The CPA 32-20 is blown out to shoot .321 bullets. It is a very fussy case but if one can keep a handle on it, it is second to none in the accuracy department and it is also second to none in trying one's patience. One of our local competitors is shooting one and in late he has shot several 250's at 200yds even back to back in practice sessions and 248 & 249's are quite common for him as well. The small powder capacity cases all tend to be a bit fussy and can pressure spike if one is not paying attention and case separations are also quite common depending on the powder used. Would he buy another one? We have had that discussion on more than one occasion and he would probably choose a 32-40 the next go round. We also have another competitor who has one and he chooses to shoot one of his 32-40's instead of the 32-20 as it has been a real struggle for him to keep in tune. I have shot along side him on several occasions, once when two cases separated dang near back to back and another time when one separated. 

J.Louis

DW you are bringing up some very interesting questions and it would be a very interesting new topic. In the case of the 32-20 mentioned and the one still being shot the cure for case separation was by changing over to AA4100 in lieu of the AA9 he was using. The AA4100 is providing more velocity with less pressure and no case loss. It also opened up a whole new realm in regards to load tuning as the case was no longer being restrained by the higher pressures generated by the AA9 of which limited the amount of powder one could use and the max. velocity one could achieve.  

J.Louis

case separation thread started in "reloading"

Re:  32-20 and the 357-based cartridges, I'd think that the case strength/wall thickness etc etc might be a factor

I've always thought that case/bullet size "variation sensitivity"  was pretty much a matter of proportion.

a tenth of a grain variation is a huge percentage if you are reloading--say a 22 rf at one extreme and completely insignificant in a .50 BMG at the other.

The smaller the cartridge the more painstaking care you have to take at EVERY possible stage of reloading or things can go bad real easy and real fast.  Larger cases simply gave you a bit more latitude befor thngs go critical on you

dunno if it applies to bore/twist issues; though it seems like it would to some extent at least

Or am I wrong   

Given basically similar case capacities (I think) what are the pros and cons of the heavy 32-20 CPA vrs the various 357-based short 32's.    or are the 32-30s smaller enough to be significant