.32, or 38 Special?

[Blaine]

I've almost bit on a couple of different S&W 32s.....But, I keep coming back to my .38s. What does a .32 do that isn't better done by a .38 Special, or even 38 S&W? Especially if you load the .38s on the light side.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I am with you. Never been a .32 fan.
I cant say I have ever seen anything .32 in any local ammo display or on sale anywhere either.
Maybe its because I have not been looking for it???

[Blaine]

I am with you. Never been a .32 fan.
I cant say I have ever seen anything .32 in any local ammo display or on sale anywhere either.
Maybe its because I have not been looking for it???

About the time they came out with the .32 H&R Mag, there be .32s coming out of the woodwork...Cant remember the Mdl Numbers, but S&W had several, and a Blackhawk convertable w/32-20 had my interest. Naturally, H&R had a decent one. I almost got a Ruger 101 in .32 H&R mag..it had adjustable sights, and 6 shots....I got a S&W 317 AirLite instead so I could afford to practice. Those were the broke old days....I don't follow the gun rags at all, but I haven't seen much of that .327 that came out not all that long ago....

[wm]

I've been searching off and on for a budget priced 32 S&W in need of a good home. I don't want a collectible.......just a solid S&W or Colt small frame. I like the nostalgia and I believe I can assemble an inexpensive plinking and small game loads, particularly if I can perfect a system of using .30 cal buckshot as a roundball load.

I don't believe, and history would seem to support this, that the 32 can keep up with the 38 let alone better it. In my case I see it as an alternative to the 22 mag as a plinker/hunter more powerful then a 22lr and more economical then a 38 spl.

I've probably had as much fun hunting gun shows and gun shops looking for just the right & right priced 32 S&W as I will have actually shooting it. The hunt has led me to several other finds. I have faith that sooner or later I will find it and do some experimenting with it and check that off my list o f things I want to do.

[Mescalero]

Well now,
I do have a S&W 3rd model hand ejector that is complete except for a barrel and grips.

[milton]

Between the two the .38 special wins hands down!You can load it up or down in power and bullet weight.Brass is usually easy to come by.Folks say the .327 is "better" that the .38 ,it may be but with a lot of muzzle blast that the .38 does not have..38 bullets come in various flavors from 73 grains up to 200 grains.You can load it with very fast powders and slow powders It is hard to beat that versatility!!

[Blaine]

I've been searching off and on for a budget priced 32 S&W in need of a good home. I don't want a collectible.......just a solid S&W or Colt small frame. I like the nostalgia and I believe I can assemble an inexpensive plinking and small game loads, particularly if I can perfect a system of using .30 cal buckshot as a roundball load.

I don't believe, and history would seem to support this, that the 32 can keep up with the 38 let alone better it. In my case I see it as an alternative to the 22 mag as a plinker/hunter more powerful then a 22lr and more economical then a 38 spl.

I've probably had as much fun hunting gun shows and gun shops looking for just the right & right priced 32 S&W as I will have actually shooting it. The hunt has led me to several other finds. I have faith that sooner or later I will find it and do some experimenting with it and check that off my list o f things I want to do.

I often wondered what a sized/lubed 00 buckshot would do in a lite .32 load

[2ndovc]

I've had several Colt's in .32 S&W Long and a Pair of Ruger Single Sixes in .32 H&R. One thing I will say is I will forever miss those Rugers! I had a friend give me a big ziplock bag full of .32 S&W shorts that were loaded with black powder. I stuffed them into my Rugers and with a revolver in each hand blasted away for hours! Never had so much fun! Don't even think I hit anything but the smoke and the smell are still with me!

The S&W long is no killer by any means but just a fun cartridge to play with and makes no more noise than a .22LR.

jb

[vancelw]

I often wondered what a sized/lubed 00 buckshot would do in a lite .32 load

Was thinking about that the other day, wondering if I could make some cat sneeze plinking load out of .33 buck. But its easier for me to just cast the .312 bullet and be done with it.

.38 wins. They are cheaper, more versatile. Anything from snake shot to +P can be shot in them, and get them in a 13 ounce package. Nothing wrong with a .32 if that's what a guy has, but side-by-side pro vs. con list goes to the .38

[Old Ironsights]

I thought the comparison was more along these lines:

[Blaine]

I thought the comparison was more along these lines:

It could be, if you want it too.....I was thinking more about plinking, small game, etc.....
Someplace I have a .54 RB from my Renegade that I recovered from a huge doe....that sucker really flattened out, and got super gnarly....it did lots of damage. I'm not sure that's a good comparison to a sized 00 going maybe 800 fps....that .54 was supposed to be coming out at 1900fps with 130 grains of Pyrodex P pushing it.....

