What ever happened to the .32 auto?

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TonyB

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It seems like in the "olden days" .32 was all over the place for self defense guns.My grandfather had 2....so how come it's not popular now?Are people just more robust now, and need shootin' w/ a .45 in order to stop doing bad things?Were people back then just whimps?Or is the .32 still a viable round that is under-mis-estimated?
 
Gun technology has improved, so larger calibers can be built smaller. Essentially you can get a .380 in a gun the size of a .32. There also is the fact that .32 ACP is semi-rimmed, and thus vulnerable to rimlock.
 
Medical technology has also improved. While once getting winged with a .32 might cause an infection that would kill you, nowadays you can get a dose of antibiotics and be fine. Of course, that's not to say that it's not lethal, just that it's not as lethal as it was before antibiotics were available. And since the bad guys don't have the fear of a deadly infection, they may not be stopped by a .32 since incapacitation may be primarily through psychological factors if nothing vital is hit. So we use larger calibers nowadays because we know what it takes to stop someone.

I wouldn't hesitate to carry a .32 H&R magnum revolver though!
 
In addition to what zinj said, in the 70s the PPK/S became a popular off duty gun for LEOs. Many department policies said nothing smaller than a 38/9mm.

While once getting winged with a .32 might cause an infection that would kill you, nowadays you can get a dose of antibiotics and be fine.

While you might have some rational, I don't think bad guys think about infections. They think about getting shot.
 
.32ACP is still around and still a great choice.

Gun stuff is cyclic, like anything else.
Best example is wearing pearls. Ladies never stopped wearing pearls, but when Barbara Bush was seen wearing them, the wearing of pearls increased.

TV, Movies, Video Games, Gun Magazines, and Internet all influence buyers on what they buy. Called Marketing.

One can have a case of Coca-Cola at home and the Sensory Input of Pespi (who paid to have their product in the movie) will have folks go buy a six pack of Pepsi on the way home from the movies.

.32ACP increased in popularity again with the Beretta Tomcat with the tip-up barrel.
Then it waned, only to be revived by the Keltec P-32.
NAA 32 is again reviving interest.

1. Have a gun.
2. Shot placement.

The Reality is, not everyone toted a hogleg in a caliber starting with a "4".
Too expensive , heavy, hard to conceal...
Lots of 32 and 36 calibers carried instead if one checks history.

Physically Limited folks find the tip up feature of a Beretta .380 and .32 great!
Fact is, the 32 conceals easier.

Slide does not lock back on the P3AT, which again does not bother most folks, even at a range where they use Chamber Indicators to show "clear" for range rules...
..but...

Watch a UC LEO, demonstrate being able to run a P-32, and Tomcat one handed.
Replicate being shot, and racking the slide back on a P-32, inserting mag, letting fly the slide and back in the fight.

Replicate getting a Tomcat loaded, dry gun, remove one ctg, insert mag, insert ctg into tip up barrel and back in the fight

Replicate dry gun, getting one ctg into tip up barrel and getting one shot off in a hurry.

There are folks with special needs and have special situations.
Physically Limited folks, some with birth defects, amputees, injury, recovering from surgery, arthritis...

Hence the person is wise to NOT rule out options, including certain platforms and calibers, including a 32.

All the folks Marketing, all the folks posting on Internet, will NOT be at YOUR gunfight.

;)
 
What happened is that the .32s are still very popular as seen in the unquenchable demand for Seecamp, Keltec, NAA. Other guns such as the CZ 83, PPK, P232 are also hard to find. Alive and well my friend.
 
1) Like zinj said, you can get a more powerful chambering in a gun nearly as small. .32ACP nowadays is pretty much just tiny automatics- anything larger will be eating .380.
2) Although it isn't considered a "manstopper" round, it was plenty lethal. With modern medical technology, it is more effective against people who just don't want to be shot than it is against people who need to be stopped posthaste. Hence the migration to more powerful rounds.
3) While the debate of lethality of smaller rounds will continue until the sun goes nova, until then, if you can carry and handle a more powerful round, why settle for anything less? You balance power vs. controllability vs. "carry ability," and for most folks, the .32ACP falls too far short on the first to overcome the second two, especially with what else is available.
 
I woudl also suspect a lot of the .32 demand may have been impacted by the end of the cold war and influx of cheap 9mm markarov pistols that perform well for the same kind of demands one might have for a .32
 
Physically Limited Persons are getting effective hits , and effective hits quicker with 32 caliber gun, semi, or revolver.
This is real important to them, and means a lot to me, and those of us that assist these folks.

