I recently inherited a few S & W revolvers. One is marked 32 LONG CTG. I assumed this was 32 long colt and have been having a hard time finding ammo. I am now wondering if I am wrong. What specific ammo should I be using?

Are you sure it's not a .32 S&W Long caliber?

It's almost certainly .32 S&W long which is much more common.

Thanks, I asked the question because I love my guns and shooting but I am not very knowledgeable. I figured this forum will have lots of experts to help me. I will try to get some 32 S&W LONG for my gun. Additional question; serial # for my 32 is 968595. Can I get an idea of how old this pistol is? Thanks teletech for replying, I feel like a rookie with everyone here on this forum.

lamilkyway, any chance you can post pics to help clear it up?

Here is picture of my 32 showing the caliber.

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Oops wrong picture. try this one.

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Exactly where did you get that SN from? Something seems strange.

I could be wrong but it looks like a pre-WWII K frame .32 hand ejector but the SN you've posted seems incorrect.

Re-check the serial number on the butt of the gun. Same number should be on the face of the cylinder and bottom side of the barrel (visible with the cylinder open). Either way a .32 S&W Long would be a .311-.312". These cartridges are fairly easy to find.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

The hard cartridges to find are the short .32 S&W. I suppose I will have to cut down Longs. I think there are only 3 factory loads being mad for the original .32 S&W.

Actually, I have seen more boxes of .32 S&W than .32 S&W Long sitting on shelves. Depends on where you are. You can cut .32 Long, .32 Mag, and .327 cases to .32 S&W length, but it is a pain to do. I made up a crude jig to do just that once, using a Dremel tool and an abrasive cutoff disc.

There is definitely something wrong with the SN provided by the OP - it could not exist for any S&W revolver chambered in .32 Long, including the .32 M&P.

Were the old .32 S&W (black powder) round .323 or .311 ? I though with the .32 S&W long commenced the .311 size .32 cal.

I know the 32-44 is a .323 and thought the old black powder .32 S&W were also .323 Now I have to go measure them.

Let's reaffirm what is correct here. I suggest using only .32 S&W Long ... skip trying any .32 S&W for the time being.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Some earlier rounds used a heeled bullet which was the full diameter of the case. Most of them later adopted inside lubricated bullets of a slightly smaller diameter but in the same case. About the only holdovers are .22 RF cartridges (S,L,LR).

.38 and .44 cartridges initially had .38 and .44 bullet diameters because they had heeled lead bullets. By the turn of the 20th century, most had changed to use the inside lubricated bullets using .357 and .429 diameter bullets. Same thing with .32s - they also changed to .310-.314 diameter inside lubricated bullets, depending upon the exact cartridge. I don't believe that .32 S&W Long cartridges ever used heeled bullets, always .313-.314.

It looks to my eyes like an I-frame. Enjoy it, these little guns have virtually no recoil or muzzle rise, are pretty accurate and fun to shoot.
Target Sports has ammo for it.
Bulk Ammo for Sale Online Free Shipping Available

Yes, that is an I frame. A 32 Regulation Police to be exact. Check the bottom of the grips/stock for the Nov 1917 patent date stamp. Because this style of stocks covered the bottom of the grip frame S&W stamped the serial number is on the front strap of the grip.

I have a nickel version of the same.



You can see in the picture how the stocks cover the bottom of the grip.
Next picture shows the serial number location, as seen on my 38 Regulation Police I frame.



Note that the stocks do not have the Nov, 1917 patent stamp on the bottom. This is because the gun was made before November 1917.

John

Thanks. I inherited the family .32 S&W break-top revolver my grandfather took off a perp when my grandfather was deputy sheriff in Hagerman Idaho. It came with the spoon who's handle was filed into a key that actually fit the jail cell lock and would open it. Luckily, it was found before an escape was made.

Is this reply to lamilkyway about my 32 serial # 968595 ?
I am also attaching another picture of the barrel asking about what bullet I need to be using, it is marked 32 LONG CTG.