[J35]

I've been searching off and on for a budget priced 32 S&W in need of a good home. I don't want a collectible.......just a solid S&W or Colt small frame. I like the nostalgia and I believe I can assemble an inexpensive plinking and small game loads, particularly if I can perfect a system of using .30 cal buckshot as a roundball load.

I don't believe, and history would seem to support this, that the 32 can keep up with the 38 let alone better it. In my case I see it as an alternative to the 22 mag as a plinker/hunter more powerful then a 22lr and more economical then a 38 spl.

I've probably had as much fun hunting gun shows and gun shops looking for just the right & right priced 32 S&W as I will have actually shooting it. The hunt has led me to several other finds. I have faith that sooner or later I will find it and do some experimenting with it and check that off my list o f things I want to do.

I often wondered what a sized/lubed 00 buckshot would do in a lite .32 load

Shoot four inches low and not be much fun with a fixed sight gun.

But in a fixed sight 32 long If you load two you will be real close to 100grs and they will shoot to the sights. The seating depth is easily adjusted so Two won't seat any deeper than a 100 gr 32 wad cutter so no worries there. I size mine to .314 so it leaves a nice rifling grabbing belt.

The only thing the 32 long has over a 38 is economy of powder and lead.

------------J

[Sixgun]

More than likely, no one here will ever have to use their gun in self defense....but.......if that million to one shot (pun intended) ever happens, I want to be sure.

32's are pimp guns...and caliber and any bullet weight.

While I may be on the low end with a 38 Spl, I use 175 grain Keith semi wadcutters.

I want penetration.----6

[ollogger]

I bought a 32 mag in a Ruger when they first came out I shot the heck out of that little gun
with cast bullets, it was a death ray on rock chucks, for general pests & plinking I liked it better
than the 38- 357 at the time,today if there was a 38 & a 32 mag side by side at the same price
I most likely would pass on the 32 hoping I could justify that decision by telling myself you
really have enough hand guns


ollogger

[EdinCT]

I view a 32 has a reloadable 22. Easy on the ears and usually accurate. My Dad always kept a 32-20 handgun around for putting down horses and shooting dogs that harassed the stock. It worked well for him.
I understand that 38's are easier to find but I wouldn't rule out a 32 if you handload.
My 32-20 rifle gets a lot of range time since the 22 ammo shortage. Also with the price of 22 ammo cast bullets and 4 grains of Unique are really cost effective. It would be the same for a handgun.

[Washita]

Well, a J-frame S&W in .32 Mag. will perform as well as a .38 Spl., and holds 6 rounds.

[Mescalero]

I did the .32 Long build to fill the gap of what I used a .22 LR for.

[Chuck 100 yd]

The new Ruger Single Seven .32 may just change my mind about owning a handgun in that caliber. So far I have not heard of anyone who has found one to buy. It`s still a teaser for Ruger .

[3leggedturtle]

A 30 or 32 FN or WC at 8-900fps is a small game load supreme. U can eat the bullet hole. 32's a lot less powder and lead. Paco did a write up about using roundballs in 32 S+WL . Think it was called "Lite loads in sixguns"

[wm]

One of my favorite Harris projects.................

Tiny Handgun Cartridges Are Also Small Game Rifle Rounds!
by Ed Harris
Gerrardstown, WV

After fooling around with a pair of chamber inserts using .32 S&W Long and .32 ACP ammunition in the .30-30, I thought about building a light “walking rifle” which would be handy and quiet. I wanted something more effective than a .22 LR, something which could also approach the ballistics of the .32-20 Winchester. The .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum cartridges are ideal for such use, but the only factory produced rifle is the Marlin 1894 Cowboy which is neither inexpensive, nor very handy. I wanted something which carried more like a fly rod than a wrecking bar.

Because I frequently carry a .32 revolver or .32 ACP pocket pistol around our country place, I wanted to use those same rounds in a light small game rifle. I would have two barrels made to compare results obtained with the .32 ACP and .32 Smith & Wesson Long. My reasoning was that for very light, quiet “.30 cal. CB cap” loads, that the tiny .32 ACP case would have advantages, whereas the larger .32 S&W Long or H&R Magnum case would had more capacity if I wanted more energy.

My gun safe contained a seldom used H&R .410 single-shot, on the tiny pre-war action, which weighed 4 pounds. John Taylor made two rifle barrels for me, chambered for the .32 ACP and .32 S&W Long (which I later rechambered to H&R Magnum). The .410 barrel remained intact, and the entire package cost less than a new Marlin Cowboy lever-gun. I opted for an 18” barrel chambered in .32 ACP for the most-handy configuration and a 26” barrel in .32 S&W Long for optimum sight radius and minimum noise.



