I don't see most people shooting under powered 38 special, 9mm, or 45acp at the range. I typically see them shooting comparable weight/grains range ammo.
Correction: 32H&R is not something you buy 1000 rounds of as it'll cost you over $1000. .32 S&W Long is also more expensive than 38spc, 9mm, 40s&w, and 10mm. I'm not sure why .32H&R factory ammo is so darn expensive compared to most almost all other popular and not so popular ammo on the market. It makes no sense. I don't reload, but if I did or if prices come down on .32 ammo, I'd be all over 32H&R.
As an aside: Seems like no one (or only a select few with medical conditions) had any issues shooting or with the recoil of .38 spc until this new 32H&R was released. Now everyone, even people who have talk about shooting and EDCing 9mm, 45acp, 10mm, 357, and 44 special and magnum in the recent past, have been coming out of the woodworks to complain or make a big deal about even the recoil of standard low power 38 special. I reckon some, not all, need an excuse to buy a new gun lol, which is perfectly fine with me.
The phenomenon isn't as new as we might think. I'll toss out a bit of historical context for fun.
Older folks remember the days when many people chose either a .32 S&W Long or .38 S&W (often called the ".38 Short") for home defense, because .38 Special was (1) "too powerful," (2) "only the police need something as powerful as a .38 Special," (3) "unnecessary, because I'm only looking to protect my family, not kill anybody," or variations on the theme that ".38.Special is a lot to handle and more than a regular person needs."
These archaic-sounding opinions may be reflexively scorned by those of us who frequent gun forums, but the reality is that such views would resonate with many (most?) American casual gun-owners of today. Their default comparison is now most likely to 9mmP instead of to .38 SPL, but the principles remain the same: smaller, lighter, softer recoil, lower blast & flash remain primary concerns for most who haven't consciously committed to mastering--or at least putting up with--more potent firepower. Even the latter commonly purchase a caliber they find too unpleasant to practice with, rationalizing their choice in ways we've all heard many times.
The US Army changed from .45 Auto to 9mmP in the 1980s, partly for NATO standardization, but in significant degree due to the decades-long struggle of American GIs to handle the perceived brutal recoil of the .45. That enduring struggle absolutely was magnified by the increasing percentage of females in general-purpose (non-WAC) military forces.
Scandalously, to many American shooters of today who are roughly aware of the history of the issue, the British Army c.1930 chose the .38-200 Enfield revolver to replace their long-standard .455 Webleys, considering the smaller .38 to be of roughly equal effectiveness. They thought that because they had a World War's worth of experience demonstrating that their average conscript couldn't handle the size and power of the .455.
Other relevant examples are too numerous to mention, but few European armies moved up to 9mmP sidearms by WWII, and those which did still issued huge numbers of lighter-caliber guns. European police commonly used .32 ACP or .380 ACP as late as the 1980s. The .32-20 was very popular in our late frontier era, with huge numbers of .32 and .38 S&W pocket revolvers arming the townsfolk. Teddy Roosevelt chose the .32 SWL for his NYC police force, specifically because it was more manageable by his men and less hazardous in a crowded city. The full-power .45 Long Colt of 1873 Colt SAA fame was selected by the US Army, but the ammo itself was soon reduced in size and power to the .45 Schofield. Browning's first, wildly popular autos were .32, .25, and .380, whereas Colt and FN sales of .38 ACP and 9mm Browning Long lagged far, far behind in sales & production.
Only improved metallurgy and lighter-weight JHPs facilitated the booming modern-day popularity of the 11-16 oz. .38 SPL handgun, and the older, slightly heavier aluminum frame Smiths and Colts were quite the handful with the 158g LRN standard pressure ammo. No idea how many civilian owners of these relatively expensive, specialized lightweights chose 148g WCs over the "Police Service" ammo, but the common phrase always was, and still remains, "Carry a lot, shoot a little." There's a reason the 110g JHP @ 800-850 fps from a 2" snub is more readily available on LGS shelves than anything in 158g, and Fedingchester 200g ammo is but a distant memory. The existence and apparent popularity of the .38 SPL 90g Hornady CD Lite, a .380 ACP equivalent, is emphatic proof that large numbers of shooters in today's CC/SD/HD world remain attracted to the century-old .38 snub platform, but choose not to tangle with full-power .38 SPL...and regret it when they do.
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