Are there any .32 H&R Magnum revolvers currently manufactured (or plentiful old guns) available ?
I have an H&R Premier in .32 S&W (short), but think it is underpowered. Would like one in .32 H&R Magnum, but don't know of any currently manufactured (and believe too powerful for that gun design).
Revolvers like the H&R Premier (in particular, double-action revolvers of that general size) are no longer manufactured by anyone. That was the original poster's comment.
You are right that the H&R Premier is neither large nor strong enough to handle H&R 32 Magnum. That cartridge is about as long as 38 Special, and can actually develop higher pressure. The Premier type revolvers were only made for 22 rimfire and 32 S&W, which is a very low powered cartridge.
Revolvers of this general size have been replaced by small automatic pistols, which offer more shots of more powerful cartridges, a flatter shape, faster reloads, and reduced cost of manufacture. The manufacturing cost is lower for small automatic pistols compared to small revolvers because they permit greater use of high-strength plastics.
(If you read the preceding thread, you will find that everything I have said here is the subject of intense debate, which I do not mean to re-ignite, since it would involve a great deal of repetition.)
PS - This thread was originally part of a much longer one dating back to May 2014. That is the "original poster" I meant above.
PS - as Tallball points out below, 32 H&R Magnum revolvers were also made by a company called New England Firearms (NEF). This was a new name for H&R after it went bankrupt. Their revolvers were the same as the H&R models, but will be listed under the NEF name, of course.
32 Magnum revolvers are available, used and new, on a variety of internet websites, such as Gunbroker.com, Gunauction.com, Gunamerica.com, and so on. None of them are particularly cheap, because the cartridge never became widely popular, so the guns are scarce enough for collectors to keep the prices up. The H&R revolvers made for 32 Magnum were decent guns, and may be the cheapest used guns for it, but they were five-shot pistols just as bulky and heavy as a five shot 38 Special revolver, which was precisely the reason 32 Magnum did not catch on, IMO. For personal defense, it did not offer anything that 38 Special and 38 Special +P did not, and was expensive and hard to find. (To be fair, revolvers made by S&W and Ruger that were five shot in 38 Special were six shot in 32 Magnum, but that was not advantage enough to make a big difference.)
For small game hunting and target shooting (by handloaders) it did have something to offer, and those are the niches it survives in today, as far as I can tell.
Charter Arms revolvers are probably the least expensive available new in 32 Magnum. I don't know anything about them myself, and opinions about them seem to vary widely.
I like both 32 Long and 32 Magnum. I own a number of 32 Long revolvers, and one in 32 Magnum. 32 Long is probably my favorite cartridge to shoot. But it would not occur to me to tell anyone to buy a gun in either caliber for self-defense. 22 rimfire is much cheaper, which encourages practice, and is a better choice if minimal size and recoil are desired. 38 Special +P is more powerful and much easier to find (and also somewhat cheaper) if power is a consideration. And the compact semi-autos I mentioned above, in 25 ACP, 32 ACP, and 380 ACP, offer a variety of options in-between.
Once again, these are just my thoughts, from which many will differ. I hope they are helpful to you.
