.32 long S&W question

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ACORN

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A guy has a 3” swing out cylinder .32 long, round butt, with factory diamond stocks serial #527xxx for sale. I am unsure if it’s an I or J frame and forgot to look for a model number, if any. Looks to have about 85% bluing left. $325.
Anyone tell me the shipment date or any other info?
I’d ask on the S&W forum but I am on “vacation” from there.
I’ve been looking for a .32 Smith.
Would you?
 
A guy has a 3” swing out cylinder .32 long, round butt, with factory diamond stocks serial #527xxx for sale. I am unsure if it’s an I or J frame and forgot to look for a model number, if any. Looks to have about 85% bluing left. $325.
Anyone tell me the shipment date or any other info?
I’d ask on the S&W forum but I am on “vacation” from there.
I’ve been looking for a .32 Smith.
Would you?
With 85% finish I would be looking at it but I would also be asking to inspect the internals for signs of moisture damage. So-called “car guns” are exposed to a lot of moisture and heat. Carry guns are exposed to moisture and salt (via sweat). The old Smiths are getting snapped up quickly and so are spare parts.

There’s a S&W date thread just for dating S&W revolvers. Check there to see if your serial number range has already been dated (pretty sure it has). Good luck and if it’s clean inside go for it.
 
I would have to have more information than what your giving to even come close to a decade. Number of screws in the left side plate, type of front sight, type of grips, there were several types on the older models.
Can't you call the guy that has it and ask what model it is?
There are 5 types of hand ejector models in the I-frames alone, maybe more, before you even get to the ones with model #s.
Take a picture of it next time so we have a better chance of helping.
 
According to the Standard Catalog, that'd be a .32 Hand Ejector Third Model that probably shipped sometime in the early 1940s. The model after that one starts with #536685 in 1946, and the one you're looking at ended production in 1942 with serial 536684. It'd be a standard I-Frame, with five screws. If it functions, I would absolutely buy it for that price, especially with that barrel length (all of mine are 4"). They're fun to shoot and not hard to reload for. Your kindly old Uncle Andy says jump on it! :)
 
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What makes these desirable?
I inherited a 30-1 3" mint in original box that I've always considered my most useless gun.
I'm not a collector, don't carry, so I really don't understand.
 
My snub 30-1 is one of my favorite shooters. Easy to carry; cheap to feed with light reloads; accurate far beyond expectations. An extraordinary fun gun.

It is like dry-firing with sound effects...almost as much recoil as a 22 Stinger!

If I had to dump guns, my 30-1 would be one of the last to go.

Guy, you have a real gem in the 30-1.

BOARHUNTER
 
Guy,

Did I mention the snub 30-1 is one of my favorite target guns?

Run a 6" plate out to 50' and blaze away DAO... Great fun. And with a little practice, the gun will hit every time.

Give it a chance. And if you still don't feel the love, I will be happy to give it a good home.

BOARHUNTER
 
A guy has a 3” swing out cylinder .32 long, round butt, with factory diamond stocks serial #527xxx for sale. I am unsure if it’s an I or J frame and forgot to look for a model number, if any. Looks to have about 85% bluing left. $325.
Anyone tell me the shipment date or any other info?
I’d ask on the S&W forum but I am on “vacation” from there.
I’ve been looking for a .32 Smith.
Would you?
Sounds like a 32 Hand Ejector Third Model; serial number range 263001-536684 made between 1917-1942, so probably late 30s early 40s. That should be an I frame
As to time out, if that is from the Blue S&W, there is another S&W one
 
What makes these desirable?
I inherited a 30-1 3" mint in original box that I've always considered my most useless gun.
I'm not a collector, don't carry, so I really don't understand.

I don't know that I'd call them "desirable," exactly. If I didn't reload, I wouldn't bother with them. For me, the interest is partly related to firearms history. S&W's first hand ejector was chambered in .32 Long (1896). And they're fun to shoot. If I want to go out and shoot hundreds of rounds without assaulting my creaky old wrists, I'll grab .32 Long or .32ACP. I can still handle .45ACP, but not in the quantities of ten years ago.

Plus, if you're ever out in the woods and are threatened by a small pack of ill-mannered rabbits-- you can spot 'em easily, they're the ones smoking unfiltered Camels-- you'll wish you had your M30 with you. It's a one-shot stop in that situation.
 
In the current situation, grab it and see if it appeals to you. If he has any ammo to go with it, so much the better.

If no appeal, I'm sure you can easily dispose of it, probably with a profit.
 
