Use of IOF ammunition in .32 Smith Revolver - Advice Pls

[Devrishi]

Hello friends,

Is it advisable to use IOF .32 ammunition in Smith .32 Revolver??? I read on forum that lot of lead/gases etc is sprayed from these IOF ammunition. What can happen???

Lately, we are not getting forign make .32 S&WL ammuniton in the market - so have to rely on indian stuff. Foreign ammunition has vanished and shopwallas say that it was illegally imported in indian market.

Thankyou,

Dev

[MoA]

Some ammunition tends to be of a poorer quality and/or dirtier than others.
For example Lapua ammo tends to be cleaner than Wolf. But any ammo loaded to a fairly decent level of quality control is fairly safe.
IOF does seem to have a few quality issues, so ammunition would be inconsistent, and possibly dirty. You would need to clean the revolver more.

Unless it is completely overcharged, it should be fairly safe. Given the small case size of a .32 this should be a fairly difficult feat to achieve, even for IOF.
YMMV.

[Sakobav]

If you search this forum some members have had great results with Fresh IOF ammo so if possible try o secure such ammo..Good luck

Best

[marksman]

IMHO, Indian ammo should be used only for general plinking and target busting in order to etch and programme a particular handgun you carry in your memory. When carrying for self protection, one must always have it loaded with fresh reliable imported ammo. Doesn't matter if you have to pay through your nose for it. One can always buy small quantity eg six in case of revolver or seven/eight in case of a pistol and shoot them off as well periodically to replenish the stock. Life is certainly more precious then any ammo manufactured anywhere in the world.

Marksman

[TwoRivers]

I have no experience with IOF ammo. However, in such a small case, loaded with a very fast burning powder, it does not take a large increase in the powder charge to raise pressures. Small differences in the charge, or the seating depth of the bullet, can well raise pressure to the danger point. I think I would follow the advise given, based on other posts in this forum about IOF's questionable quality, split cases and difficult extraction, and stick with ammo of known quality. Cheers.

[Devrishi]

Thank you for your replies gentlemen. I understand now - it's the cleaning part that is very important if i use KF ammunition for which i have read a lot on forum.

For SD/carrying - i'll rely on S&B .32 S&WL round nose or more preferably WADCUTTERS.

Regards

Devrishi

[MoA]

Wadcutters are target bullets. useless for SD. Go with the TMJ/FMJ bullets or HP if you can find them.

[Devrishi]

Wadcutters are target bullets. useless for SD. Go with the TMJ/FMJ bullets or HP if you can find them.

Yes, i know Wadcutters are target bullets however i had been surveying for Self Defence in 0.32 calibre and am surprised to find that in this calibre WADCUTTERS are the best choice.

Please refer to the article by Chuck Hawks: Ammunition for the self defence firearm, in which he specifically recommends Wadcutters in 0.32 Calibre.

Also refer to an article WICKED WADCUTTERS - which too favour Wadcutters over Lead round Nose Bullets for Self Defence.

Further, i read somewhere, that the LRN bullet will tear through the flesh and after the bullet passes the flesh will have a tendency to settle back however with a Wadcutter, it will PUNCH a CLEAR CUT along the length of flesh resulting in more trauma. Also, since they are target loads, shot placement is comparatively easy.

Regards

Devrishi

[shooter]

Unless it is completely overcharged, it should be fairly safe. Given the small case size of a .32 this should be a fairly difficult feat to achieve, even for IOF.
YMMV.

YMMV

[MoA]

Devrishi: Please go back and re-read the article.
Also shot placement doesnt become easy just because its target ammo.

[captrakshitsharma]

I don't know what kinda quota do u have .. but with the limited quota we all have i dont think that it would really matter paying for good imported ammo(considering u can afford and own a give n take 5 lakh revolver). I own a S&W J frame snubby and on advice have stayed away from iof though i know of people who use em.i think with the quota i have it doesnt hurt that much. As Sanjay had once put it to me that its like running ur merc on kerosene.

[Anand]

My personal experience with .32" S&W L IOF revolver cartridges has been, varied, earlier I used to get a lot of misfires,but that was later proved to be a fault of my old revolver. Of late I have not been getting any misfires but the ammo seems to be inaccurate in batches, this could be a result of the powder charge being dispensed by volume rather than weight. So I have taken apart the ammo and weighed the bullets and powder charge separately and in about 25 rounds, the powder charge varied from 2.9 gr to 3.4 gr. the bullets all ranged from 93.5 gr to about 96 gr.

It doensnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that this can lead to inaccuracies depending on the combo of powder and bullet weights. I would get like 4 rounds in a group about 4 inches at 25 meters, and then 2 rounds would be about 3inches away in another group.
Kind of like this:
" :: .." forgive my terrible pictorial depiction

Anand

[captrakshitsharma]

Hi Anand,
Is the IOF lead not fouling your barrel more than the imported ones.. any sign/ possibility of actual or foreseeable damage to weapon due to inconsistency in powder and projectile load???

regards
rakshit..

ps.i loved the pics of your feg

[Anand]

Hi Capt,
the IOF ammo absolutely leads my barrel , but this seems to be due to how soft the lead is.I clean every time I shoot so that okay i guess. The variance in powder charge will be damaging if there is an excess of it as in an overly charged cartridge. But something even more important to remember is that in case of an undercharged cartridge, if a bullet gets stuck in the barrel and you dont notice it, then the next one will cause catastrophic damage to the gun/user or both!!!
That is why it is necessary to know whether the bullet left the barrel and there was no squib!
Anand

[captrakshitsharma]

Thats a great point Anand thanks. i am guilty of not checking whether the last round has cleared my barrel .... i knew about it but i have never checked it