AZAndy
Member
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.
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.
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.
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.