I have a basic 4" I frame in 32SWL; fun to shoot and zip for recoil. Used to have a rare 32R&P target model with 6" barrel and adjustable target sights; a collector on the Blue forum really wanted it.......That funded a new shotgun for me..................worked out well.
 
What makes these desirable?
I inherited a 30-1 3" mint in original box that I've always considered my most useless gun.
I'm not a collector, don't carry, so I really don't understand.
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The .32S&W Long and its variants - the .32 H&R, .32 Colt New Police, 7.65x23R, etc. - was at one time considered a good police cartridge - sufficient to stop an assault or deter a mugging. The inherent accuracy and light recoil of the round made it a good choice for close-range deterrence, even if it was considerably less lethal than larger, more powerful cartridge choices. But that was a long time ago. Now, of course, we "know" because the experts all agree that a .32 Long is insufficient for anything but close-range target plinking. It will just bounce off of a bad guy and make them angry. (okay, maybe the last bit was sarcasm;)).
 
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The .32S&W Long and its variants - the .32 H&R, .32 Colt New Police, 7.65x23R, etc. - was at one time considered a good police cartridge - sufficient to stop an assault or deter a mugging. The inherent accuracy and light recoil of the round made it a good choice for close-range deterrence, even if it was considerably less lethal than larger, more powerful cartridge choices. But that was a long time ago. Now, of course, we "know" because the experts all agree that a .32 Long is insufficient for anything but close-range target plinking. It will just bounce off of a bad guy and make them angry. (okay, maybe the last bit was sarcasm;)).
I've always been a little amused that Teddy Roosevelt, when police commissioner for NYC, upgraded the force to .32 Long. Not sure what they were using before. Of course, that was in the mid-1890s, so probably not a lot of good choices at the time anyway. .38 Special didn't come along 'til 1898.
 
What makes these desirable?
I inherited a 30-1 3" mint in original box that I've always considered my most useless gun.
I'm not a collector, don't carry, so I really don't understand.
That is the same gun I have and it is my favorite revolver. Easily my favorite, and by a wide margin. The guns shoot incredibly well, and are powerful enough to do most things well but not so powerful to make them unpleasant to shoot. With factory ammo they are quite unimpressive but that is due to severely underpowered loads on account of the cheap and low quality guns made from pot metal. Real top end 32 long loads make the gun shine. Sadly your first opinion is that the gun is poorly thought out and it’s hard to change a first opinion, especially one that has had time to settle in and be seen as fact.
 
I’ve been looking for a .32 Smith.
Would you?

Most likely yes. Condition would be a concern, but functional and visually appealing guns would easily convince me that they need to come home with me. An I frame 32 is high on my list to aquire and 325 seems reasonable if the gun is even remotely nice.
 
I've always been a little amused that Teddy Roosevelt, when police commissioner for NYC, upgraded the force to .32 Long. Not sure what they were using before. Of course, that was in the mid-1890s, so probably not a lot of good choices at the time anyway. .38 Special didn't come along 'til 1898.
Before Teddy Roosevelt and the NYC Policing Commission created the standard-issue weapons policy, there was no standard-issue weapon. Officers were responsible for arming themselves and supplying both ammunition and weapon. In the West, this typically meant a practical woods gun, military surplus, or ranching weapon - a large revolver in .44-40, .45 Colt, .44 or .45 S&W, etc. and a hunting rifle of some kind - but "back East" where gun control laws were already becoming the norm, it often meant an inexpensive "bicycle" or pocket revolver of questionable reliability and less-than-stellar accuracy. If you read through the Commission's report, it's pretty obvious they all considered accuracy and safe construction to be paramount. Having innocent bystanders injured because a patrolman's weapon was dropped, or they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from inside a stable, was unacceptable. "Power" was not considered all that important; hitting what the patrolman was aiming at was very important. Remember, this was long before penicillin when getting shot at all was a very bad thing. Hospitals were for the dying; curing wounds inflicted because one ran from the lawful orders of a police officer resulted in arrest and more severe penalties - if one survived the careful ministrations of the physicians (this is back when "modern medicine" prescribed electroshock for migraines, morphine syrups to ease teething infants, tobacco for morning sickness, and doctors dusted the gums of children who lost baby teeth with powders that contained mercury or radium to help new teeth grow in straight).

The idea of policing is to secure an arrest and turn a suspect over to the courts for trial, not blow grapefruit-sized holes in every suspicious character encountered hoping to get a "real criminal," eventually.
 
