Which .32 ACP?

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Dionysusigma

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Well, a month ago a bunch of friends and I went shooting, and one of the pistols was a Seecamp .32 which quickly ran out of ammo. When my friend went to get more, all that was on hand was hardball Federal... and Seecamps are only supposed to use Winchester Silvertips. So needless to say, we had a hard-recoiling, single shot, tiny auto for the rest of the afternoon. :( After meeting up the next day, the Seecamp owner didn't want any of the Federal .32, as he had picked up more Winchester on the way home after the range trip.

Now I'm "stuck" with three boxes of .32 ACP hardball, and have nothing chambered in this caliber--so I'm turning to y'all for advice. I was thinking of just getting a cheep Cobra .32 or something like that, but a Kel-Tec .32 seems nice too. I've always wanted a Beretta, but...

What would y'all go for? :)
 
Isn't there something out there for converting old Russian Nagant Revolvers to .32 ACP? Or was that .32 HR Mag... :confused:

To be honest, the Kel-Tec is what I'm leaning towards. I'm just wondering what .32s are worth getting and which can actually fire hardball ammo. Turns out that the Seecamp isn't the only one which can only use hollowpoints--IIRC, the NAA Guardian .32 is the same way.
 
I'm sad that my Seecamp will only shoot Silvertips also. Ball is really a better choice in .32, all you're trying to do is poke a hole deep enough to do some damage.
 
If it's just for fun and something neat to have , and not for CCW then I'd say track down a PP or PPK just for the style . If you intend on carrying it , might as well go with small and light as possible and the KelTec provides that .

ETA : I don't have a Seecamp but overheard a discussion of them at the gunshop concerning that the newest Silvertips are loaded differently ( uncrimped IIRC ) and are less than reliable , I should have paid closer attention but there is now a different reccomended load along with the old production Silvertips .
 
Seecamp Update:

With Winchester's newly designed SilverTip JHP's, Larry is now
recommending Federal "Hydra-Shok" for his LWS-32. Its my under-
standing that Speer Gold Dot's also perform quite well from the
little Seecamp.

BTW, look at it this way! With the cost of .32 ACP ammo, either
way you might as well be throwing half-dollars down range! :( :uhoh:
But, I will continue to use my NIB LWS-32 as a BUG! :D
 
I've sorta turned into a fan of my wife's Beretta 3032 Tomcat ... tip-up barrel (nice feature), frame-mounted, down-to-fire safety (for those of us who came up on 1911s), surprisingly accurate, virtually no recoil (compared to the much lighter Kel-Tecs) ... a tad on the heavy side (for a small .32, but lighter than a .38 snubby), but tiny and easily concealable with many holster selections out there.
 
Get the locked breach KelTec P-32. All the others are blowback actions.

If you want something different, pick up a 1903 colt in 32 cal. IMO it is one of the all time grea pistols. Here is mine.

pearlgrips_3.jpg
 
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Sell the ammo or buy a NAA Guardian.I own a See-camp .32,used to own several kel-tech's and a NAA and still wished I'd kept the Guardian.tom.YMMV.
 
I had one of those. Felt like a brick in my pocket and hurt my trigger finger so much and jammed so frequently, I had to get rid of it. Baught a barretta and it was just too fat for pocket carry!

Baught a KelTec P-32 with locked breach action. Not as pretty but a much better shooter, much lighter and much thinner.

Graduated to the KelTec P-3AT. This is the thinest, lightest and most reliable pocket pistol I have had.

The P-3AT has been so good that I have purchased two more.

Two are first generation and now I have a second generation version too.
 
Well, I would go for the NAA, if it weren't for the rather large sign at the store that says "No ball ammo--hollowpoint only." Kinda sucks because the NAA Guardian is more my personal style. :(

Who carries 1903 Colts? :confused: Save for the ivoroid grips, it also looks pretty neat. :)
 
What do you mean, no ball ammo?

Are you saying that your store says the .32 guardian won't take ball?

That's a bunch of BS. I've never shot a single hollowpoint through my Guardian... and it has never malfunctioned.
 
A vote here for the P32. If you're using 3 boxes of ammo to justify a pistol purchase (good work on that, by the way), you can justify a $250 pistol easier than a $450 one. AFAIK there is no ammo restriction for the P32, I've shot everything from S&B FMJ's to Cor-bon JHP's in mine. And if you're gonna buy a .32, you might as well go as small and light as you can.

New_P32_3_19_05_small.jpg
 
Dionysusigma, the ivory grip is an add on.

This is the pistol with the standard grip before I added the ivory grips.

Browning's carry pistol of choice was the Colt 1903.

Even after he created the 1911, The 1903 was still his carry pistol of choice.

colt_1903.jpg


In IMO nothing in 32acp will outshoot one of these.
 
Hmmm! Wonder if NAA is now using shorter magazines (front to back) to prevent rimlock with hollowpoint ammo?

If that's the case, the normally longer fmj round will not fit in the magazine.

Or it could be, the guy at the store has it backwards and does not want you to use hollowpoint in order to prevent rimlock?
 
Well, the Seecamps were close by on the same shelf, and they do look similar. :scrutiny: That, and I was just on the NAA website (in between filing Medicare claims :barf: ) and NAA has indeed tested the Guardian .32ACP with Federal Classic FMJs. Since what I have is American Eagle, I'm sure it's close enough.

However, the toss-up is now between the Colt 1903 and the Kel-Tec P32. I can't decide between lightweight and concealable vs. stylish and fun. :) I know a little about the Kel-Tec, but nothing about the 1903. Is it still being made? Who has them for sale? How difficult are parts/mags/etc. to find?

How do the two compare in price? I see some 1903s for over $1000 on http://www.Gunbroker.com , but then some for little more than $100. :confused:
 
dionysusigma, the 1903 has not been made for a very, very long time, but there seem to be an abundance of them and many have not been fired very much. I believe the one I have had never been fired before I found it in a gun shop.
If you intend to carry, I would recommend the P-32 for it's super light weight and extremely thin profile. Recoil is not at all bad thanks to the locked breach design.

If you just want to do a lot of shooting, the 1903 can't be beat.

It is all steele, has about the same felt recoil as a 22cal, a longer barrel and sight radious for better accuracy.

The 1903 is single action and has a thumb safety and also has a grip safety that is just like the 1911. The 1903 also has a very thin profile, but I think it is a little long for pocket carry.
 
Well, I've hit an intersting little snag. :banghead:

On the way home from work (okay, so it was the long way :rolleyes: ) I stopped by the store and handled a P32. That thing is TINY! No wonder so many people like it! :) Hate to say it, but the word "cute" came to mind. However...

I can't get my finger on the trigger. :eek: Apparently the P32, while designed for compactness, wasn't designed for people with fingers as large as mine. It'd be nice if there was a way to extend the trigger guard out and maybe even down (kinda like the FN Five-seveN :p ), but with hands like these, there's no way that I could trust it to SD/carry use. :(

The 1903 is looking a lot better...
 
A CZ-70 or CZ-50 would do nicely. Cheap (half the cost of a Browning 1922 or Walther PP) and reliable.
What he said.
-David
 
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