While attending the Shot Show I visited with a vendor that offers obsolete brass in a wide variety of calibers with the correct head stamp. They offer both European and American early and unique brass and it is made here in the USA. I thought it might be of interest to some of our members so I am posting the contact information.

SSS

Quality Cartridge
P.O. Box 445
Hollywood, MD. 20636
Pete Cardona president/contact 

301-373-3719
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Wow seems like they have a large inventory...  Don

The little known 6 X 70R Norma is the same head size as the 28/30 Stevens and the 32 Stevens Ideal, the case is a little over 2 1/2 inch long. Cut it to 1.77 inch and presto a 32 Ideal.  Huntington was selling this brass for about a dollar a case.   ledball

Hey y'all.  ledball is having you on a little bit.  He told me about that brass at Huntington's, and I immediately ordered some.  Turned out that I got the last that will likely ever be, and I shared it with ledball.  Huntington's had bought a small amount left over from a special run, and they told me that it was virtually certain that there would never be any more.  

But never fear.   If I could squeeze .223 brass from .375 down to .315 base diameter to make .25-20SS, which I was doing until Jamison came to the rescue, then squeezing the same case down to .348 should be a doddle. Probably could be done on a strong reloading press.  For .32 Ideal, you would start with 5.6x50R, which is available, so there would be enough length.   The swaging leaves a little fillet at the base, so you'd want a lathe to skim this off, but it could be done with a drill press and a file.   Key factor is finding the right die to do the swaging.  The neck of an 8x57 sizer should be about right.  If I have time in the next week or so I'll try it.  I have a stash of 5.6x50R on hand.   A Model 44 in .32 Ideal has been in my mind for at least ten years.....

Frank,

I pulled a couple of the 5.6x50R out of the ammo can.  These are Hirtenberger, BTW.

I measure the rims at .419".   A little small, but not fatal.

Base diameter adjacent the rim is .372" - .373".  This is new brass, never seen a chamber or a sizing die once it left the factory.

Rim thickness about .0475 give or take.  I'm just using a caliper.

If you want a thicker rim, a trick I've tried is to swage the rim slightly convex (viewed looking at the headstamp).   This gives the effect of a thicker rim.   In the end I abandoned it, because my 2R Lovells can just as well headspace on the shoulder.    

My turning tooling is a spud in the 3-jaw with a pilot that just enters the primer pocket, and a mandrel that goes thru the case mouth and all the way down to the web.  A tiny pilot enters the flash hole to keep it centered.  Live center in the tailstock pushes on the mandrel to clamp the case against the spud.  I don't have a collet chuck for the little Prazi bench lathe that I do these on, but even if I did I'd still use the mandrel.  

Talked to a guy years ago who used drill bushings to swage brass. They're almost impossible to buy anymore.  CNC has made them obsolete.   Last ones I bought had to be special ordered and took 3 weeks to get, and that was 5-6 years ago.

Phil

Phil, did a EvilBay search for drill bushings, and came up with over 300 results.  Went to the MSC site and entered drill bushings and came up with a boatload also.

David

Bought the 5.6x50R from Huntington's, probably 6-8 years ago.  Even then I had it in mind for a .32 Ideal.  Just last week I got a set of .32 Ideal dies from 'em, too.  They had one set on the "clearance" discount list.   Now all I need is a reamer.   I have barrel blanks and actions.

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MSC may LIST the drill bushings, but they didn't actually stock 'em when I needed 'em.   I was building a gaging fixture for work, and it held me up for a long time.  That made GM mad, and believe me, those arrogant S.O.B.'s can make your life miserable. 

Might be worth a retry, though.  Without GM breathing down my neck.

Tried sizing down a 5.6x50R case in the neck of a Lee 8mm die today, using just my RCBS reloading press.  Works, but not entirely to my satisfaction.  O.D. as sized is .336, which is unnecessarily small.   Could not get as much crush on the web as I would like, so when I machined it and sectioned it I did not see a good fillet between the web and the beginning of the case wall.  At BP pressures it won't be noticed, I think, especially since the .32 Ideal is almost a straight case, but I still would feel better if it had more.  The hydraulic press will do it, I'm sure.   Come summer I hope I'll have a shop set up again so I can put the press back together.   

Phil

Froggie,
I get my 5.6X50R brass by buying Sellier & Bellot loaded ammo. I have had very good luck with their brass. The last I bought came from SGAmmo.com for $15.00 for a box of 20.