CA Pink Lady .32H&R review

Buckeye63 said:

Ruger is keeping the 327 Federal alive ... and in return helping the 32 H&R make a comeback!

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Sneakshot92 said:

Indeed so. The 32 H&R is a great little cartridge.
Here's a wild thought.
Heritage mfg has those revolving 16" bbl 22lr/22mag rifles. Picture one in 327 Fed or 32 H&R. Would be a sweet little game getter.

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OrangePwrx9 said:

I'd make up a whacky story or two that explains the color. Coming from a guy in a Hawaiian shirt with colorful sneakers would make it so much the better.

Maybe:
You helped a stripper move one night to escape an abusive BF. She wanted to pay, but you were being good so she gave you the gun instead. Now you think of her every time you look at the gun.

Or

A pimp shoved it in your face at a bar and you took it away from him.

Possibilities are endless with a Hooker Gun. People who know you will know it's BS.

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AZAndy said:

My recently purchased CA .32H&R Professional is still at Charter, waiting for the sight alignment issue to be repaired. Fool that I am, I gleefully bought a bunch of brass for it the day it arrived, since I already had dies and projectiles from my .32 Long reloading. So now I had a bunch of cartridges and nothing to shoot them with.

Popped on to the local wholesaler Davidson's website, did a search for .32H&R, and saw that the only company still making revolvers for that cartridge is Charter. Worse, the only model not out-of-stock was the Pink Lady. Oh, what the heck. I ordered one. Though the site showed it in stock here, it wasn't, so it was shipped from North Carolina.

So here's the scoop. Just like me, it had a couple of loose screws when it arrived-- the cylinder release latch screw was not even finger-tight, and the grip screw needed some attention too. I don't think that's a big deal; I'm in the habit of always checking the screws on any new gun because I'm used to having to do a little tightening, even on higher-end items. And of course the barrel and cylinder needed some swabbing, but that's normal.

Single action trigger is a nice 4 pounds. Double action is 11, but smooth enough that it doesn't feel like a chore to operate. Cylinder lockup is as tight as any S&W. My postal scale says it weighs 15 ounces, which is what my old S&W 642 weighed. That gave me a little pause, as the reason I got rid of my Airweights was that they were just too unpleasant to shoot, but shooting this one today showed me that the cartridge isn't all that heavy-duty, despite being called "Magnum."

My range test of one commercial load and three handmades showed that it's 1 3/4" low at ten yards, which is a lot better than the Professional was at least. The good thing is that the front sight can be filed, so I'll get that straightened out tomorrow morning. The groups were really good-- 1 1/2" to 2", depending on the load-- and if I aimed at the top of the 3 1/2" circle on the target, I could tear the bullseye out of it. I can't usually shoot a snubnose that well, so I was pleased.

Pros:
-- Price was fair. With tax, title, and dealer's prep, it was 375 total.
-- Fits J-Frame holsters, of which I have... let's say "a few."
-- Mechanically just fine, and has a transfer bar for drop safety.
-- Weight suits the cartridge well, and should be an easy gun to carry if I want to.

Cons:
-- The full-sized grip is a little silly. Even a full-power .32 Magnum ain't all that. (I've ordered the standard small wood grips for it.)
-- Only five rounds, and I really can't understand why they did that.
-- The throw on the extractor rod is too short, but it's a 2" barrel, so that's how it goes.

View attachment 921145
If you're saying to yourself, "Hey, that looks like Unique soot," you'd be right. Two of the loads used Unique, and I only shot twenty of them total.

Oh yeah, the color. I don't want to talk about the color. You go right ahead if you want to. I don't want to.

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AZAndy said:

The CA website says it weighs 12, but that must be without the grip. With the smaller wood grips it's wearing now, it's 13.5 ounces, and exactly a pound loaded. The frame is aluminum.

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Zendude said:

The more you shoot it, the more you will like it. Here’s my 32 H&R Undercoverette. If you want to pocket carry, you can order the boot grip and spurless hammer from CA.
View attachment 921497

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Zendude said:

The more you shoot it, the more you will like it. Here’s my 32 H&R Undercoverette. If you want to pocket carry, you can order the boot grip and spurless hammer from CA.
View attachment 921497

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AZAndy said:

Here's what it looks like with its new style of dress:
View attachment 922005
That's a BK grip adapter for J-Frames. I filed about a mm off the bottom of it. Haven't shot it set up like this yet, but it can't be as harsh as my old 642 with wood grips was.

If you need speed strips, Tuff's Quickstrips come in .32. I got mine on Amazon.

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Zendude said:

Make sure to check your Tuff strips occasionally- after 2 years mine got dry and brittle and cracked apart. I replaced them with a new set.

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