I've been looking online all over but have come up empty for .327 Federal Magnum cartridges. A few local gun shops look at me & laugh when I ask. (Don't blame them!) If any Western PA members see any at a shop, could you please let me know? I have 6 left of 85 gr. and maybe 25 S&W longs, plus some expensive other ones that are not for killing paper. I just want to shoot the gun once in a while! At this rate this is one Ruger that WILL last forever.
.327 FM Ammo?
- Thread starter jeffrefrig
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Green Frog
Member
Just one word for you, jeffrefrig..."Reload!" If you have ever reloaded any pistol cartridge, you will find the 32 series (all the way from S&W "Short" to the 327 FM) to be as easy as any you've ever loaded. If you've never reloaded, there's no time like the present to start. Pistol primers are a bit of a challenge right now, but finding them beats not being able to shoot.
Froggie
Froggie
Cal44
Member
Try putting a "want" ad in this forum.
Back before the current ammo crisis, I traded a guy here on the forum for several boxes of 32 Federal Gold Dots for some 44 Special Gold Dots I had.
Back before the current ammo crisis, I traded a guy here on the forum for several boxes of 32 Federal Gold Dots for some 44 Special Gold Dots I had.
OP
I have a boatload of .32ACP, but there's nothing like the supersonic pow of the FMs! I have the 6" GP100; it's within 1 oz. in weight to my 629-6, so it's a great gun to shoot. Recoil is almost non-existent.
I thought about trying to learn reloading. It seems "everybody" does it, but if Mrs. Refrigeration knew I had a can of gunpowder in the basement I think she would leave! Hmm...nah!
I thought about trying to learn reloading. It seems "everybody" does it, but if Mrs. Refrigeration knew I had a can of gunpowder in the basement I think she would leave! Hmm...nah!
OP
I've done that! Now, if I were only a gentleman!
It's like shooting a BB gun out of the 6" GP100, but a deadly BB gun!
Green Frog
Member
Would that you were a couple of states closer, jeffrefrige. It sounds like we are twin brothers from a different mother!
When I first got my custom Project 616 (SS K frame 4” 327) built, I came up with a load I won’t publish using AA #7 powder and a 125 gr SWC. I didn’t use a SR primer, but if I had gone any hotter, I would have considered it. As it was, that Smith was a fire breathing ground stomper!
About that same time, I found a Ruger Blackhawk 8 shot 327FM. Now that’s a stud hoss! With 32acp ammo it really does feel like a BB gun!
Your long lost brother,
Froggie
When I first got my custom Project 616 (SS K frame 4” 327) built, I came up with a load I won’t publish using AA #7 powder and a 125 gr SWC. I didn’t use a SR primer, but if I had gone any hotter, I would have considered it. As it was, that Smith was a fire breathing ground stomper!
About that same time, I found a Ruger Blackhawk 8 shot 327FM. Now that’s a stud hoss! With 32acp ammo it really does feel like a BB gun!
Your long lost brother,
Froggie
This comes up from time to time and it’s hard for me to tell if it is in jest or if it is serious, but either way…
If you keep a can of gasoline in your garage for the lawn mower — that is a helluva lot more dangerous than 25 pounds of smokeless powder in original containers stored on a dry shelf nearly anywhere prudent in your home.
Further, most every household has a slew of very dangerous stuff collected under the kitchen sink.
Bottom line is that powder and primers in the house really aren’t very dangerous.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Smokeless powder is not explosive like black powder, it just burns very fast. Black powder is gun powder but not smokeless powder. Like said above, stored in the original container it's very safe.
I'm sorry I came help you with finding ammo, I live in NEPA. Good luck finding ammo, I feel your pain.
I'm sorry I came help you with finding ammo, I live in NEPA. Good luck finding ammo, I feel your pain.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
If you're worried about the pressure used a SPM primer but there is no reason to use a rifle primer in the .327 Federal Magnum. Trying to light off a rifle primer in a handgun comes with it's own set of problems. Unless you use a powder that fires better with a magnum primer like H110/W296 a standard SPP is fine IMO. Of course you have to decide for yourself.
I’ll say it again: all Federal/Speer .327 Federal factory ammo made was built with a small rifle primer. The “why” is simple, it is a 45,000 PSI max cartridge.
That’s 10,000 psi beyond .357 Magnum
That’s 5,000 psi beyond .30 Carbine which also uses a small rifle primer
It’s all about containing what is not a typical handgun pressure, but significantly beyond even magnum handgun pressures.
That’s 10,000 psi beyond .357 Magnum
That’s 5,000 psi beyond .30 Carbine which also uses a small rifle primer
It’s all about containing what is not a typical handgun pressure, but significantly beyond even magnum handgun pressures.
Back in the 60's I shot a 327 magnum and it was a Hoot !!
It also shot the lighter 32 ammo well and it was a lot cheaper to buy, back then.
A fun revolver.........
hope you find some ammo.
PS;
I stand corrected........
it was a H&R Magnum loading.
It also shot the lighter 32 ammo well and it was a lot cheaper to buy, back then.
A fun revolver.........
hope you find some ammo.
PS;
I stand corrected........
it was a H&R Magnum loading.
Last edited:
There have been guys hot-rodding the .32-20 Winchester for a long time but the .32 H&R Magnum first hit the scene in the 1980’s and the .327 Federal Magnum made it’s debut in the early 2000’s so I’m not sure specifically what you were shooting back in the 1960’s but it probably wasn’t the .327 Federal Magnum.
Close size wise but not factory specs. .32-20 left. 327FM right.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
All the Hodgdon load data for the .327 Federal Magnum was tested with a Federal small pistol magnum primer.
All the .327 Fed Mag ammo in the Lyman 50th Edition was tested with a Federal 100 primer, that is a Standard SPP. Speer 15 used a SPMP primer and Sierra VI used a WSPM primer.
I didn't go in the basement to check all the other manuals I have but if Hodgdon and Lyman tested them I trust it.
Doesn't matter to me what primer it was loaded with factory wise...I'm gonna stick with real loading data available. I like mine...a SP 101. I'm still considering making my 16-4 a 327. My only objection to the round is that it is LOUD! Probably even more so on the receiving end
Green Frog
Member
If the 16-4 hadn't achieved the collector status it now has, I believe you'd hear about many of them being converted to 327 FM. It just works to have a K frame in this, the smallest CF magnum caliber. I always felt that the bean counters didn't give the 16-4 a long enough run nor a strong enough promotion to get it the sales it deserved. I remember hearing about what a slow seller it was, but truthfully how much contemporary press do you recall it getting? If it had stayed in production (even limited production) until the development of the 327 FM I imagine we could have seen a factory Model 16-5 in 327 or even the Model 616 - the mythic name I gave my project stainless K-327. If it had somehow avoided the Hillary Hole and other modern "improvements" that model would have sold like cold beer at an August ball game.
Froggie
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