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It is chambered for the 32 S&W Long cartridge, not the older 32 Long Colt. However, the 32 Colt New Police cartridge is the same case as the 32 S&W Long. Colt just didn't like putting a competitors name on any of their products.
As mentioned, the older 32 Long Colt had a heeled bullet of a slightly different diameter. When the S&W 32 long came out in the late 1890s, Colt began to loose sales of their pocket model 32s, which resulted in the development of the Colt New Police line chambered for the S&W cartridge but with a different bullet style and name. Ain't marketing wonderful?
You can also use the shorter 32 S&W cartridges in that gun but the 32 S&W Longs are usually easier to find. You won't find any newly manufactured Colt New Police cartridges though. And the old stuff has gone to the realm of being collector fodder.

John

As above, you need either .32 S&W or, preferably, .32 S&W Long cartridges. Both sizes are still manufactured, but many retailers do not stock either as they are not too popular these days. Gun shows are one source, and some dealers may special order them for you if they do not have them in stock. The .32 S&W and the .32 S&W Long (or .32 Long) cartridges dimensionally differ only in case length. The .32 S&W is used mainly in the old top break pistols made by various manufacturers back in the black powder days. The longer .32 S&W Long cartridge is made for solid frame revolvers, and cannot be used in the old top break revolvers. I hesitate to suggest this, and don't recommend it, but .32 ACP (.32 Auto) cartridges can be used in revolvers chambered for the .32 S&W Long as a last resort. There are several disadvantages to doing so, and this is why I say to use .32 ACP only as a "last resort."

I have several boxes of both .32 S&W and .38 S&W from the late 1800s marked "RIFLE". While it was not rifle ammo, I had been told the boxes were marked "RIFLE" to circumvent a tax on pistol ammo years back.

The ammo is all functional. Some boxes sealed and those that are not sealed have only a crack in the seal around the box from vibration and age.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Lamikkyway:

I love the .32 S&W Long cartridge, and the guns that fire it. Here is a quote from something I just posted this on another thread. The second gun down is a Regulation Police like yours, but with a shorter barrel:

"I like the Regulation Police .32s also, in fact I like all .32s, here is my almost mint RP which came with the box, papers and half a box of ammo for under $400:



Here's another Regulation Police from fifty years earlier... Still on the I frame back then...great little shooter:



Here are a couple of country cousins, pre model 30s, known back then as .32 Hand Ejectors...one I frame, the other "Improved" I frame:



Just for the heck of it, how about one of my purdiest Colts? Colt Pocket Positive .32 Colt New Police (same as .32 S&W Long)...this one is almost mint, but it gets shot anyway. All my guns get shot some. There are so many that have followed me home over the years that they have to take turns!!:

"

These guns are both old and new, and all take the .32 S&W Long cartridge. This ammo is readily available as it is still used by many target shooters, due to the inherent accuracy of the cartridge. My local Cabela's always has it. It is really worth handloading, and a pound of Bullseye powder will load somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,500 rounds!

As mentioned above, the serial number is on the front portion of the grip, as the stocks cover the usual spot, the butt itself. Disregard any number in the yoke cut.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

You are correct, but I don't believe your ammunition is quite that old. Some states did impose a special tax on handgun ammunition, and some boxes which contained what was clearly handgun ammunition were labeled as being RIFLE ammunition to get around paying the tax. It's a bit unusual to see one of those boxes. I have read about that, but don't remember the where or when.

DWalt, I just read on another thread, I believe on this forum, that the boxes were labeled especially for shipment to Mexico, which had a very high tax on handgun cartridges, but not on rifle ammunition.

