[thegeep]

I bought a .32 Auto magazine thinking it was for a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless. It is identical to the other 1903 mags I have except that it is roughly an inch shorter. It is marked on the floorplate "CAL. 32" over "Colt." Anyone have a good idea what gun this mag is actually for?

[Jim K]

It looks like it has been worked over for use in some other gun. What that gun may be I have no idea.

Jim

[Clean97GTI]

It looks like the magazine for the fn model 1910.
The gun that shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

[303tom]

Kind of looks like it goes to a model M to me...............don`t hold me to that though, but if I had to guess, that would be my guess.

[AlexanderA]

The M1903 .32 magazine has 7 holes. (The .380 magazine has 6 holes, but they're spaced a little differently than this one.)

Because of the holes, I don't think this one was altered by being shortened either at the top or at the bottom. This was probably for a Colt gun, but the mystery is which one.

[Jim Watson]

Colt only made the one size .32 Auto. The modern fad of chopping guns off at the butt and muzzle was a long way off. There is not a Colt .32 calling for an inch shorter magazine.

I am with Jim K, it has been cut to fit a different gun.
Or maybe it was from a different gun to start with, the floorplate popped loose and was replaced with a Colt part.

[Marlin 45 carbine]

I'm with the 'been altered to fit another pistol' bunch

[AlexanderA]

I'm with the 'been altered to fit another pistol' bunch

But what was the starting point for the alteration? The Colt .32 magazines had 7 holes (this one has only 6 holes). Colt .380 magazines had 6 holes, but the holes were in a somewhat different pattern from this one. To shorten the magazine by an inch, it would have to be trimmed at either the top or the bottom. The placement of the holes shows that this was not done.

[Jim K]

Hard to tell. The floorplate could have come from a Colt magazine, but that doesn't mean the magazine was from Colt. I based my comments about alteration on the obvious grind and file marks, not on the hole spacing.

At gun shows there is always at least one dealer with a box full of unknown magazines. If you recognize the one you need, you are lucky. If not, you can buy a dozen that "look almost" like what you need. Chances are none will work.

Jim

[thegeep]

Thanks all for taking a look. If the number of holes matters, I will clarify that this mag has 7 holes, not six. One of them is not obvious in the picture, but if you look closely it's there. I was leaning towards the "modified for a different gun" theory too. Now I just wish I knew what gun that might be. Upon closer inspection, I now believe it was cut off at the bottom and the floorplate reattached. It looks to have been well done. Measuring side-by-side with a standard Colt mag the difference is 3/4". If anyone has a collection of .32's including a Colt and you find yourself bored one day, take the Colt mag and see if it fits any of the other guns except for being too long.

[AlexanderA]

Yes, now that you point it out, I see the 7th hole. That means it was probably shortened at the bottom. Whoever did it even replicated the "stab crimps" holding the floorplate (it would have been easier to simply pin the floorplate in place, which was the earlier design of this magazine). An odd thing was that they didn't bother to polish out all the grind marks.

[Jim K]

FWIW, I think someone altered a Colt magazine, found it didn't work in whatever gun he had in mind as a host, then tossed it aside for sale to anyone who would buy it. The .32 ACP round rather dictates the general magazine profile but there have been hundreds (literally) of different pistols made for the .32 ACP, and that mag might have been intended for (or actually work in) at least some of them.

Jim

[gyvel]

Probably was altered to work in a Spanish gun.