.32acp in a revolver

[hans1911]

I just picked up a S&W 432PD in .32 H&R mag, and the ammo is difficult to find around my neck of the woods. I am ordering some from Georgia Arms. I am aware that I can also feed it .32 S&W longs and .32acp. The auto rounds are pretty common around the fun stores here, and cheaper than the longs. Does anyone shoot the auto rounds in their revolver much? How bad does accuracy suffer because of the long bullet jump?

thanks!


hans1911

 

[Shear_stress]

Don't know about the .32 ACPs, but AIM has a pretty good deal on .32 S&W Long:

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/32_S_W_Long.html

 

[Nameless_Hobo]

My father shoots .32 ACP in a .32 long Arminius revolver. It shoots well for a cheap, "saturday night special" revolver.

 

[Jim K]

A long bullet "jump" doesn't help accuracy, but that is not a target revolver. Accuracy with the .32 ACP should be good enough for the defense purposes the gun was designed for.

Jim

 

[Walkalong]

I shot some .32 Auto in a 3" barreled Smith this afternoon. 94 Degrees and sunny here in Alabama!

I wish I had chroned it, but I did not. It was 3.2 Grs. AA# 5 and a Winchester 71 Gr. FMJ in Magtech brass. That was one of two loads I tried today in a Seecamp .32 Auto. It gave an Avg. 736 FPS in th 2" barreled Seecamp. I was too lazy to set the chrono back up when I though to try this.

The AA# 5 load is a bit to hot in the Auto. OK, but hot. Back off to 3.0 Grs. and work up if you try it. 2.2 of AA # 2 was better and filled the case more as well. ( Avg. 698 FPS )

It shot fine in the Smith. I shot at a bowling pin at 30 yards with it and peppered all around it with 3 or 4 hits in 24 rounds. It does dirty up the chambers where the longer .32 S&W brass would go and the AA# 5 left unburned powder in the revolver where it did not fired in the Auto.

 

[Old Fuff]

It shot fine in the Smith. I shot at a bowling pin at 30 yards with it and peppered all around it with 3 or 4 hits in 24 rounds.

I define, "shot fine" differently.

3 or 4 hits out of 24 rounds @ 30 yards on bowling pins seems like a waste of good ammunition when the correct cartridge in the revolver is capable of making 100 percent hits if the shooter his job.

Also I would never consider carrying ammunition not intended for use in a particular gun, if that gun was being used for self defense - except in an emergency where there was no choice. An undersized rim on a .32 ACP case could allow the round to slip down far enough in the chamber to cause a misfire.

 

[461]

The acp shoots fine out of a H&R chamber and accuracy is on par with the .32Longs. The problem is that it is a semi-rimmed cartridge so it can slip under the extractor star and really jam things up for a bit, no danger of it slipping into the chamber unless your gun is dangerously over sized in the first place.

I tend to use it in my Single-Six as there are no extractor worries as with my SP-101. I also would not use it for defense purposes, but it's a decent plinker if you don't reload or have an acp chambered gun as well.

 

[Jim K]

I usually agree with Old Fuff, but in this case I think 461 makes a better point against use of the .32 ACP in a .32 revolver than OF. The round slipping down in the chamber is pretty unlikely unless the chamber is way out of spec or badly worn. But the extractor jumping a round and leaving the gun totally inoperable is very possible and would be fatal in a tight situation, assuming the (to me) unlikely event that someone would carry a .32 revolver with the wrong ammunition into such a situation.

In my above comment, I was answering the question about whether it could be done and the effect on accuracy, not on the overall desireability of the combination for the self defense role.

Jim

 

[Walkalong]

I define, "shot fine" differently

Don't blame the revolver. I can't do much better with the right cartridge. I just can't see those little sights. I agree that it is not a great idea to purposely carry .32 Auto in a .32 S&W Long revolver, but it will make it go bang and do reasonably well if that is all you have.

The problem is that it is a semi-rimmed cartridge so it can slip under the extractor star and really jam things up for a bit

Never even thought of that. Very good point. I was just playing around. Heard it would work and wanted to try it.