Is the 327 Mag a flash in the pan?

[MachIVshooter]

It won't go away, but I don't expect it'll ever see a spectacular following, either. IMO, it's ideal for a J-frame type revolver, giving substantially better performance with an extra round to boot. But, not that many people are buying snubs for CCW these days, and especially not the heavy SP-101.

I could see the .327 ending up in the same situation as the 10mm (my favorite handgun cartridge)

I don't think it'll even garner that much of a following. The 10mm has much greater utility, and offers substantially more power than the cartridge it is most often compared to, not almost as much, as is the case with the .327 FM vs. .357 S&W mag.

 

[Stainz]

If Taurus and Charter Arms are indicators, it has peaked. They've both dropped most of their offerings. It's ignoble start - from Ruger's glut of 3" SP101s from their .32 H&RM stash - wasn't awe inspiring. All they had to do was ream the chambers a bit deeper and stamp them .327 Magnum. They came out with a new .22LR chambered SP101 - with decent sights - no such .327 Magnum animal. Try to find their offerings available now, too. S&W drug their feet in releasing the 632 Pro (below) for 18 months, making it likely the last new offering.



The added S&W '60 Pro' grips help with the recoil of 'real' .327 Federal Magnums, like the Speer 115gr Gold Dots. Whoever said it had the power of a .357 Magnum and the recoil of a .38 obviously hasn't shot that revolver with those Gold Dots (... or the AE 100gr JSP!). It preserves the 'feel' of a real .357 Magnum shot from a J-frame quite well! The light and noise show is quite entertaining. Of course, it also chambers the other .32's... including the also hard to find .32 H&RM.

I may keep looking for a .327 Federal Magnum GP100... I want adjustable sights and a 4" barrel - that CA Patriot 'Target' model like that was closed-out last year. I continue to enjoy my stash of .32 S&WL - still a fun little round, even if it won't drop a steel plate...

As to longevity - it took the .32 H&RM cartridge over two decades to finally fizzle - I doubt that the .327 Magnum will have half that life.


Stainz

PS Quick check of their sites - no Taurus .32's of any kind this year, even last year's .32 H&RM 731/741 were dropped. CA still has their 'Undercoverette' in .32 H&RM - that's it. S&W still has the 632 Comp & 632 Pro. Ruger has the SP101, Blackhawk, & GP100 models listed in .327 - still on their site.

 

[lathedog]

I think it is a cartridge that has a place, but having said that I see less and less on the shelves every year. Fewer guns, and fewer stores stocking the ammo.

That is not to say it is not a good cartridge, or well thought out, or anything like that. I remember 32 H&R Mag went thru the same "bubble" of interest then died down to a lower level of interest.

I can't think of many examples of cartridges that actually go completely away, unless they were proprietary and/or limited manufacture: 9mm Federal; 41 Action Express; 357/41/44 Automag; not sure if 32 NAA is still around.

I think 327 has enough backing to stick around in some limited form. You can always shoot 32 S&W Long or 32 H&R Mag thru your gun, so you should never find yourself in a world where no factory ammo is produced for your gun.

 

[Phil W]

327 mag....

You may be right. The 327 could be the Beta of firearms. Which in THIS case, may make it collectable.

 

[Nanook]

I can't see the future, although that would be handy. I do like the round, and I do reload so it shouldn't be a problem for however much time is left in my personal hourglass.

I'd like a lever action rifle in that caliber, as well. Marlin used to make a lever gun in .32 H&R Mag, but they didn't make many. They go for a premium nowadays.

I have a GP-100 in .327 Fed Mag, and like it a lot. The factory ammo is spotty and high-priced when available, and at the moment brass is difficult to find. I bought some Federal ammo, and since revolvers don't fling brass all over creation the brass will last for quite some time.

Heck, .45 Gap is still lurking around out there, and I've never even met anyone who has one of those. You never know.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Heck, .45 Gap is still lurking around out there, and I've never even met anyone who has one of those. You never know.

My S&W 4506 and 4516 will reliably feed and fire .45 GAP. Does that count? lol. (A friend of mine bought some by accident, just had to try it)

 

[303tom]

I shoot .327 out of my .303`s & they shoot great........

 

[evan price]

It's day is over. Federal killed it by not releasing brass to the handloader market in a timely fashion. Anybody who wants one of these will more likely than not be a handloader simply because of ammo expense and the nature of the 'odd' caliber.

Sure you can shoot H&R Mag or 32 S&W Longs in it, but if you want the real performance of the round you need to load it.