Big Factor in OUR situations.

Gets back to payload to weight of gun ratio much like Rule of 96 for shotguns.
 
The Gun Control Act of 1968 pretty much put an end to the importation of .32 ACP pistols, AFAIK. That probably has a lot to do with it.
 
.32ACP increased in popularity again with the Beretta Tomcat with the tip-up barrel.
Then it waned, only to be revived by the Keltec P-32.
NAA 32 is again reviving interest.
Click to expand...

Not to nitpick, but I think the first generatiopn Keltec 32s were out prior to the Beretta Tomcat. I might be wrong, but I think this is true.

Anyway - I have a Keltec 32. I like it - but ammo prices are high!
 
I have heard that Martin Fackler has accumulated data
on actual shootings that shows that the .32 Winchester
Silvertip hollowpoint is surprisingly effective.
 
Not to nitpick, but I think the first generatiopn Keltec 32s were out prior to the Beretta Tomcat. I might be wrong, but I think this is true.
Click to expand...

Sorry dude, Beretta Tomcats came out in 1979. Kel-Tec didn't even exist as a company until 20 years later.
 
Almost only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades :D

"What's the point when you can have a 9x19mm almost as small?" Guess you could say the same about some .40S&W or .45ACP so why a 9x19?

If you don't own or have at least a modicum of experience with a .32 there's no way anyone can explain it to you.
 
Some idiot/sage/whatnot decided that .380 was the minimum caliber to stop evildoers.
"Cops use .38s. Therefore, .38 caliber is the absolute minimum." Was the thought behind it, as best I can figure.

The .45 fans/groupies/whatnots heckled those as would choose, say, a PPK in .32 when they could get the same gun in .380.

I find that I can shoot the .32 as long as I can afford ammunition for it. I can't shoot more than a box or two of .45 ACP before my hand gets sore. Sure, I could build up hand strength - but the fact is, at this time, it's more comfortable to shoot .32.

Were people back then just whimps?
Click to expand...
That's what I wonder. Back then, you had Al Capone, Dillinger, Baby-Face, Bonnie and Clyde, and their ilk.

Wonder the same thing about bears. People constantly saying that only an elephant gun or the latest and greatest super ultra-belted magnum with hydra-shok plutonium-plated-gold dots will stop 'em... when Davy Crockett and a lot of other folks used lead balls and black powder.
 
I used to have a Walther PP that was about the most accurate and rapid of all my short guns. With silvertips you could fire them off with amazing speed. More than fast enough to land the whole magazine in a foe. Put 9x19 in that same package, or a smaller one, and you'll be lucky to get half as many shots off, and to land any of them.
 
"better Shoot Me In The Eye"

Here we go again! :banghead: I am so tired of hearing that phrase. I have a tomcat and like it a lot. It pockets well and is very accurate. I have no problem putting a 3" group together at 7yds and don't feel under armed with it. I don't know which gun guru decided that .380 is the minimum SD round but don't want someone who knows how to use the .32 pointing it at me.
No doubt, that there are other more powerful small pistols out there(I admit to carrying a 642 at times) and it's a matter of personal choice as to what to carry. The tomcat works well for me. (puts on nomex and kevlar)
 
Better advanced technology has led to bigger (larger) caliber's for self 'D;
nearly phasing out the .32 ACP. Kel-Tec and Seecamp still offer NIB 32
ACP's; but the .380 ACP's have over taken the "small pocket gun caliber
war"~! The Seecamp LWS-32 is a fine little pistol; and one that I own. ;)
 
If you don't own or have at least a modicum of experience with a .32 there's no way anyone can explain it to you.
Click to expand...
What's to "explain"?

It's a weak round used [mostly] in small pocket pistols which aren't all that much smaller than small pocket pistols chambered for 9x19mm, .40S&W and .45acp.

I've never shot anyone, but I've come close a time or two. I've never said to myself, "Boy, I wish I had a .32 instead of this .45."
 
The only true pocket pistol in the calibers listed (9mm, .40, .45) I know of is the Rohrbaugh. Anything common and inexpensive is .380 and smaller.
 
How's this sound, gentlefolk? Those who wish to carry a .32 (myself included) for various reasons will go ahead and do so. Those who do not may carry the caliber and platform of their choice. Nobody need publicly scorn or mock the other person's choice, though you are perfectly free to think what like.
 
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