile breaks apart on impact, you're looking at a nasty surface wound and an inability to penetrate to the vitals.

Please also note that most handgun owners in India are limited to a very small ammo quota per year. It doesn't give one the chance to experiment much.

Gatorfarmer wrote:I was wondering what sort of carry/defensive ammunition was available in India? The. 32 S&W Long remains a popular caliber in India apparently? Do you have just round nose lead ammo or are hollow points available? If not do people modify standard rounds by filing the tips, cutting notches, reloading the bullets backwards etc?

friend,
most of us carry .32 because it is easily availabe npb catridge.some carry .22 and .25.
hollow points are found rarely in .22 but not in other calibers.
reloading shot gun catridges are easily done,but not for rifle catridges.
regards
dr.jk

Once a gunsmith told me that reloading of shotgun shells will cause rust and pitting inside the barrel as the gun powder is not smokeless.Is it true?.Can we do reloading (shotgun shells) without causing any pitting of barrel?
Is reloading of shotgun shells legal and if any prior permission is required from authorities for reloading shotgun shells?

Regards
Renjith

renjith747 wrote:Once a gunsmith told me that reloading of shotgun shells will cause rust and pitting inside the barrel as the gun powder is not smokeless.Is it true?.Can we do reloading (shotgun shells) without causing any pitting of barrel?
Is reloading of shotgun shells legal and if any prior permission is required from authorities for reloading shotgun shells?

Regards
Renjith

O guess since smokeless powder is impossible to find in India, they are loading shells with blackpowder. Blackpowder is more corrosive than smokeless but not that much as they say, if you clean and oil your shotgun after you shoot regularly it shouldn't be an issue. I'd like to know where to find shotgun primers in India and BBB mold since buckshots are illegal.

Once a gunsmith told me that reloading of shotgun shells will cause rust and pitting inside the barrel as the gun powder is not smokeless.Is it true?

If it is true or not , I do not know and to tell the truth , I do not care .

Black powder is easy to clean with inexpensive , easy to find products . If it was so corrosive we would not be shooting 250-300 years old guns today .

Reloading black powder shotgun cartridges is a very interesting topic Here in North East America it is done
by collectors and hunters who love old firearms .

Just check the prices , nobody would like to see their investment rust away

http://www.vintagedoubles.com/catalog/?sort=1

http://www.gunsinternational.com/Antiqu ... cat_id=593


Information for reloading black powder cartridges

http://www.muzzleloader.co.za/breach_loads.html

Priyan wrote:]
O guess since smokeless powder is impossible to find in India, they are loading shells with blackpowder. Blackpowder is more corrosive than smokeless but not that much as they say, if you clean and oil your shotgun after you shoot regularly it shouldn't be an issue. I'd like to know where to find shotgun primers in India and BBB mold since buckshots are illegal.

Actually cleaning black-powder residue with oil is a part of the problem. The chemical composition of the residue is not oil soluble so traces of it may remain to initiate corrosion.

Same with corrosive primers/caps (In India, most often Potassium Chlorate based). Mercury Fulminate based primers may result in brittleness of brass parts/caps.

The gunk, however, is water soluble. So a good swabbing with hot soapy water ought to be the simplest and initial step in BP related maintenance. After drying out, the usual oiling should keep passive corrosion at bay. Proprietary water based/soluble solvents like some in the Hoppes No9 line up, are equally useful.

regards,
cc

The gunk, however, is water soluble. So a good swabbing with hot soapy water ought to be the simplest and initial step in BP related maintenance. After drying out, the usual oiling should keep passive corrosion at bay.

What is gunpowder ? ..... or rather what was it centuries ago ....

Carbon , as in BBQ meat

Sulphur , as in white wine or in cabbage

Potassium Nitrate or Saltpeter , as in sausage and delicatessen meat ( OK , this is an European point of view.... ) also used in some toothpaste .

Just to show that old recipe of black powder was , if not edible , it was non toxic .

Those chemical products all dissolve in water , dish washing detergent helps a little , here in
Québec we may add à little automobile windshield ( wind screen ? ) washer anti freeze ( but I doubt it is available in India ? )

For very dirty guns ( 200 + rounds dirty , )

hydrogen peroxide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide the cheap one for medecinal purpose , does wonders .

renjith747 wrote:Once a gunsmith told me that reloading of shotgun shells will cause rust and pitting inside the barrel as the gun powder is not smokeless.Is it true?.Can we do reloading (shotgun shells) without causing any pitting of barrel?
Is reloading of shotgun shells legal and if any prior permission is required from authorities for reloading shotgun shells?

Regards
Renjith

To clarify, there are 2 components that can cause pitting in the bore- either the primer or the powder.

In regards to powder, regular smokeless powder will not cause pitting. As mentioned, black powder can cause pitting and corrosion if not cleaned. However, here is why- Black Powder after it has burned is hygroscopic, that is it absorbs and holds moisture. If you lived in the desert, it could be argued that a black powder gun that was fired and put away dirty might not be any worse off the next day than it would be 100 years later.

Since very few of us live in the desert, we need to clean our guns.

Corrosive primers are a different story, the compounds they use will have a corrosive effect even if moisture were not present.

Both of these items can be cleaned easily with hot soapy water. Hot soapy water is still the main way to clean black powder guns, people will only get excited when arguing about the type of soap to use. The "backwoods" method is to not even use soap, just plenty of boiling or close to boiling water until the bore is clean, then place the gun muzzle down until all the water drains and evaporates away.

Water by itself will not do a good job of cleaning primer residue, so you need soaps or solvents but it is no different than washing dishes in that respect.

Anyway, reloaded shells will not cause rust or pitting as long as everything is cleaned properly.

Bore fouling from either copper, carbon, or lead is a different story but it also will only cause an accuracy loss and no other complications if not cleaned. I suppose I should amend that statement to talk about badly fouled bores could possibly cause a pressure spike but that is a different topic that what was asked here which deals with shotguns.

mundaire wrote:TC,

Not quite - reloading is not prohibited, an arms license holder may reload legally, but since no dies, presses, consumables, etc. are sold, it's pretty much moot!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

You must be right Abhijeet. Otherwise how could the muzzle loaders survive. It is just that someone told me years ago that Indian law does not allow civilians to buy/sell cordite, nitro glycerine or similar highly combustible chemicals that are used in cartridges/shells etc. I assumed this was the reason why reloading tools, caps etc are not sold. In fact my old man used to reload his 12 ga empties when he was young to save money for his .22 cartridges that sold (we are talking Eley here) at 2 anna a piece in his days . Even he told me that he gave up because government banned caps in the 60s or 70s. His tools could still be lying somewhere in our country home.

Thanks and Cheers

TC

Has anyone tried reloading the primer itself with either strike anywhere match heads or toy pistol caps? I once made a practice 410 shell by punching out the old fired primer with a nail. I removed only the cup part. The anvil I left. I was then able to load on either plastic toy pistol caps or percussion caps and make a bang. I also have a tool to make percussion caps out of paper toy pistol caps and beverage cans.

Gatorfarmer wrote: I also have a tool to make percussion caps out of paper toy pistol caps and beverage cans.

Can you please explain how it works?i came to see this while searching on net

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_si ... ight.htm/9

Regards
Renjith