Before Teddy Roosevelt and the NYC Policing Commission created the standard-issue weapons policy, there was no standard-issue weapon. Officers were responsible for arming themselves and supplying both ammunition and weapon. In the West, this typically meant a practical woods gun, military surplus, or ranching weapon - a large revolver in .44-40, .45 Colt, .44 or .45 S&W, etc. and a hunting rifle of some kind - but "back East" where gun control laws were already becoming the norm, it often meant an inexpensive "bicycle" or pocket revolver of questionable reliability and less-than-stellar accuracy. If you read through the Commission's report, it's pretty obvious they all considered accuracy and safe construction to be paramount. Having innocent bystanders injured because a patrolman's weapon was dropped, or they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from inside a stable, was unacceptable. "Power" was not considered all that important; hitting what the patrolman was aiming at was very important.

Thanks for the information! I'll have to track down the Commission's report; it sounds interesting. On the medical front you mentioned, I'm reminded of the women who painted numbers on watch dials using radium paint, and would restore the brush point with their lips. That did not end well. I'm only 64, but remember taking an opiate-containing syrup for diarrhea (paragoric) as a youngster, as well as buying codeine cough syrup as a teenager (I think I had to sign a piece of paper, but there was no prescription,) both of which would likely not be considered okay nowadays. Times have changed!
 
Thanks for the information! I'll have to track down the Commission's report; it sounds interesting. On the medical front you mentioned, I'm reminded of the women who painted numbers on watch dials using radium paint, and would restore the brush point with their lips. That did not end well. I'm only 64, but remember taking an opiate-containing syrup for diarrhea (paragoric) as a youngster, as well as buying codeine cough syrup as a teenager (I think I had to sign a piece of paper, but there was no prescription,) both of which would likely not be considered okay nowadays. Times have changed!
Probably the most comprehensive reference is, "Commissioner Roosevelt: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt and the New York City Police, 1895-1897" by H. Paul Jeffers. It reads like a crime novel but it's a an accurate history. TR was that much bigger than life.
 
Probably the most comprehensive reference is, "Commissioner Roosevelt: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt and the New York City Police, 1895-1897" by H. Paul Jeffers. It reads like a crime novel but it's a an accurate history. TR was that much bigger than life.
Thank you again! I will seek that out. And yes, ol' Teddy was an impressive guy, not to mention complicated.

Edit to add: just ordered the book from Amazon. Looks like it's out of print, but some used book sellers had it.
 
What makes these desirable?
I inherited a 30-1 3" mint in original box that I've always considered my most useless gun.
I'm not a collector, don't carry, so I really don't understand.
I have both a S&W Model 30 and Model 31 32 S&WL revolvers, the primary difference is the grip frame. Both shoot incredibly small groups with 32 S&WL wadcutter ammunition.

I’d like to get a K frame sized revolver with adjustable sights chambered in 32 S&WL but S&W K-32 and S&W Model 16-0 through Model 16-3 revolvers are near as rare as hen’s teeth and require a small fortune to aquire.

I feel 32 S&WL could be the “reloadable” 22LR if supported by the gun manufacturers and ammunition manufacturers.

But alas, I do not feel the manufacturers will make the leap. We as shooters are too hung up on Magnum ammunition these days.
 
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I have an 1896 , and 4 1903's . I had 5 1903's but gave one to my sister in law after my brother passed. Nothin near mint these are all shooter and the .32 S&WL is an easy and fun cartridge to shoot. For people that have smaller hands and arthritic joints it can still bite. For whatever reasons they are typically accurate.
 
Howdy

This is similar to what the Original Poster is asking about. Similar, but not quite the same. This is a 32 Hand Ejector (Postwar) also known as the Pre-Model 30. It is built on the I frame.

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The model the OP is talking about is the 32 Hand Ejector 3rd Model. His serial number, 527xxx, falls toward the end of 3rd Model production. As previously stated, the 3rd Model was made from 1917 until 1942 with serial number range of 236001 through 536684. After the War, production started with the Postwar model in 1946 until 1960 with serial numbers 536685 through 712953. Produced from 1946 until 1960, it became the Model 30 in 1957.The SN of this Postwar is 5422XX and it shipped in 1950.

The differences are the 3rd Model had the old fashioned style of hammer block inside, the type that failed in a shipboard incident in 1944, the Postwar model had the modern style hammer block inside.





Also in the same serial number range is the 32 Regulation Police, both pre-war and post war versions.

This one is a pre-war 32 Regulation Police. Note the longer grip.

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The grips on the 32 and 38 Regulation Police were inletted to form a longer grip with the curved shape of the grip frame.

pmFmDApAj.jpg




Smith and Wesson obtained a patent on this grip style on 1917.

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With the name Regulation Police, obviously these 32s were popular with police officers.
 
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