32 Short Colt ?

While going through my ammo stock today I found around 230 rounds
of 32 Short Colt. It's a mixed bag of Remington, Western, and UMC. I don't recall buying this ammo so I guess I've had it for some time. So what revolvers fire a .32 Short Colt. Also dug up 100+ rounds of .32 S&W I didn't know I had.

Ship it to me, or bring it to the show next weekend! But I can't get there until Sunday.

The only thing I know of that swallows it are older Colt Police Positives that say 32 Colt on the barrel. Those take, I think, 32 Colt short or longs.

I bought one in early December because it was in such good shape. It surely doesn't chamber 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, etc. Smaller diameter bullets, .299 vs .313. They might fire in a 32 S&W, but the bullets probsably wouldn't touch the rifling.

rburg said:

Ship it to me, or bring it to the show next weekend! But I can't get there until Sunday.

The only thing I know of that swallows it are older Colt Police Positives that say 32 Colt on the barrel. Those take, I think, 32 Colt short or longs.

I bought one in early December because it was in such good shape. It surely doesn't chamber 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, etc. Smaller diameter bullets, .299 vs .313. They might fire in a 32 S&W, but the bullets probsably wouldn't touch the rifling.

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I am thinking of selling the ammo, I just don't know what its worth. It's going for $ 50.00 a box on gunbroker, but that seems a little high.I will be at OGCA next week.

Some of the very early Colts were chambered in .32 Long or Short Colt.
It`s very close to .32 S&W. One has a slightly larger diameter than the other, but off the top of my head I can`t remember which. Think the .32 Colt is bigger, but would have to dig out some of the ammo to measure to be sure.

This little Colt New Pocket is chambered in .32 Long Colt. Made 1899.
.32 Long Colt is real hard to find, but it eats .32 Short just fine.
I lucked out and found 3 boxes of .32 Short Colt cheap at an auction a few years ago. Allowed me to play a little with this little critter.

Mike1957 said:

Some of the very early Colts were chambered in .32 Long or Short Colt.
It`s very close to .32 S&W. One has a slightly larger diameter than the other, but off the top of my head I can`t remember which. Think the .32 Colt is bigger, but would have to dig out some of the ammo to measure to be sure.

This little Colt New Pocket is chambered in .32 Long Colt. Made 1899.
.32 Long Colt is real hard to find, but it eats .32 Short just fine.
I lucked out and found 3 boxes of .32 Short Colt cheap at an auction a few years ago. Allowed me to play a little with this little critter.

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That's a real beauty Mike, 100+ years old and in excellent condition.

The Colt round is smaller. There is just no way you'll manage to get a 32 S&W round in the Colt Chamber. We tried. The S&W round uses a bullet that is about .311-.312.-.313 while the Colt uses a tiny .299 bullet.

I kind of wonder if the Colt rounds can't be fired in a S&W chambered gun. It'd be loose and sloppy along with very inaccurate, I'd guess. But just as 32 S&W can apparently be fired in a 32-20, maybe we have one of those ugly situations that could work in a dire emergency.

rburg said:

The Colt round is smaller. There is just no way you'll manage to get a 32 S&W round in the Colt Chamber. We tried. The S&W round uses a bullet that is about .311-.312.-.313 while the Colt uses a tiny .299 bullet.

I kind of wonder if the Colt rounds can't be fired in a S&W chambered gun. It'd be loose and sloppy along with very inaccurate, I'd guess. But just as 32 S&W can apparently be fired in a 32-20, maybe we have one of those ugly situations that could work in a dire emergency.

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I have two rounds of this load somewhere around. My dad bought a box of them for his H&R 632 Guardsman when he couldn't find the .32 S&W (short) in supply. This was in the late 1970's. The load was made by Winchester.

The Colt cartridge was a heeled, outside lubed bullet...it worked as an EMERGENCY substitute...but it split cases and lead. In addition, the barrel and cylinder required a MASSIVE amount of scrubbing with Hoppe's and a brush!

While I know it was at one time a Police favorite, I would have had FAR more faith in the S&W cartridges than the heeled bullet Colt ones...just something about them that didn't inspire confidence.

Keep in mind that back in the day, even 32 caliber bullet wounds proved fatal. The lawmen weren't nearly as concerned with one stop kills. Most played by different rules than are used today. If you got shot, chances are you'd die from the wound and ensuing infection. No one wanted to get shot by anyone or anything. Sure, some people did survive to tell of it. But poor sanitation and understanding of how to treat bullet wounds resulted in a pretty high fatality rate.

Also keep in mind police in many places still use small, and by our standards weak cartridges. As our police become more militant and over arm themselves, the criminals become less easy going, too.

Our perspective is a little different as shooters. Small caliber handguns are just fun to shoot. The problem is ammo is just as expensive or more so. I'm going to guess that my scouring of shows for 32 Colt ammo will soon cause a shortage of it. My procedures haven't changed. When I get a new caliber, I go out and acquire as much ammo as I can find. When I get what I feel might be a lifetime supply, I don't care what happens to the supply chain. The last couple of shows reveals that old 32 Colt ammo seems to be selling in the range of $20 or $25 a box. I can afford to drop a few more boxes into my powder magazine. Then I'll stop.

Here are way to many pics of the ammo. The Old U.M.C. box is unopened except for a tear on the lower left side.
Thanks for your feedback, always interesting to learn about a cartrage you don't know much about.

Muddyboot said:

That's a real beauty Mike, 100+ years old and in excellent condition.

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Actually it`s not as pretty as it looks in the pic.
It`s been reblued at some point, and they buffed most of the pony off in the process. But the little pony still shoots pretty good.

Mike1957 said:

Actually it`s not as pretty as it looks in the pic.
It`s been reblued at some point, and they buffed most of the pony off in the process. But the little pony still shoots pretty good.

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At least who ever reblued it didn't do the hammer and trigger. I hate when that happens on a reblued revolver.

.32 Colt can be fired in a revolver chambered for .32 S&W. (but you probably won't hit much) .32 S&W can't be fired in a gun chambered for .32 Colt, 'cause it just won't fit into the cyl.

Why ammo companies made both a .32 long and short Colt baffles me, because the MV & ME are so close it just isn't worth the trouble and cost to try and find .32 Colt long ammo. .32 short Colt is still made altho it's not exactly common .

therevjay said:

Why ammo companies made both a .32 long and short Colt baffles me, because the MV & ME are so close it just isn't worth the trouble and cost to try and find .32 Colt long ammo.

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The same could be said for .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long. If the ammo companies wanted to boost the velocity of either of the shorts by just a little, it would close the differences to almost nothing.

The 32 Colt cartridges are essentially centerfire versions of the older 32 short and long rimfire. Originally both used a heel-type bullet (one that is the same diameter as the shell case) but somewhere along the way the 32 Long Colt changed to a smaller diameter hollow base bullet that fit inside the case. The hollow base is supposed to expand and grip the rifling, the short continued to use a heel-type bullet and in my experience is usually more accurate than the long. Neither of them could be considered a powerhouse but I enjoy shooting them.

I wonder why of all the cartrages that have gone by the wayside, this one is still factory loaded by Winchester. Considering how long it's been since a revolver was made in this caliber.