The fans of the 327 keep trying to compare it to the 357 Magnum. Look, it has as much or MORE muzzle energy than a 357! OKAY...let's compare.

How about Speer Gold Dot short-barrel:
(data from the Speer web site)

327 Fed Mag 4"
100-gr 1500 fps, M/E 500 ft/lbs
115-gr 1380 fps, M/E 486 ft/lbs

357 Magnum 4"
125-gr 1450 fps, M/E 584 ft/lbs
158-gr 1235 fps, M/E 535 ft/lbs

Hmmm... that doesn't look too promising. Where's the performance to equal or exceed a 357???

Oh wait. There's this max-charge 327 Federal Magnum load that keeps getting talked about:
100 gr, 1880 fps M/E 780 ft/lbs

But they don't say that's from a 5.5" Blackhawk!

Run it through a 3.5" barrel, same load, and you get:
100 gr, 1400 fps M/E 435 ft/lbs

Umm.... oh. Not so great. And let me say this from firsthand experience- touch off those barn-burner 327 loads, and you darn-sure know you did it! They throw a fireball and a booming report like a rifle.

And in the 357, I can use slugs all the way up to 200 grain if I want. Or load it down to powderpuff with full wadcutters.

Look, I *like* the 32 S&W Long. It can be loaded from gallery up to over intended design limits, and it's fun.

You can do the same thing with the 38 Special and 357 Mag, too. And for less cost. And easier ammo to find. And you can load it as hard or soft as you want.

I'm not saying don't buy a 327. Hey, knock your socks off. I like shooting some weird stuff simply because I can. But don't try to say the 327 is somehow the answer to this question that nobody but gun magazine writers ever asked. In a rifle it would be quite nice. Like a 30-carbine, but rimmed.

I predict the 327 will go the way of the 32 H&R Mag. Limited ammo available, expensive if you find it.

I don't even think it will be as common as the (somewhat uncommom) 10mm or 44 Special.

If you like the idea, go get one, before they all go away and wind up as overpriced 'collectibles' or something. Have fun, that's what this hobby is about.

 

[303tom]

evan price; I just bought 400 cases from Midway a while back, got all they had. Just ordered another 400 a few days ago expecting them mid. March...........

 

[Remllez]

As someone mentioned earlier a 327 Federal magnum lever gun would likely sell and keep interest in the cartridge alive. At any rate it's a hand loaders round and will maintain a small number of die hard fans for years to come.

A scoped lever rifle with the light for caliber rounds makes sense for yotes and prairie dogs with a companion S/A piece on your hip, sounds like a hoot to me. As for a self defense load, we've been conditioned to bigger heavier equals better performance which leaves the little .32 wanting.

 

[evan price]

303tom: 327's been out for what, 5 years now?
Federal should have been shovelling the brass out the door by the truckload since it was destined to be a handloader's special and not a bulk ammo proposition. Seems to me they tried to force buyers to buy factory ammo first for the brass, and that's no way to win over handloaders. Federal rations out the brass just like Sony rationed Betamax technology and the VCR industry settled on the inferior but available VHS technology.

It's always on backorder or out of stock. There's no consistent supply. I can honestly get a lot odder cartridges much more reliably.

Starline doesn't make 327 Federal brass. That's really all that needs to be said. If Starline doesn't do it (at all, not even 'order held pending volume required' like some odder stuff) it's not going to succeed.

I managed to acquire a few hundred 327 Federal 1X fired brass last year and it sold quick.

 

[Coal Dragger]

Neat little round, nice to think about, but when push comes to shove I don't see myself buying one. I carry an auto for CCW, and if I am carrying a handgun in the field to hunt with or as protection I already have a big bore that I am comfortable with.

So where does that leave the .327? In a snubby it might be OK but short barrels can't get top velocities, so a bigger bore is really what you need. Then we consider the holster gun/field gun/range gun etc. Basically a full sized revolver with adjustable sights, a full sized grip, and at least a 4" barrel. A very useful gun that can fill many roles. The .327 is disadvantaged here as well, there are other far more versatile calibers available, I would be hard pressed to spend my money on one over a .357 given the wider range of capabilities that the .357 offers.

Even as a reloader I doubt I would have a place for one, and I am not averse to reloading for hard to find calibers. I reload for .280 AI, and .454 Casull for example, but both of those are more useful and have a wider range of components available.

 

[Trad Archer]

LOL

You haters crack me up.

Who ever said the 327 FM was meant to replace or duplicate the 357? LOL

I've never had any problem buying ammo and although the brass isn't always available from every distributor, there are a couple resourses I know of that always have brass.

