.32 s&w long reamed out to magnum?

[JERRY]

Considering how robust the Smith and Wesson model 30 and 30-1s are... has anyone here actually done or had done one of these reamed out to accept h&r magnum ammo? How much does it take to do this?

 

[CraigC]

Wouldn't take much. The gunsmith doing the job should know if it's safe or not.

 

[JERRY]

Wouldn't take much. The gunsmith doing the job should know if it's safe or not.

I know it's safe. I'm wondering how much reaming is required and has anyone done it?

 

[StrawHat]

A hand held reamer is all that is needed to deepen the chambers. They can be rented from a couple of places. Remember, use lots of oil and turn only in the cutting direction. Do not reverse the reamer.

Or, get in touch with Andy Horvath. He did something similar for my elder brother.

Kevin

 

[JERRY]

A hand held reamer is all that is needed to deepen the chambers. They can be rented from a couple of places. Remember, use lots of oil and turn only in the cutting direction. Do not reverse the reamer.

Or, get in touch with Andy Horvath. He did something similar for my elder brother.

Kevin

Thanks for that tip. I'm considering buying a 30- 1 and just sending the cylinder out to be reamed out for the H and R magnum.

 

[lincen]

I have reamed three Smith and Wesson and one Colt. Having access to a variety of reamers and having a bit of a machinist background it was fairly easy. You must use cutting oil and be patient and measure the depth as you go. I removed the cylinder and used a padded vise to hold it and a tap handle to hold the reamer.

 

[whatnickname]

Easily done but, why do it? You will destroy the value of the gun. The H&R is not that much more powerful. If you want a 32 H&R Magnum, buy one chambered for that round or buy a Ruger chambered in 327 Federal.

 

[ontarget]

Don't buy a Ruger, if you want a S&W.
I say ream it if you want to.
Buy what you like and enjoy it.
I'd love to have a D/A 3 or 4 inch S&W 32 mag. I have a Single Six in 32 mag.
No use for a 327 soooo, I might just do what you are considering.
If you go through with it be sure to let us know how it works out.

 

[lincen]

Before deciding to modify any gun it is wise to do a great deal of research and I did. To me it was no different than having a 357 magnum revolver and mainly shooting 38 special ammo since I mainly shoot the 32 Longs. I do have a good number of S&W 32 revolvers and most I wouldn’t modify. The ones I did had worn finish and had been bought at a good low price. I also own newer S&W, Ruger, Taurus, and Charter Arms that are chambered in 327 and 32 magnum.

 

[Old Hobo]

OK, I'm a broken record. However, I am NOT in any way associated with Buffalo Bore Ammunition.

Again, I will recommend BufBore ammo for the .32 Long. I've used this in an old .32 S&W hand ejector without any negative issues. It is accurate and hits far harder than standard .32 Long ammo. BufBore has this in 115 gr flat-nose and 100 gr hard-cast wad-cutter. For me at the range, the latter splintered the dickens out of a 2"x4". I'd deeply fear getting hit with something like that! Their wadcutter entrance holes were cut, not punched -- no indent, was cookie-cutter cut. Likely, no animal tissues, organs, nor arteries would be pushed aside -- they'd get cut.

Instead of going to another chambering, one can safely use ammunition loaded to standard pressure but with more energy.

This BufBore ammo is not going to cause you to lose fingers. I'm not so sure I would EVER re-chamber a .32 Long to a .32 H&R mag. Even back in the S&W Hand Ejector days, that company began hardening their cylinders after a few years of production, so I'm sure the J-frame revolvers have hardened cylinders. That said, still, I like having all of my fingers. I've never had a cylinder come apart, but I have had a forcing cone ripped wide open.
.

 

[lincen]

That Buffalo Bore ammo is indeed a cut above any 32 long available. I have three boxes of it and consider it sufficient when carrying any of the 32 to 327 handguns.

 

[GooseGestapo]

If you reload, the .32swl becomes a “horse of a different color “…
I wouldn’t shoot a Buffalo Bore round through an old Hand Ejector, but a newer M31 would be different.
I’d definitely consider reaming a .32swl to .32mag.
I’m using a “book” load of .32mag in my Taurus M76. It gets 1,300fps with a Hornady 100gr XTP. Very accurate too!
A 90gr lead semi wadcutter bullet over 2.5gr of Bullseye is my .32swl load. It’ll penetrate 15” of ballistic gell.