The .32 ACP barrel was fabricated from a pulled-off M1 Garand barrel, cutting off the muzzle behind the gas port and the breech at the chamber neck, turning the OD, fabricating and beam welding on the shotgun underlug and fitting the ejector. The bore is of standard 4-groove .30 cal. Government form with ten inch twist and was chambered with a custom reamer resembling the front half of a .30 M1 Carbine chamber. It headspaces on the case mouth instead of the semi-rim.

The .32 S&W Long barrel is rifled to normal .32 revolver specs with six grooves, right twist, one turn in 16 inches with a bore of .302 and .312 groove diameter.

Firing indoors and comparing both barrels with iron sights, I am satisfied that any handgun ammunition averaging an inch or so over a series of 5-shot groups at 25 yards is adequate for hunting small game. I managed to do so fairly easily with several loads to prove the concept. Winchester .32 S&W Long 98-grain LRN, and .32 ACP Fiocchi and RWS 73-gr. hardball all averaged just under inch groups at 25 yards.

Lead 98-gr. LRN factory loads from the .32 S&W Long 26 inch barrel gave 884 f.p.s. From the 18 inch .32 ACP, Fiocchi 73-grain hardball clocked 943 f.p.s., and RWS hardball was 1214 f.p.s. Fiocchi 60-grain JHPs, which gave 1200 f.p.s. from a 3.5 inch Beretta pistol, screamed out at 1463 f.p.s. in the 18” H&R.

Handloads were next. My goal was not high velocity, but subsonic, quiet small game loads approximating the .32 Long rim fire (from .32 ACP brass) or standard velocity lead .32-20 loads (from .32 S&W Long brass). These objectives were met handily using the Saeco #325 98-grain SWC and the #322 122-gr. flatnose .32-20 bullets.

The RCBS 32-90CM is a good choice for a common production mold suitable for either caliber. Those not casting their own bullets can buy commercial Meister 94-gr. LFN bullets of .312 diameter. These have the same profile as the flat-nosed factory bullet for the .32 Colt New Police and works well as a heavy .32 ACP bullet. Its ogive length enables a .98” overall cartridge length when taper-crimped in the .32 ACP and when so seated its base does not protrude so deeply into the case that it bulges cases.

Velocities of the .32 ACP cast bullet loads with the 94-grain Meister and 1.7 grains of Bullseye fired from my Walther PP, CZ27 and Beretta 1935 pistols approximate the performance expected from a 4” revolver using the same bullet in the .32 S&W Long with 2.5 grains of Bullseye. When fired from the 18” .32 ACP rifle, the minimum 1.7 grain charge which reliably functions my WWII-era Euro auto pistols approaches the velocity expected of standard .32-20 Winchester factory lead bullet loads fired from a four-inch barreled revolver.

Trying to drive a non-expanding cast bullet intended for small game to supersonic velocity in a rifle is a waste of powder. This is not a 100-yard rig, but a woods “walking gun.” Its iron sights have a hard 50 yard zero, coupled with reliable 4 moa grouping (2 inches at 50 yds) and greater striking energy and penetration than a .22 LR. It shoots clear through critters, making reliable kills on raccoon, groundhog, wild turkey or the occasional marauding feral dog. The rig is practical in its simplicity.

The 26 inch long .32 S&W Long barrel is noticeably quieter than the shorter .32 ACP. After initial testing I rechambered it to .32 H&R Magnum and shot it again. My reasoning was that doing do would enable using HRM brass and factory loads, but wouldn't significantly hurt the grouping with my .32 S&W Long revolver ammo. After rechambering, the tiny 4.5 lb. rifle still shoots one-inch groups at 25 yards with .32 S&W Longs using either the 94-gr. Meister .312" LRN or the LBT .312-105FNBB with 2.5 grs. of Bullseye.

The longer chamber permits seating heavier bullets out in S&W Long brasss to increase powder capacity. With the 122-gr. Saeco #322 bullet for the .32-20, seated to 1.32” overall length in .32 S&W Long brass, crimping in the top lube groove using either 2 grains of Bullseye or 6 grs. of #2400, either load will shoot an inch and half at 50 yards with iron sights over a long series. The same loads fired in a relined English rook rifle I built later approach an inch when using an old Unertl 6X Small Game scope.

Some .32 H&R Mag loads listed in manuals caused ugly looking fired primers in the converted H&R shotgun because of its large shotgun firing pin and un-bushed breech face. I found this a useful indicator of chamber pressure, so I use no load which causes hard opening or smeared primer cups upon opening the rifle when using standard small pistol primers. Firing trials quickly reveal when a load is “too hot,” because hard opening occurs before primer cups noticeably flatten compared to firing the same loads in my revolver. Federal factory .32 H&R loads rub a shiny ring around the firing pin indent, but the action opens with little effort. I therefore presume that a load causing hard opening is over 20,000 psi.

