Seems I read this some where.  Can 32 S&W ammo be used in a Ballard #2, 32 Long with the reversable firing pin?

.32 Colt would work, unless the chamber has been reamed for the .32 S&W.

Oldbee, unless your example is in mint condition or has some great historical value, it is but a few minutes work to run a chamber reamer into your Ballard #2 and make it able to chamber 32 S&W Long.  The bore and groove diameter will be a little generous, but it will give minute of tin can accuracy, and if you cast your own bullets sizing them just a bit larger will help.  Cartridge manufacturers saw the light and began loading 32 Colt Long ammo with inside lubed bullets with hollow bases.  Those outside lubed bullets with rebated bases in the original Colt (and the 32 rim fire) design are a pain to load!
Froggie

  The bbl was rusted inside and out.  I cleaned it up the best I could.  Thanks for the option!

I lined a badly pitted Ballard barrel with a TJ's liner and chambered to 32 S&W Long. It is easy and cheap to load and fun to shoot. It's everything the old 32 rimfire was and more.

gnoahhh wrote on Apr 8^th, 2025 at 9:14am:


I don't think there's any difference in bore size between .32 Colt, .32 Long, and .32 S&W, but when I owned a couple minty Model 1892 Marlin lever actions chambered in .32 Long I was always buying .32 Long Colt ammo to feed them. I found some shot great, and some shot poor groups. When I pulled apart those that shot poorly I found they almost always had undersized bullets. Usually around .309"-.310" diameters. I assumed back then that maybe Colt revolvers had tighter bores, but not ever owning one in .32 Long to check, I'm unsure still why some ammo was smaller projectiles.

This is what it looks like after some cleaning.  It has a nickel plated action, lever and but plate.   
The bbl is 26" and appears uncut, with correct sights.

Now that you mentioned it, I suppose my block and lever are nickeled and the barrel is 28 inches. My #2 in 44-40 (originally 38 long) has a 30 inch barrel so I had assumed that the 28 inch was shorter than normal. I should have noted that the original 32 Long barrel's bore wasn't totally terrible so I borrowed a 32 S&W Long reamer just to see how it would shoot. The problem with doing this is that you will need a pilot about 2 inches long to center the reamer in the chamber as it starts to cut right away as you have to clear the old chamber and any freebore to get to the rifling.