32 S&W Long Ammo For Sale - 100 gr Lead Rounds Nose - 32 S&W Long Ammunition by Sellier & Bellot For Sale - 50 Rounds

32 S&W Long Ammo In Stock - 100 gr LRN - Sellier & Bellot Ammunition - 50 Rounds For Sale at LuckyGunner.com

www.luckygunner.com

 

[golden]

Just from a liability perspective. You would void the warranty and if the gun blows up, it would be your fault from a legal point of view. If the gun was not designed for a magnum round, you should just get a different round. Remember, even Elmer KEITH, the father of the .41 and .44 magnum blew up a number of guns with loads they were not designed for.

Jim

 

[lincen]

I do agree about not modifying most guns but the factory 32 magnum rounds are not even considered to be a magnum round by many folks that reload. Also, as has been mentioned before, the 32 long can be loaded to near 32 magnum levels and safely fired from post WW2 Smiths and Colts. 41 and 44 magnum would certainly be an experiment that I would never try. Same for 327 magnum, total different animal.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I have two of the Taurus M76 revolvers, a 6" 32 Long. That same model is (was) available chambered in 32 H&R Mag.

I've been contemplating reaming one of the revolvers to 32 Mag. I see I reason not to do it, but there are so many other projects demanding my time and money.

And, suppressors are not cheap.

Having said that, I have both SW M30 and a M31. There is no way I would consider permanent modifications to either.

 

[Sarge7402]

First the .32 s&w long operates at just under 20,000 psi while the.327 goes in the neighborhood of 35,000. Psi. S&w heat treats their .357 cylinders much differently than for their .38 s. Want a magnum buy one. Leave the.32 as s is and load buffalo bore .

Don't want to spend the loot on bb load some .32 ACP and have fun. The semi rims work pretty well. And yes I ve got a hand ejector

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

First the .32 s&w long operates at just under 20,000 psi while the.327 goes in the neighborhood of 35,000. Psi. S&w heat treats their .357 cylinders much differently than for their .38 s. Want a magnum buy one. Leave the.32 as s is and load buffalo bore .

Don't want to spend the loot on bb load some .32 ACP and have fun. The semi rims work pretty well. And yes I ve got a hand ejector

Actually, the 32 Long has a SAAMI pressure of 15kpsi.
32 H&R Mag runs at 20k, both CUP and PSI.

I don't think the 327 Fed Mag was part of the OP.

 

[TTv2]

I would leave the chambers unmodified and load .32 Long a bit hotter. The extra pressure isn't going to bust the brass, but you won't be able to find any factory defensive loads outside of the boutiques to get decent .32 Long ammo.

If you want a good .32 Mag that bad, pay up for the older S&W ones or wait for an old Taurus on gunbroker.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

I haven't exactly done this, but I did ream a couple of aftermarket .32 ACP cylinders for Soviet Nagant revolvers to take .32 H&R. This didn't affect originality since the 7.62 Nagant cylinders remained unaltered.



While I'm confident altering a reasonably modern (and not an old topbreak) S&W from .32 Long to .32 H&R is safe, I personally prefer my S&Ws unaltered.

Weirder still, I've also used a .32 H&R reamer to extend .32 S&W chambers to .32 ACP length on another aftermarket cartridge conversion cylinder for a Pietta Remington 1858 pocket revolver. I did this because I wanted the option of using handloaded .32 ACP brass instead of harder to source .32 S&W brass. BTW. .32 ACP cartridges look funny handloaded (lightly!) with wadcutters! Since then, availability of PPU .32 S&W brass has improved, so I can make use of either. This is a fun gun to shoot -- at 5 yards you aim it at crotch level to hit center of mass on a human silhouette target.



BTW, I just hand-turn the reamer using an adjustable crescent wrench, patience and lots of cutting oil.

 

[Walkalong]

BTW. .32 ACP cartridges look funny handloaded (lightly!) with wadcutters!

Yep.

These will chamber in my FN M-1922. Was just playing around.

 

[Old Hobo]

Yep.

These will chamber in my FN M-1922. Was just playing around.
View attachment 1163826

"Do you ever wonder why nobody ever robs the bag man for the mob? No, you don't."

Used to, maybe still (?), homeless women pushing grocery carts were used by gangs to transport money/funds. Nobody EVER robbed them. I think we all know why.

