Hello,

I wanted to share a recent find with the forum. Browsing in gunbroker I ran across a 32 M&P priced similarly to the standard 38 special. I took the chance and bit the Buy Now option. I just took delivery yesterday and took some photos to share and learn more from the guys here.

It’s a C prefix M&P chambered for 32 SW Long. It’s in pretty nice shape with enough bluing wear on it and turn ring to not worry about regular ordinary shooting sessions. Unfortunately it didn’t come with the original grips. It should have the sharp shoulder diamond magnas whereas it came with the diamond magnas with more rounded shoulders. Still nice grips but serial numbered for a few years after the 32 wearing them. I saw it in the auction photos and figured as much so when taking delivery I brought some stags along which fit like a charm and look the part.

It’s the 5 incher and has a great action and balance of course. All the mechanics check out great. I’m looking forward to seeing what load shoots to the fixed sights.

I understand that there’s not many of these out there and so immediately purchased after recognizing what it was. Any other forum members proud owners of 32 long M&P K frame guns? Any idea on value given the condition and missing original grips? Thanks all!

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a hen's tooth for sure. I lucked upon a 4" back in 98 in KS. it was a very early S # for the 32 M&Ps. I gave it to my best friend for his 50th birthday. he was with me when I bought and drooled over it every time he saw it. Lee

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VFW, NRA, VVA, S&WCA 1758

Good man, Lee!

This is the fun part of collecting, seeing a unicorn at a fair price and a Buy Now option. Enjoy!

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

That is very nice, and a great buy.
The stags on it are perfect for it. I would like to see a range report. Do you have ammo or reload for it yet? Cool cartridge. 😎

Here is my set of three of these revolvers: 2", 4", and the 5". There is supposed to be a 6" also.



Mike Priwer

how did I miss that???????????????

Excellent score.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

SS336, Yes I do reload. My normal loading is 2.5gr bullseye over a Lee 93gr swc. I find that load shoots to the fixed sights of my I-frame and J-frame 32s. Not too hot to stress the older guns but enough thump to feel like a centerfire cartridge. We’ll see if the K frame likes it too.

I've got one, traded into it years ago, It was lettered. I traded a M-58 and a 5 screw M-17. The 5 inch is very rare.
SWCA 892

A nice find and a good buy, Mr. Casual.

This one lives in my safe. It's a bit older than yours - S prefix, long action. It shipped to Sloane's on April 21, 1948.


The postwar .32 M&P is uncommon. I don't think I'd actually call it rare, but there were not tons of them made and they were not a cataloged item.

As for the 5" barrel - there were 910 of them made. In the April 1948 shipment mentioned above, half were 4" and half were 5", with a total of 100 units in the shipment.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Great eye, congratulations. Not sure how I missed that one either.
I did catch this one dirt cheap on the internet a few years ago. It's one that was imported back from Mexico when they enacted sweeping gun control measures in the 80's or 90s?
It still shoots good.

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My guess is that it wasn’t up there long before I ran across it. Glad I did! Didn’t wait around long before hitting the buy. Dealer was a super guy to deal with. I’m guessing he didn’t realize what he had.

I've been reloading since 1973 and in my experience, putting the gunpowder UNDER the bullet works best.

Yes, yes, I have been accused of being an intelligent donkey a time or two.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Ah yes Muley I always wondered why they never shot all that well...

Bet they shot kinda dirty too!

Friend Dale53 gifted me a bunch of swaged Hornady 95 gr SWCs to “try out” with my 32s. The good news was that when loaded over 2.5 gr of Bullseye they performed well in any of the 32s I tried them in. The bad news was that as a result of this “success” my bullet casting and load development program was easy to “put on the back burner” for too long. That is a good basic load for all around use in any of my 32 revolvers.

Froggie

Any thoughts or idea as to the value of this particular 32 M&P?
SCSW 4th Edition gives these ranges:
-4,200 as new
-3,000 excellent
-2,200 very good
-1,500 good
-850 fair

The finish overall is pretty good with some spots of wear near the end of the bore and on the topstrap. Also around the cylinder there’s some wear typical for a gun that rode in a holster. Used but definitely not abused. No original grips unfortunately. However I don’t know how realistic SCSW-4 stated values are. It seems they sometimes come way under and at other times seem a little inflated. I realize today’s market has influence here but I’m interested to know the thoughts of other forum members who have 32 M&Ps or who know the market on them. I think outside of collectors like here on the forum, it’s just another old outdated revolver.