My general purpose load for use in modern .32 S&W Long revolvers and the single-shot H&R uses either the 115-gr. Ideal #3118 or 122-gr. Saeco #322. I cast these of soft scrap, 10BHN, tumble in Lee Liquid Alox, size .314, and load in .32 S&W Long cases with Federal 200 primers and 2 grains of Alliant Bullseye at 1.32" OAL. This gives not quite 850 fps in the rifle and 720 fps in various 4-inch revolvers. It is accurate in both the Ruger Single Six and S&W Model 31. An added benefit is that this load pokes out the front of the cylinder of my old I-frame S&W .32 Hand ejector, which keeps me from putting this warmer-than-factory load in the old gun.

A flat-nosed, solid lead bullet, with large meplat at subsonic velocity is fully adequate in energy and penetration against feral dogs or coyotes. My testing of the Saeco #322 at 850 f.p.s. gave 30 inches of water penetration. If you want a bit flatter trajectory to reach out to 100 yards at the expense of a bit more noise, you can increase the charge to 2.5 grs. of Bullseye in S&W Long brass or 3 grains in H&R Magnum brass. It shoots well at a little over 1000 fps in the rifle and 800-850 fps in the revolver.

I have not fooled much with slower powders, because specialized rifle-only loads defeat the purpose of using the same ammo in both the walking rifle and revolver. I briefly tried #2400 in H&R Magnum loads, up to a nominal “case full” in the .32 Long case. While faster, it was very much louder and less accurate than my mild loads with Bullseye.

The final journey in my search of “Bunny Gun Nirvanna” was in obtaining a real English rook rifle and having it lined to .32 S&W Long. I located an Army & Navy Cooperative Society rook rifle in .255 which had been inexpertly rechambered to .25-20 Winchester. With some botched scope block holes and jackleg barrel restamping, I was able to get it cheap. I sent it to John Taylor to have it relined and rechambered to .32 S&W Long, then upon its return it went to Connecticut for Lucas Geiger to do a full exterior restoration. I now have a plain walking rifle for rough use, and a pretty art piece for yard and range shooting. Both shoot equally well, an inch and a half or less at 50 yards with my chosen loads, with low noise which doesn’t disturb the neighbors. Now to walk the garden!





Wherrrrrre….. arrrrrre…. Yoooooou…. Nooow…Mister. Waaaaaaaaaabbit?

[piller]

PillHer has a .327 SP101, and it is a nice little gun. A Factory 100 grain JSP at 1500 fps at the muzzle is getting into 9mm territory, and that is from a small revolver with 6 shots. Then, you can shoot the smaller cartridges if you have them. It will shoot any rimmed .32 straight wall pistol cartridge that is shorter than the .327. The .32 H&R Magnum out of it is a nice little round. I haven't tried it on game yet, but I would think it should be great for ground squirrels up to feral dogs. The 115 grain lead bullet designed for the .32-20 works perfectly. It is the same diameter and fits right into the crimp groove to give correct OAL specs. The accuracy is great out to 25 yards for me, and probably great to 50 yards for all of those who are better with an handgun than I am. I load the plain base lead down to a lower velocity and it is just fun to shoot. The book value for my load of the 115 grain bullet is about 950 fps. That should take out anything within reason.

Maybe I am a little unreasonable here, but I just don't see the need for a dedicated .38 Special since I don't carry a revolver concealed. Just my 2 cents worth. My Dad carries a Ruger GP100 under his coat in the winter since the winters are cold enough to require a heavy coat where he lives. He is in his 80s and the grip of the GP100 is big enough that he can control it comfortably. Since I have not worn a real coat more than 30 days in the last 10 years, I go with something flatter and, at least to me, easier to conceal.

[Marlin32]

I have a Colt Pocket Positive in 32NP that I carry quite often. I also have a 32acp Beretta tomcat
and WILL have a 32H&R, Gary Reeder has it right now. (More on that when it comes back!)

Initially I bought the 32's as in the summer, can be difficult to carry concealed with larger guns, or other situations where dress dictates gun rather than the gun dictating what I wear.

The Beretta for the wife actually, with tip up barrel, it is handy to carry safely and no need to work the action.

Colt Pocket as it was small, lightweight, and is amazingly accurate. If I want to shoot it with hold and aim, I can put one through an ear hole at about 20 yards. Point and shoot, it is going to be very unfriendly to anyone or thing I had to shoot at out to 10 yards and beyond. Love it.

The 32's carry really well in the tactical holster t-shirts I have. I hardly notice anymore that I am carrying.

as it gets colder and more clothes make concealment easier, the 40s&w springfield will be back as my primary carry.