I'll see if I can find the reference. And I think that it refered specifically to .32 S&W Longs.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I think the answer may be found in Giles and Shuey's outstanding book, One Hundred Years of Winchester Cartridge Boxes 1856 -1956. I have a copy, all I need to do is find it. I don't remember anything about it having anything to do with sales of ammunition to Mexico.
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One comment from G&S: "Another strange fact is that handgun ammunition from the 1880s to early 1920s sometimes had box labels that read "Rifle Cartridges." These rounds were sold in states having heavy taxes on handgun ammunition."
More to follow.
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After looking through G&S in more detail, I cannot add much to the above. In the G&S book are shown pictures of several earlier Winchester cartridge boxes in .45 Colt and .32 Colt New Police with the words "Rifle Cartridges" printed on their labels. This is from the caption of the .32 Colt NP box picture:

" In certain states, due to a tax on"pistol" cartridges, this caliber became a "Rifle Cartridge," according to the labeling seen here...destined for sale in Tennessee, South Carolina, or some other "pistol tax" state."

Under the picture of the similarly labeled Winchester .45 Colt cartridge box, the caption says: "...it's likely that these boxes were used in those few states which imposed a tax on pistol ammunition..."

There is another comment concerning a "pistol ammunition tax" being present in "some Southern states."

And that's all I can find.

Why leave out the 32 Colt, long and short, from all the fun? Try finding some of that! I bought a 32 Colt really cheap, and its in really nice condition. My buddy Joe had 12 rounds and gave it to me because he didn't want me to cry. But by scrounging gun shows for a few years, I've probably got over 100 rounds of it now. The gun is a sweet shooter, with recoil right up there with 22 shorts or CB caps. No, 32 S&W won't chamber because its way too big. The Colt round is .299 in diameter.

As a hint, if you find a box labeled in a gun show, insist on opening it because crooked sellers fill the boxes with S&W rounds, then claim ignorance when you show them the truth. Some even want to argue they're the same. So they're liars and cheats.

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Dick Burg

"Why leave out the 32 Colt, long and short, from all the fun?"

It's seldom that I see any .32 Short or Long Colt ammunition, although it is available on the cartridge collector market - at a price. Another difficulty is that there is no other readily-available cartridge case which can be easily formed into a .32 Colt case, so you really can't reload it, unless you happen to already have a quantity of the original fired cases. If you are looking for a shooter, it's best to avoid any guns chambered in .32 Short or Long Colt.

S&B loads .32 S&W Long and it loads it with a 100 grain flat nosed Colt New Police style bullet. It shoot well and I cast a similar bullet 98 grain bullet using an RCBS mould. It does a good job anchoring cottontails.

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Aguila also has a RN .32 L load. I saw some boxes on the shelf at Academy several months ago. I have seen the S&B .32 L wadcutters at gun shows, I bought one box of S&B maybe a year or so ago, seems I paid around $20. Also, a year-18 months ago, Academy had four boxes of Federal .32 L, on sale. I should have bought them all, I think less than $15/box, but I didn't. Dumb.

For some reason, our local Cabela's always has plenty of .32 S&W Long, usually in a couple or more different manufacturers, but do not stock the .38 S&W cartridge. Since I have numerous revolvers chambered in both, this is a bit discouraging. I once talked them into stocking the .38 S&W, and they must have got a couple of cases in. I did my part and bought a bunch, and then when they were all sold, they never restocked. Strange. But I really have plenty of both stockpiled, and of course I save the brass, and reload for both, so I am pretty well insulated from the ups and downs of the market place.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

John, I can't totally agree with you on this one. The early smokeless loads actually used .299 bullets. The heeled bullets used in the 32 Colt caliber were .313, which match the 32 S&W Long bullet, but are long gone. A few boxes of the post 1900 loadings are still around, but if shot in a 32 Long, the bullet would just rattle down the barrel.

From time to time, European and US ammo manufacturers have sold what they label as a 32 Long Colt in the more recent past, but those are as you say, the identical cartridge as the 32 S&W Long. Most of those more recent loadings will not even fit in a Colt revolver. Neck of a 32 Long is .335", while original 32 Colt was .313".

It is confusing stuff and I have not been able to determine when the last Colt 32 Long revolver was made and if the chambering was actually changed so as to accept a 32 S&W Long cartridge.

Anyway, for the OP, always stick with the cartridge stamped on the barrel and accept no substitutes.

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Gary
SWCA 2515