Thinking of getting a .32 revolver

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Thirties

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Thinking of getting a used .32 revolver (smokeless powder), but I'm confused about the different .32 cartridges.

.32 s&w
.32 short colt
.32 s&w long
.32-20
.32 h&r magnum

and there is the .32acp which I currently shoot and load in autopistols.

Which caliber(s) are compatable with which?

Do the revolvers which shoot .32acp do it well?

Which .32 revolver cartridges would use the same loading dies and bullets as the .32acp?

Which .32 revolver cartridges are the most accurate? I've heard that one of the .32s was/is a superb target caliber.

Which .32 relolvers are the good ones; which are junk?

Thank you all...
 
Welcome to the world of confusion!

OK, in the following lists, a round listed first will fit and fire in guns chambered for rounds listed after it.

.32 S&W -> .32 S&W Long (aka .32 Colt New Police) -> .32 H&R Mag.

What this tells you is that the .32 S&W Long will fire in guns chambered for the .32 H&R Mag., but NOT in those chambered for .32 S&W.


In the Colt arena, we have...

.32 Short Colt -> .32 Long Colt


The .32 ACP will fire in SOME modern revolvers, but it's not a great thing to do.

The .32-20 was originally a rifle cartridge. It won't fit/fire in any other guns.

Now on to the cartridges themselves...

The .32 S&W was one of the most popular "pocket revolver" cartridges ever developed. It was introduced in the early to mid 1870s, and was chambered in literally millions of revolvers from makers such as S&W, H&R, Iver Johnson, Forehand & Wadsworth, etc.

Most of these guns are breaktop revolvers, an older, less strong design. To the best of my knowledge, no new revolvers have been chambered for this round since the 1970s (H&R). It's no longer common, and ammo, while available, can be hard to find.

The .32 Short Colt was a competitor to the .32 S&W. It was never nearly as popular, and is essentially obsolete.

The .32 S&W Long was introduced in 1896 in S&Ws' first swing cylinder "Hand Ejectors." An excellent target cartridge, it also has use as a field round. At one time it was considered to be a serious self defense cartridge, but the ammo for it today is largely target style at very sedate velocities. S&W chambered revolvers regularly through the 1970s, and intermittenly up through the 1990s.

The .32 Long Colt suffered much the same fate as the .32 Short Colt. It was never as popular as the S&W cartridge, and is also obsolete.

Colt, bowing to the inevitable, started chambering it in their revolvers, but not wanting to plug their major competitor, called their version (IIRC) the .32 Super Police.

The .32 H&R Mag. is the most viable defensive cartridge of the lot. It's pretty potent in some chamberings, and is offered in a number of modern revolvers. This should probably be your first stop when looking for a .32, unless you want a slice of history.

The .32-20, as I noted, was originally a rifle cartridge, but was picked up as a revolver chambering primarily by Colt for the Single Action Army. Colt and S&W also chambered their swing-cylinder revolvers for the round (I bought an S&W in .32-20 last year). World War II pretty much killed off these revolvers.
 
I have a 1971 version of the Smith & Wesson model 30
"Hand Ejector"; as received upon my father's death. I
don't shoot it; as it has been relegated as a "safe queen".
It's about a 97 per center finish wise; and mechanically
sound.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
Mike, thank you so very much for your excellent reply which puts all the disparate information I've seen into the proper perspective.

I do reload, so finding ammo is not a problem.

I guess my idea of shhoting .32acp in a revolver is off target.

It looks as if I will be in the market for a .32s&w long or a .32h&r magnum (used, of course).

I will not be using the .32 revolver for self defense or hunting. I will plink, shoot targets, and play with working up loads.

With this in mind, am I correct in thinking that whichever of the two guns I find would be equally good for my purposes?

I know of a Ruger Security Six in .32h&r mag available, but not inexpensive.

Thanks again . . .
 
Last edited:
Well .32’s can be fun ….

The following are compatible with each other, Besides they’re respective power the only difference is case length. Going from shortest to longest:

.32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum.

The two Colt cartridges are oddballs going back to the middle 1800’s. Therefore the .32 Short Colt and .32 Long Colt are compatible with each other, but nothing else. Colt also had another cartridge called .32 New Police. It is identical to the .32 S&W Long. It was created for the sole purpose of allowing Colt to chamber revolvers to use the popular S&W round but not have to mark their revolvers with any reference to a major competitor. I don’t believe any ammunition company has offered it in recent years.