Using SCSW-4 (I have the dash 4 edition LOL) numbers I’d say somewhere between good and very good. Given the lack of grips maybe closer to good so somewhere between 1,800 - 2,000.

I think you’re on the right track when you say “…outside the collectors on this forum…”. The revolver in question is almost totally off the radar of all but the smallest subset of potential buyers. Price is determined by the intersection of rarity and demand and while you’ve got the first one nailed, the second is not such a sure thing.

Today’s market is hot for the few high demand items, but you’ll need to find a more specialized buyer to command what it should. That said, I’d say your price estimate is good, or a little low if you would find the right buyer. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to take much less for a quick sale.

It is, along with the 22 LR M&P style, among the rarest of the production K frames. If I were still seriously accumulating, I would have probably done my best to beat you to that one.

Froggie

Thanks Froggie. If you’re ever passing through GA you’re welcome to give it a test run!

Mike Priwer that is a handsome collection of 32 M&Ps... probably the only one with the three barrel lengths.

Most times the closest I get to GA is visiting my #1 niece and her family in Charleston, SC, but who knows? Thanks for the invitation though, and I’ll keep it in mind.

Froggie

PS Did I mention how much I like those stag grips? Totally cool!

Froggie

I added a Tyler T to it as well since posting the photos. I’ll get some more photos up later.

Froggie, The stags were my best comfort at not having matching grips. All in all I’m quite pleased with the opportunity at owning this piece. I still haven’t had the opportunity to shoot it yet but will report for sure when I do.

Mine is shown below. Not a great deal is known about these, other than most were made for export sales and very few were sold inside the USA. To where they went seems to be unknown, but most likely to South America. It's interesting to fire .32 S&W in mine. Little noise, and almost no recoil.

Thanks for sharing DWalt. That’s a beauty. Mine is definitely near the end of the last production series since it is a C Prefix with short hammer throw. It’s unfortunate that there’s a halt on the SW letter requests. I wonder how many of these 32s stayed in the US?

Moosedog, does yours have marks suggesting it’s journey both ways to and from Mexico?

I remember several older postings here reporting .32 M&Ps being found in both Mexico and Argentina. Beyond those, no one seems to know to where they were exported. It is apparent that very few of those later made it back to the USA. BTW, there is also a .22 RF M&P which is as scarce, or maybe more so, as the .32 M&P. This is mine:

To be very honest, I hope the prices stated by Jim Supica are accurate, but I personally think they are a bit high.

The one I own that is pictured in Post #10 above, is in the high 90s in percent of original finish. It also came with the box, tools and original Magna stocks, along with a letter from Dr. Jinks. I paid $1500 for it a few years ago. If it is a $3,000 gun, I guess I did pretty well!

It isn't for sale and probably will not be as long as I'm alive. What the kids decide after I'm gone is up to them, but they are all shooters, so . . .

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Here’s photos with the T Grip installed.

Jack, you sure did do well especially having everything that comes with the gun. As Froggie mentioned, the folks who would pay the stated Supica values are far and few between, all of whom are probably here on the forum. That makes the values even less standardized.

Like Jack, mine probably won’t be for sale either although new (old) shiny (blued) things always tempt and cause moments of weakness.

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The M&P in .32 s&w long was one of my bucket list revolvers along with the .22 caliber version. Through the kindness of some great folks here on the forum I was able to aquire one of each.

Of course that led to an attraction to .32 magnums and .327 mags. Ouch. Oh well can not take it with you.

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LEX ET ORDO

Thanks. I bought that one from a large collection that was being sold off by heirs. I bought several revolvers from the two sons, but this one was the highlight. I'd been looking for one for a while.