This cartridge is a lot of fun to shoot and I also trust it as a self defense round. I've seen what it can do to a coyote. I know it's difficult to compare a 50 pound animal to a full grown man, but flesh is flesh and a 327 will have no problem turning a man's chest into a bowl of jello.

 

[Coal Dragger]

Where do you see anyone hating on the .327? I just wouldn't buy one given other choices, that doesn't make it bad just not for me.

 

[sugarmaker]

Personally, I don't need anything between .22LR and 38/357 - yet.

 

[Onward Allusion]

It doesn't matter because the guns are out there and they can shoot:

32 S&W
32 S&W Long
32 H&R Mag
327 Fed Mag
...and even
32 ACP in a pinch

 

[mashaffer]

I can't predict the future but my take on it has always been that it was a solution in search of a problem. There is nothing drastically wrong with the round as such but I don't see a need for a .32 loudenblaster. I guess if you really wanted something like that there is always the Ruger SA .30 carbine.

The .32H&R is a fine round IMO which is great for small game and a good balance for getting an extra round out of that pocket revolver for SD. For a small revolver the .327 is too much pressure and blast for my taste and the horse power is I think wasted in that application to some degree. I don't see the extra velocity as all that valuable.

For small game hunting again I see no need for mega velocity in a handgun. Might make a nice lever action round for varmints but we already have the .32-20 for that and the .327 really doesn't seem to bring much more to the table in that regard me thinks.

In general I think enough of the market is of the same mind WRT an ultra high velocity .32 so that it will remain sort of a niche thing but I doubt that it will die completely in the near future.

mike

 

[wrs840]

Heck, .45 Gap is still lurking around out there, and I've never even met anyone who has one of those...

A friend of mine carries a Glock 37 in .45GAP because he thinks it's the nexus of ideal cartridge and platform for his purposes. More choices are always better than fewer, I suppose.

 

[baylorattorney]

It's just a misnomer. .327 magnum should read .32 cal. Great marketing ploy tho as even I believed it to be akin to .357 mag until I did the research. There ought to be a law regarding misleading ads or ploys like this one.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

I'm looking at a Ruger in 327 magnum. Look in your crystal ball and tell me if the 327 magnum will be around for awhile or disappear tomorrow.


Dave

Well the .327 could very well lose it's popularity, but the gun won't be useless, stockpile some .327 JHP ammo for defensive carry or HD and you can always practice and enjoy your revolver on the range with .32 long or .32 H&R

 

[303tom]

This is what Ruger says about their GP-100........

WHY .327 FEDERAL MAGNUM?
• Performance that rivals a .357 Mag.
with 20% less felt recoil.
• Superior terminal performance with a
muzzle velocity of 1,525 feet per second.
• 7-round capacity.
• Also accepts .32 H&R Magnum,
.32 S&W Long, and .32 S&W.

 

[OldCavSoldier]

I think, regardless of the "numbers," that the .327 will eventually fall into the realm of a "novelty round." Kinda like the 10mm. With the very good availability of .38SPL-.357Mag ammunition and the relatively poor availability of .327 ammo, I think most folks will opt for something NOT .327.

That is not saying the .327 ain't a decent round...it is just saying that I don't see much of a future for it......

 

[leeroy71]

Seems like a great small game round. Although I've not seen one up close yet.
But there are alot of good small game rounds already.

Wasn't it origanly touted as a self-defense round? Not a cal. I'd pick for that.

Seems like trying to fill a void that doesn't exsist.?

 

[CraigC]

Seems like trying to fill a void that doesn't exsist.?

There's not a void between the .22Mag and the .357Mag???

Why is it that the market can support dozens and dozens of popular rifle cartridges but in handguns, we only need three or four???

 

[evan price]

@ CraigC: Probably because at the distance most handguns will be intended for use, the differences ballistically are not enough to bother with. At the distance a handgun is intended for use at, the differences between a 6MOA pistol and a 2MOA pistol are not apparant.

6MOA = 6" @ 100 yds, 2MOA = 2" @ 100yds.
6MOA = .6" @ 10 yds, 2MOA = .2" @ 10 yds.

(Yeah, I know MOA is not exactly inches, but close enough)

I dunno about y'all, but if I was getting consistent .6" groups at 10 yards with a pistol I'd be giggling with delight.

Whereas in rifles, bullet drop, wind shift, long range terminal performance, etc. are all factors. A 6" group at 100 yards would be cause for dismay.