The .32-20 (also know as the .32 W.C.F) was originally chambered in Winchester and other rifles. However before World War Two both Colt and Smith & Wesson made revolvers that used it. In recent years some handgun silhouette shooters have adopted it and Thompson/Contender made pistols chambered for it and Ruger turned out a handful of revolvers.

When loaded with a full-wadcutter bullet the .32 S&W Long is an exceptionally accurate target cartridge out to about 50 yards.

The .32 ACP is intended for automatics, not revolvers. Because it is semi-rimmed it may work in some revolvers, but this isn’t its intended purpose. I would forget that idea. The only .32 cartridge that might be reloaded in .32 ACP dies is the .32 S&W. But I don’t think it would work well.

I am not sure what you intend to use this proposed .32 revolver for. Generally speaking, S&W and Taurus still occasionally make (or at least catalog) .32 revolvers with 2†barrels (give or take). You often find pre-World War Two Colt’s and Smith’s with longer barrels - usually 4 to 6 inches. As they are now out of favor with the gunfighter crowd they can be picked up for very reasonable prices.

Given a more specific idea about what you want too do will probably bring some better and more detailed recommendations concerning available guns.
 
As Mike said, the .32mag is your best bet for today as the other cartridges have seen very limited use for many years. The .32 Colts are obsolete and offered nothin over the .32 S&Ws. They generally were not as accurate either.
The .32-20 would be a good consideration, but being a rifle round it's too long for most small framed revolver's cylinders. Few larger frame handguns were chambered for it, but larger calibers eventually put it out to pasture.
The .32 H&R mag will rate in power close to the .38 special.
 
No good &%$ Mike always getting in the first word ...... (Grin)

You can sometines find Colt Police Positive or Police Positive Special revolvers chambered to use the .32 S&W Long/.32 Colt New Police cartridge for $250.00 or less - often much less, but be sure the barrels aren't pitted.

Smith & Wesson 1903 Hand Ejectors and Regulation Police models (which Mike likes) sell for about the same or perhaps a bit more.

I have picked up decent Colt Police Positives for as little as $125.00

To see what these guns look like (and for that matter to buy) go to:

www.armchairgunshow.com
 
fwiw,,,

i know most of you have seen or heard ths from me already but,,,

a friend just clocked a 100 gr .32 h&r mag SJHP round from Georgia Arms coming out of my .32 snubby (2.5" barrel) at 977 fps at 15 feet out,,,

which translates to about 212 ft-lbs

i have shot .32 s&w longs out of it but find they foul the chambers and when you try to put the longer h&r mags back in it they wont slide all the way in without forcing them.

then, of course, theyre tough to get back out, especially if fired.

and then youll be busy scrubbing your chambers for a while to make it all good again...

the federal 85 gr jhp's don't seem to have nearly the same oomph as the georgia arms rounds btw, dont have a reading on them unfortunately

m
 
Ruger has at various times set up the SP101 as a 32Mag sixgun. Barrels were 2", 3" and surprisingly enough, 4".

The 4" SP is probably the creme de la creme ultimate 32cal revolver ever made ('cept for the 32-20 Colt SAAs).

SPs in 32Mag turn up quite often at gunsamerica, gunbrokers and auctionarms.
 
"It looks as if I will be in the market for a .38s&w long..."

OK, time to be a little pedantic...

There's really no such thing as a .38 S&W Long. (I'm pretty sure that you meant .32 Long, though), but I'm going to take this chance to overload you. :)

The .38 Long was a Colt cartridge, and was in the 1880 up through the early years of the 1900s, the official US Military handgun round. It was a real weakling, though, and after its problems became known, S&W decided to try to develop a new, more powerful round based on the .38 Long Colt and try to get it adopted by the military.

The revolver they developed was an enlarged Hand Ejector, called the Model 1899 Military & Police. It would, over time, evolve into today's K-frame Military & Police revolver line.

S&W did chamber the original Model 1899 Military & Police for the .38 Long Colt, as the new cartridge apparently wasn't quite ready, but the round that eventually emerged, the .38 S&W Special, eventually became one of the world's most popular revolver cartridges.

From the .38 Special came the .357 Magnum, and in the 1980s, the ill-fated .357 Maximum.

