I may have lost it: Thinking about .32 NAA LCP conversion

[TTv2]

When Ruger announced they were making a .22 LR LCP this week, I was disappointed because it is not the .32 ACP I had wanted. I started to look into if anyone made a .32 ACP barrel for the LCP and found out that there is a company that does, but .32 NAA barrels are available.

I started to think about it. In the past, I swore it off mainly because of the Guardian pistols, but in something like the LCP II... yeah.

I looked up some gel tests of .32 NAA, expansion to about .45 inches and penetrated to 13 inches. That's promising compared to .32 and a lot of .380 hollow point tests.

So, the only drawback is the ammo, but I am thinking since I reload, if I could find the dies, I can form the case using .380 and use 85 grain Hornady XTP bullets.

IDK, what do you guys think about .32 NAA now that it seems barrels for popular .380 pistols are available?

 

[Ohen Cepel]

Not crazy but may be $$ and hard. Ammo (on Ammoseek) for the NAA is 0.60+ per round and it doesn't look like anyone has dies out there for it now. The dies would concern me more than anything. Without them I wouldn't do it. Looks like Lee will make you a custom set for $200-300 but that is too steep to make sense in my mind.

I think I saw 9Mak conversion barrels out there for the LCP if that does anything for you.

 

[WestKentucky]

Forming brass isn’t as easy as it seems, and that is a big step to go from .380 to .32. You would need to anneal, and do it in 2 steps or more. It is doable in a single pass, but your going to crack a lot of necks and they won’t last long once formed.

that said, I’m still itching for 32naa and 25naa both so I have been considering the same thing. I might do the 32naa in a Glock 42 though.

 

[TTv2]

Forming brass isn’t as easy as it seems, and that is a big step to go from .380 to .32. You would need to anneal, and do it in 2 steps or more. It is doable in a single pass, but your going to crack a lot of necks and they won’t last long once formed.

that said, I’m still itching for 32naa and 25naa both so I have been considering the same thing. I might do the 32naa in a Glock 42 though.

I've never done bottleneck cases before, let alone formed them from straight wall brass. To be easier on the brass my plan would be to size with a .380 die, then form the neck with the .32 NAA die, and go from there. I'm not so sure I would need to anneal the cases as they'd all be once fired brass and I'd think the heat/pressure from being fire formed to a chamber would be enough. If I was using brand new brass, yeah, I would anneal it.

Dies do seem to be the problem tho, so I'm going to have to wait for a group buy or someone who has a set and wants to sell theirs. Also, the $250 for the barrel is a bit steep, but I think I'm willing to do it if I can get the dies.

 

[94045]

S&B .32 ACP 73 gr FMJ Standard Pressure
900 fps in 2.675" Barrel
Tumbles and goes 16" in Gel.

That's my solution for .32 ACP.

Of course I also just bought a Keltec P32 instead of converting an LCP.

 

[MikeInOr]

My biggest concern would be if the very reliable LCP would remain reliable with the .32 NAA barrel and ammo... if this is going to be a self defense gun. If it is just a gun to play around and experiment with... go for it!

 

[TTv2]

My biggest concern would be if the very reliable LCP would remain reliable with the .32 NAA barrel and ammo... if this is going to be a self defense gun. If it is just a gun to play around and experiment with... go for it!

No, with all the tests and results I've seen of .32 and .380, the .32 NAA caught my attention when I saw some results with a converted Sig 938. A gun that small being able to propel a bullet fast enough to expand to .40-.45 inches in diameter and penetrate 13 inches in gel is excellent. I've seen videos of .380 loads that weigh about the same, expand to the same diameter, penetrate to the same depths, but they are going 200 fps slower.

When I do the math, that .380 ammo is coming in at 128 ft/lbs of muzzle energy, while the .32 NAA would is 189 ft/lbs- that is an increase of nearly 50% in muzzle energy whilst also getting full expansion. Unfortunately, because it's a .32 caliber, nobody gives a crap about it, even tho it's a semi auto getting similar performance to what .32 H&R Magnum gets in a snub nose revolver.

Ruger's clearly not going to bring such a gun to market due to the rarity of the ammo, so it's going to have to be a conversion. The only thing that would hold me back is the reloading dies.

 

[MikeInOr]

No, with all the tests and results I've seen of .32 and .380, the .32 NAA caught my attention when I saw some results with a converted Sig 938. A gun that small being able to propel a bullet fast enough to expand to .40-.45 inches in diameter and penetrate 13 inches in gel is excellent. I've seen videos of .380 loads that weigh about the same, expand to the same diameter, penetrate to the same depths, but they are going 200 fps slower.

When I do the math, that .380 ammo is coming in at 128 ft/lbs of muzzle energy, while the .32 NAA would is 189 ft/lbs- that is an increase of nearly 50% in muzzle energy whilst also getting full expansion. Unfortunately, because it's a .32 caliber, nobody gives a crap about it, even tho it's a semi auto getting similar performance to what .32 H&R Magnum gets in a snub nose revolver.

Ruger's clearly not going to bring such a gun to market due to the rarity of the ammo, so it's going to have to be a conversion. The only thing that would hold me back is the reloading dies.

I think you may have missed the point of my post... will a LCP cycle as reliably with 32 NAA as it does with 380? Will it FTE, FTF, stove pipe, etc. when you REALLY need that second shot? As in when your life depends on your modified gun cycling properly!

I have always liked the idea of the .460 Rowland, a 45 acp at 10mm chamber pressures... but I always come back to will my nifty 460 Rowland function properly when I need that life saving second shot?

I believe the Sig 938 is a 9mm and the 238 is the 380. Were you referring to the Sig 238 being converted to 32 NAA?

The 380 ammo I am familular with is generally in the 200ft*lbs to 220ft*lbs range. I think you are loosing a bit of muzzle energy with the 32 NAA but you are correct you are gaining around 200 ft/s with a lighter bullet which is smaller in diameter. Even the 32 acp comes in around 160 ft*lbs of energy at the muzzle.

I am not trying to discourage you... just make sure you are using the right numbers and make sure you are considering all the pros/cons of the 32 NAA converted gun if it will be a gun you betting your life on.

 

[TTv2]

Well @MikeInOr I can't tell you because I don't think anyone has tried converting an LCP to the .32 NAA and published their results online. It looks as tho Diamondback once made barrels for .32 NAA for their .380, so they must have believed a simple barrel change was all that was needed and would retain reliability. It's just a .380 necked down to a .32 and has the same OAL and the bottleneck is supposed to aid in feed reliability.

 

[barnetmill]

The ballistics of the .32 NAA
60 gr (4 g) JHP 1,222 ft/s (372 m/s) 199 ft⋅lbf (270 J)
71 gr (5 g) FMJ 1,000 ft/s (300 m/s) 158 ft⋅lbf (214 J)
reminds me of the 8 mm nambu
102 gr (7 g) FMJ 290 m/s (950 ft/s) 274 J (202 ft⋅lbf)
The nambu is the more powerful, but not a powerful round.
If the .32 NAA cartridge was more available and better known I might interested.