Is a 32 Long called a S&W 32 Long?

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

I believe so. 32 S&W (without the Long) is an older, weaker cartridge.

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Loyalty Above All.. but Honor

Generally, yes.

There was a .32 Long Rimfire, but it's been obsolete for almost 90 years. Colt chambered guns for .32 New Police (.32 Colt Long centerfire), but it's interchangeable with the .32 S&W Long. They slightly altered the bullet and changed the name, because they didn't want to advertise "S&W" on their guns.

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"I also cook."

.32 S&W and .32 S&W Long and .32 H&H Mag and .327 mag share the same cartridge dimensions except length. The .32 work like .38 .357

I believe there is a difference. There was a .32 long cartridge, a centerfire that was introduced after the original rimfire. Its case length (.82") was slightly shorter than the .32 S&W long and the similar .32 Long Colt (which have case lengths of .93" and .92" respectively).

You all need to step back and do some research! .32 S&W Long and .32 Long Colt are not the same cartridge.


The Colt version of the .32 S&W Long is the .32 Colt New Police.


.32 Long Colt is nothing more that a center-fire version of the .32 Long Rim-Fire, they are dimensionally identical. Marlin made a Model 1893 that would fire either by simply turning the firing pin as I recall.


And leave .32 S&W and .32 Short Colt out of this discussion, all you are doing is adding to the confusion!

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Gunsmithing since 1961

The .32 Colt/Long Colt cartridge is obsolete and is not interchangeable with the .32 S&W/.32 S&W Long. Colt made many Police Positive revolvers chambered the .32 Colt/Long Colt. The .32 Colt New Police cartridge is essentially identical to the .32 S&W Long and those two are interchangeable (should you find some old .32 New Police cartridges).

I'm glad you mentioned this. Actually, I had done some research and the information in my post above comes from the reference "Cartridges of the World," 10 edition, by Frank C. Barnes.

You didn't dig deep enough. Case lengths of .92" and .93" are within normal manufacturing tolerances. Such a close dimension cannot be used to differentiate two cartridges. Example, depending on manufacturer .32-20 case length can vary from 1.275" nominal, to 1.315 nominal. They are all .32-20, and let's not get into .32-20 Winchester vs .32-21 Marlin! Look those up.


Besides that, the case diameter of .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long is nominally .337", where .32 Long and Short Colt are nominally .312". The similarity ends at the name, with both being .32 Long. I own guns chambered for both the S&W and Colt cartridges.


My comment wasn't originally, but the other 5 that posted absolute B.S. But, before you get defensive/critical you better have your ducks in a row, you didn't!


AND, Frank Barnes made excellent bullets, but his book isn't/wasn't always the best reference for cartridge dimensions!

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Didn't mean to be defensive or critical --- merely indicating where the information was from. Thanks for the additional clarifications.

Take your pick. Ammunition manufacturers are not noted for accuracy when describing and labeling ammo. It seems that you can find just about anything printed on a box of ammo.

The S&W revolver typically stamped either 32 LONG of 32 S&W to differentiate the caliber.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

And, just to confuse things even more, here are the different descriptions of the .32 long and .32 Smith & Wesson Long from "Cartridges of the World" 10th edition, by Frank Barnes.

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[QUOTE=Colt is nothing more that a center-fire version of the .32 Long Rim-Fire, they are dimensionally identical. Marlin made a Model 1893 that would fire either by simply turning the firing pin as I recall.

I own a Marlin 92, [the 93's shot bigger sized cartridges like 30-30, etc.], it uses 2 separate firing pins, remove the bolt from the rifle, turn it over & they fall out, turn the bolt rightside up, & drop either firing pin back in.

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Loyalty Above All.. but Honor

As a matter of interest to some... I used to have a couple of S&W .32s, late models from the '70s. A friend gave me a partial box of Remington factory .32 S&W (not the long) cartridges that belonged to his dad, probably from the 1930s.

I was chronographing one day and decided to try a few of these. The lead round nose bullet weighed in the 80 grain range, I think. I don't recall the exact muzzle velocity, but it was somewhat greater than 500 fps. I'd be afraid to shoot such a load at anything much more substantial than a thin piece of soft pine as the bullet might bounce back.

The .32 S&W was originally a black powder round, made for the weak 19th century top break revolvers, and of necessity it is not a powerhouse. For use in modern revolvers chambered in .32 S&W Long, .32 Mag, and .327, the .32 S&W case can be handloaded to produce much more respectable ballistics. Much the same is true for the .38 S&W, it having a similar history.

I'm not a reloader (yet) so I use strictly factory ammo. My Model 31-1 is roll stamped " 32 S & W Long " and the only factory ammo I've found at 3 LGS was Magtech 98 grain LRN in boxes of 50 (and very few boxes on hand at least locally). The gun was bought unfired, still in box from a non-gun son who was settling his mother's estate, with all docs and the receipt dated Oct.11, 1975.

I don't know about 32 S & W or use in Colt's but I can tell you for sure that the modern ammo does NOT even come close to chambering in a S & W 1st Model 1888!

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

Just to muddy the waters a bit, I scored a complete box of 32 S&W factory ammo made by/for S&W in the days when they used the blue and white box, which was NOT ancient history! I have no solid info about these even though I've asked a couple of times on this forum. Does anyone know why these would have even been marketed during this time frame and why the 32 S&W Long version would not have been?

Froggie

Well to start with I'm not sure that they didn't offer the 32 S&W Long when they were marketing their own line of ammo. I don't have any of their catalogs from that time but remember that they did offer a good variety of handgun and rifle loads (I've had 308, 30-06, 270, 38, 9mm and 22 in my own collection for instance and have seen others as well). Not really sure how many different loading they offered.

As to the old 32 S&W round it was still fairly popular even into the 1980's. Any gun shop and most of the big box stores usually had it on the shelf. I had several old guns that shot it and never had trouble finding it in stock back then. Many people seemingly had and shot these old guns regularly, some even carried them ("stopping power" arguments and debates over the "best gun" were for the "gun nuts" and a lot of people just seemed to have the "a gun is a gun" mindset then.

One other benefit of the carrying the shorter cartridge for the retailer would be that it works in longer chambered guns too. Good if the store only carries a limited number of ammo choices and that may have affected S&W choices of what to produce (though again, I really don't know whether they ever made the Long in their brand or not, would love to find one of their catalogs from back then)

desi2358, I’ve been looking (admittedly somewhat casually) for well over 5 years and can’t even find a picture of a box or a single head stamped round of S&W branded ammo in 32 S&W Long.

I’ll renew the search here... does anybody have a blue and white S&W box or round(s) of S&W branded brass in 32 S&W L? It would seem likely they exist what with the popularity of the Model 30 & 31 in those days, not to the level of a Model 10, of course, but still some popularity.

Froggie

I found this on an expired Armslist page:

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Loyalty Above All.. but Honor

ARRRGGHH! Why do I find out about things like this after the fact?

Froggie