Another Smith & Wesson cartridge, and a contemporary of the .32 S&W, was the .38 S&W round. It, like the .32, was EXTREMELY popular in breaktop revolvers, and even made the transition into the Hand Ejector revolvers, something the .32 S&W didn't do.

S&W chambered the .38 S&W right up to the 1970s, and guns, but I, J, and K (from smaller to larger, with the I replacing the J in the 1950s) being relatively common.

But, here's the kicker.

The .38 S&W is its own cartridge. It's not based on anything earlier, and it didn't lead to anything past it. It uses a slightly larger bullet with a slightly larger case, and thus is not interchangable.
 
There's really no such thing as a .38 S&W Long. (I'm pretty sure that you meant .32 Long, though),
Click to expand...

Frank C. Barnes book, Cartridges of the World, catalogues a .32 Smith and Wesson long cartridge.
 
(from smaller to larger, with the I replacing the J in the 1950s) being relatively common.
Click to expand...
Mike...I think you meant J replaced the smaller I.

Majic....he was just pointing out the typo and carrying on from there with additional info.

Sam
 
< Tried to make a bid on a pimped out .32 colt a few weeks back but it was gone.

Nothing more than a conversation piece but cool.
 
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's really no such thing as a .38 S&W Long. (I'm pretty sure that you meant .32 Long, though),
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Frank C. Barnes book, Cartridges of the World, catalogues a .32 Smith and Wesson long cartridge."

Majic,

Look again, closely, at what I quoted out of Thirties message.

He typed .38 S&W Long.

There isn't a .38 S&W Long.

The .32 S&W Long, yes. But not a .38 S&W Long.



Sam,

Whoops, yep, my mistake. I came first, then the I improved, and then the J.
 
Crud in chambers from shooting short cased ammo in long chambers.
Prior to going back to the long rounds...
Shove FIRED empty long cases in the holes.
Cuts most of the crud out.

Extreme case of crud from short rounds, with stiff load in full length round can result in excess pressure. Crud can inhibit bullet release.
If the longer round goes in hard....don't shoot it.

32ACP...
A lot of .32 and .32 Long (Smith) revolvers will accept the ACP round. Sometimes the vestigal rim of the ACP will register properly and sometimes it will go in too far. If goes in too far, headspace is excessive. If it hangs a little untill the firing pin drives it further forward while igniting the primer, the primer can blow out the back and you have shrapnel lookin for body.

Sam.
 
Hey I like 32s. I have a few older breaktop S&Ws, including a lemonsqueezer in 32 S&W. I move up to a S&W Model of 1902 Hand Ejector in 32-20. I have what I consider to be the penultimate 32, a S&W Model 30. Pretty much most of the J frame grips will fit it. Excellent 32 pistol. I am considering a pair of Gunfighter series 32-20 SAA clones from Gibbs/Navy Arms. I am looking into the Ruger clones also in 32 H&R Magnum. 32s are cool!
 
Which .32 revolver cartridges would use the same loading dies and bullets as the .32acp?
Click to expand...
Lyman makes a die set that's marked for 32 S&W Long/ACP/H&R Mag. Other die makers (RCBS, Redding, Hornady) list .32 ACP dies separately.
Bullets that perfom well in .32 ACP (60 - 71 gr) would be light and zippy in .32 H&R Mag.

Which .32 relolvers are the good ones; which are junk?
Click to expand...
I carry and enjoy a Taurus Ultralite (with plugged ports). But if concealed carry was not a consideration, Ruger's rugged and heavier SP101 would be my number one choice in .32 H&R Mag.

Thinking real hard about getting an .32 H&R Mag adapter to put in my Contender .30-30 barrel. Should be a fun small game gun.:)


Larry
 
My fault, mouth went into gear as brain was still in neutral. I appologize as I know take time to read. Thanks for the corections.
 

Look again, closely, at what I quoted out of Thirties message.

He typed .38 S&W Long.

There isn't a .38 S&W Long.

The .32 S&W Long, yes. But not a .38 S&W Long.


Sorry guys, I fixed my typo . . . I never meant to type .38. This whole thread is about .32 revolvers.

Looks like I'll be looking for a .32H&R Magnum. Any votes for the Ruger Security Six in .32H&R Magnum?
 
Majic,

No problem, but I think you're the only person ever to do that... :D :neener:



Thirties,

The Rugers are fun guns, no doubt about it. I personally prefer single actions in larger calibers, though. Easier for my fumble fingers to handle dropping the rounds in through the loading gate.
 
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