Safe to fire .32 S&W long in a .32-20 revolver?

What do you think?


L to R: .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .32-20 WCF

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Only a cold warrior

Looking at the specs I'm finding online, the bullet diameters are the same - .312"

The 32 S&W Long's base diameter is .017" smaller, the rim is .010" thinner, and the rim is .033" smaller in diameter than the .32-20.

The 32-20 shoulder is .342" and is a little farther from the rim than the length of the 32 S&W Long case. The case mouth for the 32 S&W Long is .337" diameter.

The .32-20 is rated as 16000 CUP max, and the 32 S&W Long is rated as 9700 CUP.

So assuming that is all correct, it looks like the 32 S&W Long will fit in the chambers, but be a little sloppy - possibly sloppy enough to cause cases to split. On the other hand it may just fire-form them to the chambers since it will expand ,017" at the base and .005" at the mouth.

The max pressure for the .32-20 is nearly double that of the 32 S&W Long, so that shouldn't be a problem.

That is the info I have been able to find. I can't vouch for any of it being correct and assume no liability or responsibility for it. Be sure to confirm all that info before proceeding.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

I haven't and I wouldn't. Looks to me like you would ruin the .32 Long brass for further resizing and reloading.

The 32 S&W long's case usually splits when fired in the 32-20 chamber. If not it bulges so much it can't fit into a 32 Long resizing die .
Pretty much shoot them once and throw them away .
The gun will not blow up, when a case splits you get some gas leaking
but , all things considered ... and now that I'm older and wiser , I wont be doing it again .
(Test conducted in 1967 ... we were in high school and didn't know Doodley Squat )
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Early Federal made 32 H&R ammo was pretty notorious for splitting cases (even factory loaded) on a pretty frequent basis. Maybe you wouldn’t be too wasteful to just shoot some of them in your 32-20(?) Just sayin’.


Froggie

I sure wouldn't try it.

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Let's be careful out there

The good news is any that don't split will be fire-formed to the cylinder and likely wouldn't need resizing to fire again in the same gun.

Though there would be no neck tension in the fire-formed cases. You might be able to re-create the neck tension by lightly taper crimping the case mouths with a 32ACP die. Then flaring, seating the bullet, and re-crimping as normal. It would be a lot of working the brass, so it likely wouldn't be reloadable more than a few times, maybe only once or twice. But given the scarcity of 32-20 ammo (and the price when available) I could see someone doing this rather than have their cool old revolver lie around like a paper weight.
That would probably be another thing to try. If those were fire-formed to the cylinder without splitting, the longer brass would mean the neck would extend past the shoulder and would keep it correctly sized for neck tension (or at least closer to correctly sized). You might still need to size the neck with the 32ACP taper crimp die, but at least you wouldn't be working it as much and it might last for a few more re-loads.

None of this may be an issue since the OP is probably not a reloader. If he were he'd probably be making his own 32-20 rounds instead of trying to fire something else in his 32-20. If that's the case then the "fire once then toss the brass" approach would be the way to go.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

C'mon, man, at least make a good faith effort. He literally posted in this forum to find out what *others* think.

That was covered early in the thread.

Thanx for the responses. I was wondering about this in case I got in a gotta shoot situation but I'm outta 32.20.

You'd have to chronograph a few rounds to verify this, but I'm pretty sure you'd lose velocity, perhaps a significant amount or maybe only a little by firing a .32 S&W Long in a .32-20 cylinder. The .32 Long is a pretty puny cartridge to begin with and can't really stand a velocity reduction if you want it to be effective for anything other than punching through a paper target.

This would be one of those "between a rock and a hard place" situations ! Try to stay out of there .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I think it would be a poor choice. Be patient and get some .32-20. It's not exactly a powerhouse in a handgun, but it's better than .32 S&W Long. Or, get a .38 Special revolver and use .38 Special ammo.

I like to know what will work in an emergency. I have shot .32 Short and Long in my 32-20 and even though they are less powerful than the 32-20 they go bang. I have also shot .38 Super in a .357. I had rather have .357 ammo but the .38 Super would work in an emergency. My brother had a .410 shotgun and we shot .44 Spec. factory loads in it. We never shot an animal but we figured a 246 gr. tumbling bullet would leave a mark. Larry

Watch out for that regular .32 Short ammo. I chronographed some old Remington ammo in an S&W revolver some years ago. Velocity was in the 550 fps range. It would likely ricochet off a hard backstop. Far from a self-defense load unless it was only used to antagonize!

I'm pretty sure we all can agree that it's not an ideal self defense cartridge but if it's all I had I think it would be better than nothing and since most people don't want to be shot I think it would be just fine most of the time. Larry

I'm pretty sure that my original response showed that I think that it is a bad idea, only with a picture.

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Only a cold warrior

That is pretty funny. I went to HS with a Didley Squat. Wonder if he was the son? The age is right.

The kinetic energy of a .22LR is WAY more than a .32 S&W Short. I have my grandmother's break top S&W. Grandpa took it off a prisoner back in the '30s or so. Still has 55+ year old ammo in it.

Would you volunteer to stand in front of one wearing only your winter jacket?

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

"Oh, don't shoot him. (Mongo) That'll just make him mad!"

The 32 H&R is long enough that it should get the neck up at or close to the neck area of the 32-20 chamber so it would be supported at least a little. If I HAD to have a couple of rounds to shoot out of my 32-20 and had nothing but 32 H&Rs available... i'd probably put a couple of wraps of tape or even paper around the lower portion of the case body and call it good. I wouldn't use this routinely, but it would be fairly likely to work, and if nothing else were available...

Then again, I have dies to reload my own 32-20s so I shouldn't have to resort to this. I was just trying to answer the OP's question about possibilities. In fact, back to his speculation, a wrap or two around the shell body of a 32 S&W might well work too.

Froggie

You may not have caught the message in that rhetorical comment. I'm not always good at explaining.

Whatever works in a jam, might not be enough.