As to wadcutters with gas-checks or hard-cast (or hard-cast AND gas-checked) -- loaded at safe pressure levels, yet at maximum velocities (what powders do you use Buffalo Bore or other ammo loading companies?!) -- are that which we may have to use. "As best we can" must suffice. We all have the weapons we want / the ammo we wish to use; yet, are we to just toss away weapons of the past?! How deeply insulting! These "obsolete" firearms we use for plinking at the range AND why not let them see practical use?!!! I have many "obsolete" firearms. I DO NOT HAVE ANY wall-hangers. If it is a firearm, I shoot it ... even as did generations before me. I have an indescribable respect for generations who made my life possible, my Liberty possible. Liberty is sacred.

I have my ancestors' tools and I have their firearms. I use them! I have a revolver in my pocket right now that is over 110 years old. It works. I've shot it and will shoot it. It works, the other "oldies" work. I will NOT insult generations prior to my own. If a machine or mechanism works, it works. I'll NOT hang it on a wall and let it go disused -- I won't. I use hand-cranked drills -- why run an electric cable when I have a hand-cranked drill in my tall roll-about tool chest?! And here's a point, they were better craftsmen than I. I find so many younger generations, even my own generation, utterly bereft of humility. (And here's another matter: Is it a perpetual given that we will perpetually provided electricity?! I've had to do without electricity for days on end. Is it a given that we will be provided police protection when the dollar becomes toilet paper?!)

Let us never forget that our ancestors were, at the very least, as intelligent as are we. Their choices in ammunition and firearms put food on their supper tables. Reason and discipline are the core entities that work over time. Shortcuts most often do not work. Again, humility and reasoned preparation go a long way to make human survival possible. Human history proves these realities to be true.
.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

"Do you ever wonder why nobody ever robs the bag man for the mob? No, you don't."
If a machine or mechanism works, it works. I'll NOT hang it on a wall and let it go disused -- I won't. I use hand-cranked drills -- why run an electric cable when I have a hand-cranked drill in my tall roll-about tool chest?! And here's a point, they were better craftsmen than I.

Funny you should mention this -- I just had my old eggbeater drill out yesterday to bore a tiny pilot hole in my bedroom for a screw eye. Seldom the first tool I reach for, but it still works as advertised.

On the other hand, last week I bought a second (duplicate) floor-sweeping robot.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

On the other hand, last week I bought a second floor sweeping robot.

How does the robot know it's on the second floor?

Boy oh boy, technology is really advancing.

 

[Old Hobo]

Funny you should mention this -- I just had my old eggbeater drill out yesterday to bore a tiny pilot hole in my bedroom for a screw eye. Seldom the first tool I reach for, but it still works as advertised.

On the other hand, last week I bought a second floor sweeping robot.

Used to live in Tennessee and thus power companies got their power feed from TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority. Lived immediately adjacent to the Appalachian Mountains.

Between the blackouts / fluctuating electric feed from a government-run agency and harsh winters in a mountainous area, our electric power was NOT any sort of given. Nope. We're talking hand tools, kerosene lamps, and wood stoves. My grandparents weren't raised with electricity. My parents grew up without indoor plumbing (born in the 1920s). Y'think maybe that as a boy I was exposed to getting by without electricity?! When shopping in some antique mall with my wife, if I buy a tool it is certainly not for sentimental reasons -- I'm gonna use it. (Born first Eisenhower administration in Appalachia -- things were a little bit different back then.)

"On the other hand, last week I bought a second floor sweeping robot."

As soon as my kin could buy electric appliances, they did! As a boy, I'd help my grandmother with chores. Her eeeeelectric washing machine was from the 1920s maybe 1930s (?) earlier; it had the roller wringers and external tanks (she was born before the year 1900). I was raised by people who'd endured hardship unknowable to the youth of today. When they could buy machines that made their lives easier, they jumped on such opportunities.

I found a picture of her washing machine via and online search. This looks to be the exact one! Can't believe I found it. This image doesn't show the external tubs where the rinsing was done. Used the ringers to get washed clothes out of the washer into first rinse tub. Then pivot the wringers so as to mash-out that water and send clothes to second rinsing tub. Pivot the rollers again to mash out that water and have the finished product. The clothes were then hung outside on the lines for final drying. "Boy! Git yore fingers away from them thar rollers! Hittle rip yore fingers plum off!"

.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

How does the robot know it's on the second floor?

Boy oh boy, technology is really advancing.

Walked into that one -- clarification with punctuation has been applied.