I wouldn't mind picking one up from the C prefix run, with the short throw ("High Speed") hammer, but I'm not out looking for one. It would, however, make a nice companion to the one I own.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

If I were to choose between a “short throw” and “long throw” action, I’d choose the “long throw” action assuming all other things being equal. I have two post war 38 M&Ps, 4 and 5 inch S-Prefix, which have the best triggers/actions that I’ve felt on K frame guns. They seem better to me than even the prewar M&P revolvers. It could just be the individual examples that I have. I don’t know if that’s true across the board. I’ve found too that, among the “short throw” action examples, the best put together for trigger and smoothness of action seem to have been late 40s to late 50s production, maybe early 60s. Then again it could be my limited experience and the specific guns that I’ve handled or owned.

Don’t misunderstand me though Jack, I’m not complaining about the C-Prefix 32 that I lucked into.

I would say it is probably true across the board. I own 25 examples of the S prefix .38 M&Ps (a few are SV) and all of the long action units have very smooth actions. I have a couple S guns with the high speed hammer and some early C prefix units and the actions on those are good, but not as pleasant to shoot as the long throw S guns.

I'm sure you aren't. It is a fine piece.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I just went back and reread the factory letter posted above. It would appear that there were about as many 32 M&Ps produced as K32s. Other than the fact that such a majority of them were shipped overseas, there should be as many of the former as the latter available. Strange, huh?
Then again, it’s not like we see K32s every day either!

Froggie

Froggie, can’t say I’ve ever run across a K32 other than an occasional gunbroker auction which would usually be way above my budget. Were the K32s ever shipped for overseas orders like the M&Ps? If so I’ve never heard it mentioned by anyone. I’d bet there are fewer M&Ps than K32s here locally in the US.

Never say never with S&W, but there doesn't seem to be much evidence of K32s being sent out of the country to any greater degree than any other model of S&W. At least I've never seen mention made of it in any of my reading. OTOH, any time one sees any discussion of the elusive 32 M&P they are almost sure to see some reference to the overseas sales. Of course the smaller caliber would have been more acceptable in countries where ownership of calibers used by the military or police was discouraged. For whatever reason, i've almost never seen reference to any of them being "re-imported home" either.

I wonder if somewhere in Mexico or Argentina there is is a treasure trove of these 32 M&Ps just waiting to be discovered and repatriated to an appreciative US market. In Argentina, prior to its tragic descent into Socialism, some of the well to do had quite the love for fine firearms, so I would think at least some of them would have survived in excellent condition, even up to the present.

Froggie

Did you read the historical letter in my posting #23 above?

Yes I did, which led me to believe the vast majority of the 32 M&P models went to export. OTOH, I’ve never seen anything written about large numbers of the K32 (Masterpiece) being exported.
In both models, there seem to be fewer than about five thousand or so of each.
Did I miss something?

Green Frog

I would really like to see a letter specifying where that large export order for .32 M&Ps went, but so far I never have. I suspect that it was probably some South-of-the-Border government order, and the few .32 M&Ps apparently sold on the US market may have been over-runs, or possibly to test the domestic market for an M&P in .32 Long. So many questions about these remain a mystery. Unfortunately, when I bought my .32, the previous owner had no information at all about its history and had no inkling about its being so unusual.

I made it to the range today to test out the 32 M&P. No surprises. It shoots to sights using the pet load 93gr Lee swc with 2.5gr bullseye. Also same POI with the 90gr Lee LRN using same load. I size my casts at .314.

I loaded them à la Muley and put the boolit over the powder.

No target photos just tin can accuracy at 25yds which is good enough for me. I had an easier time hitting while shooting slow double action than when shooting single action. Needless to say it’s a soft shooter. I’ll work up some other loads using HP38, Solo 1,000, and Clean Shot. There’s something special about shooting 32 Longs in a K frame. It’s closer to feeling like 22LR than anything else for recoil and blast which is neat since there’s definitely more oomph in the 32. If I want more blast I move to the 32-20 M&P.

I only have two .32 Long revolvers, one an I.J. and the other is an I frame. Even though I haven't fired the J frame yet, I get the impression it will be a fine shooter. Would any of you consider using one for a SD firearm?

32 Long revolvers are fine shooters. That caliber wouldn’t be my first choice for self defense since there are other options. That said the best gun for self defense is the one you have on you when it’s needed. Whatever you use, practice with it and familiarize yourself with it.

As CSN stated, not my first choice. However, a couple of .32 wadcutters around the nasal cavity would ruin some dirtbag's day.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!