Home› Main Category› General Firearms
stevesauto05
Posts: 1 New Member
Manuel Escodin 1924 32 CTG Ammo?
stevesauto05
Posts: 1 New Member
I purchased a 1924 this week and can’t seem to get a clear answer of what ammo to shoot. 32 S&W? 32 long? 32 ACP? Thanks for any assistance. The barrel says 32 Winchester CTG.
Replies
Found this on the net.
The antecedents of this company are unknown; the only recorded fact is that,from 1924 to 1931, it produced a revolver in .32 and .38 Special calibers, which was an identical copy of the Smith and Wesson M&P model. The only identifying mark is the company trademark, an ornate coat of arms,badly stamped on the left side of frame below the cylinder release catch.
There is no known source of original parts. In fact, the overall quality of the firearm would be suspect. From the picture I have of the revolver(see Pistols of the World by Hogg and Weeks published by Presidio in the USA and by Arms and Armor Press in the UK. I see an S&W Model named The Victory model parts from this gun "MAY" fit your copy accent on "MAY" The photo ID's the gun as an Escodin 32.20 Model 31. Parts for the Victory Model can be era specific. The S&W is built onb what S&W calls its "K" frame. Parts are plentiful for most all of the S&W guns. That said You want a coil spring...there is seldom anything special about a coil spring that makes it a GUN spring exclusively. Any coil spring that performs the task becomes a gunspring once fitted to the gun. To that end, I discard no coil springs, regardless of where they come from. They go into a general springs marked box and when i need something for an off brand(like your gun) I pick thru the box until I find a canidate,,,then "gunsmith" it to the task.
Options; Brownells has a pair of kits containing about a dozen springs in 10-12" lengths. They have different ID's...OD's. wire sizes and coils per inch. One kit is called an "in the hole spring kit" the other is called an "Over the pin spring kit" problem for you is that the kits are fairly expensive...the good news is that they also sell replacement springs to kee your bench kits updated. You can buy a single length of spring
Wolff Gun Springs is an aftermarket spring maker that offers replacement sets of springs for many firearms. They may have one for your gun. www.gunsprings.com
However, on the S&W front the M&P has a hammer mounted firing pin and not a frame trapped FP with a retraction spring, so your info on the gun being a cross brred with the Colt DA revolvers may be true. A check of the Colt revolvers that use such a spring shows a cone shaped spring. The larger diameter faces forward. The Colt part # for the spring is 51232. I have no data on the wire size or the coils per inch,but other Colt DA revolvers show a straight single OD/ID coil spring...Colt #SP58483
You can consult the Tech Staff at brownells on the spring. They may be able to supply some data on it
A word of caution here, The chambering of 32-20 indicates a possible Blackpowder strength revolver. The 32-20 was developed in 1882 for thw Winchester Model 73 rifle. This leads some people to think that the rifle round is safe in the revolvers...not so...there were two grades of ammo..rifle and pistol...the rifle ammo was not to be used in revolvers...the .38 Special came along in 1902 and was chambered in many revolvers...the "load" back in the beginning was a rater meek one with a 200 grain lead round nose bullet loaded tpo a velocity of 730 feet per second and developing energy of 236 foot pounds a really mild loading...meaning..the revolver you have was made when that load was king...firing modern ammo in your gun would not be wise...even if the gun is is factory new condition..That factory left something to be desired......If I were to repair and fire this gun..i would make absolutely certain that the timing is dead nuts on...perfect alignment of chamber to bore on all chambers...then The load I would use would be one suggested by Hodgdon/IMR for the powder they developed to shoot these old guns..Check out the powder IMR Trail Boss load a 158 gr RN bullet..such ammo can be had from several sources...classified as "Cowboy Loads" I seldom buy such ammo(I reload) but when I do...I go to www.buffaloarms.com...if they don't have it...they will load it for you...and...even then...first "proving loads" would be fired from a gun locked to the bench and the trigger pulled with a very long piece of string........
Note: If YOU reload...seek out some military .38 Special brass(not loaded ammo) this brass has heavier construction and will help hold pressure better than commercial brass(if it is new or once fired). Hodgdon/IMR lists a technique for determining a load for cartridges not listed using Trail Boss...basically...You determine where the base of the seated bullet will be in the case..mark that spot...fill the case with Trail Boss...now weigh that powder charge..that is your MAX load...reduce that by 25% and that is the load you start with. You can then work up a load for your gun using the same techinique..add a 1/10th of a grain and test..stop when you get pressure signs and drop back to the last load that was OK...BUT still do not exceed the Max loading......TB will give you some nice mild and accurate plinking/target loads......BTW the bore of your gun may be all over the place smaller or larger than the .38 standard of .357"...maybe both in the length of the barrel..A cast bullet sized to your guns bore will give the best performence..Check out a bullet mold made by Lee Precision called a Tumble Lube design..it self sizes in the guns bore......Hope this helps some....Zeke
For my rifles I load 115 grain cast over 4.5 grains of Unique.