32 h&r magnum-a dying cartridge?

[JP7678]

So I’ve become interested in the idea of a small, light, shootable pocket revolver. Just seems like a great idea when not carrying my shield (which is too big for pocket carry for me). A revolver just seems better for the pocket than a semi auto. But I want my cake and to eat it too. I don’t want an ultra light revolver that’s great to carry lots but best to shoot seldom. That’s why I was intrigued by a good performing sub 38 snubby (please no snarky comments about this point).

I was starting to look for a 32 h&r magnum snubby for a pocket revolver when I realized that there seems to be very few options. Charter has one or for a couple hundred dollars more I can add a 6th chamber in a lcr327. No current offerings anywhere else? There seem to be some really nice Smith’s but I don’t feel like paying Sig prices for a 32. Anyways I’ve seen few (very few) for sale which is probably why the sticker price is so steep.

So this got me thinking about the availability of the cartridge. Geez. Sportsman’s wear house shows the closest store with 32 magnums in stock is in Montana (I live in Colorado). I looked online and there are several companies listing it but none show any in stock. Everywhere it’s back ordered or just listed as unavailable. Is the 32 magnum going the way of the dodo bird? I don’t want to buy a firearm with an ammunition that I have to search every nook and cranny to find a box or 2. By the way I also saw 32 long colt is not nearly as common or available as I thought it would be, at least online.

I’ve turned towards thinking about the Taurus M380. Seems to have similar results on ballistic gel as 32 magnum plus at least I won’t have trouble finding ammo anywhere. I’m not exactly thrilled about the 380 round (vs the magnum which did peak my interest) or moon clips but seems there is little else out there.

Why is there little to no interest in a pocket revolver that bridges the gap between the NAA minnies and the full sized j frames, especially in chamberings between 22mag and 38 sp?

 

[cherrypointmarine]

There are some models of S&Ws chambered in 32 magnum , but you need deep pockets . There was a post in the other firearms section about the new Charter Arms Nitride model that holds 7 rounds . I am trying to find one myself . It would make a nice pocket pistol .

 

[ronnie gore]

32 mag

I love the 32 mag. I have a s&w 631,and two ruger single actions. never bought any factory ammo, just ordered brass and cast my own bullets. you know the guns with chamber and fire 32 s&w long also. I have one load the clocks out at 1300 fps.

 

[Delta Rose]

.32 H&R has been around since 1984 and .32 S&W has been around since 1896. While not currently a very popular family of cartridges, the .327 Federal cartridge has breathed a little life into the .32s. The H&R round is becoming recognized as a viable sub load for the higher pressure .327.

I don’t see the .32 H&R going the way of the Dodo....

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I love the 32 mag. I have a s&w 631,and two ruger single actions. never bought any factory ammo, just ordered brass and cast my own bullets. you know the guns with chamber and fire 32 s&w long also. I have one load the clocks out at 1300 fps.

Me too. 32 single six. cast and reload. Never shot a factory round. So its not dying here.

 

[Cal44]

Try ammoseek.com. Right now there are 64 listings for 32 H&R that are in stock.

There are 335 vendor listings for 32 S&W long.

32 S&W long is good practice ammo for the LCR 327.

There are also 209 listings for 327 Federal.

The Sortsmanswarehouse near me usually has one or two loads for each (long, H&R, and 327).

I can't mail order any more in CA, but I stocked up a few years ago.

I carry an LCR327 and a M431PD (Smith and Wesson).

 

[505Gibbs]

The 32 H&R was never a cheap factory load. IMO

 

[Sixgun100]

Don’t think so and hope not. As stated above the .327 Federal Magnum has given the .32 caliber new life. I, just today, ordered a Ruger Single Seven Birdshead Revolver in .327 Federal Magnum. No problem, right now, ordering .327 Magnum ammo on line. Seems like lots of guys that have guns chambered in .327 Magnum that don’t like the blast and recoil, are loading them with .32 H&R Magnum rounds.

 

[Capttjk1]

I have 2 Ruger revolvers in .327 Fed Mag. Funny part is I have never fired even one round of .327 Mag through either gun. I like .32 long for a light load to practice with and I shoot .32 HR Mag at the range as well. The .32 HR Mag is a nice higher velocity round with little recoil, especially in my Ruger GP100 with a 6” barrel. I never have a problem getting .32 HR off the internet. .32 HR Mag would be a good, controllable round for a small pocket carry revolver for self defense purposes.

 

[Erich]

I'm with Mike and Ronnie. Just as with its parent .32 S&W Long, I'm not at all impressed with SAAMI-spec .32 H&R Magnum, watered down for those few top-breaks out there. The handloads I run through my solid frame gun certainly deliver the mail, however.

 

[Green Frog]

If you are looking for a revolver you can go into any gun shop and buy, you can probably write off the 32 H&R. If you hope to be able to buy ammo at Wal*Mart, the same is true.

If you don't reload, I would strongly discourage buying any of the S&Ws chambered in any of the 32 family of calibers. Note this is coming from a guy who has had two custom guns built so far, Project 616 and my Faux Model 16-3. The commitment is more than just going to the store and buying gun and ammunition and I would strongly advise serious research and consideration before buying.

Froggie

 

[Sevens]

It's not that I'm totally hung up on nomenclature but I have been clinically diagnosed "a clear thinker" and in the little world inside my head, the .32 H&R Magnum would be a perfect round if it were perfectly named: the .32 H&R Special.

This round runs at a pressure that is far below nearly every handgun-specific round that wears the proud "MAGNUM" badge.

Yes, if course I am aware that it's all marketing and non-specific, but this sweet little popper would just be perfect as the .32 H&R Special.

 

[Delta Rose]

It's not that I'm totally hung up on nomenclature but I have been clinically diagnosed "a clear thinker" and in the little world inside my head, the .32 H&R Magnum would be a perfect round if it were perfectly named: the .32 H&R Special.

This round runs at a pressure that is far below nearly every handgun-specific round that wears the proud "MAGNUM" badge.

Yes, if course I am aware that it's all marketing and non-specific, but this sweet little popper would just be perfect as the .32 H&R Special.

I couldn’t agree more, hence my reference above to the cartridge as simply .32 H&R. The cartridge pressure is more in line with .38 Special +P.

 

[nipperdog]

Out of the many Revolvers that I have owned in the last 50 years none of them has ever been a .32. I have been looking at the Charter Arms Undercoverette for several years, but my reasoning has always been, why buy a 32 when you can have the same gun in 38 spl. I still think that I would like to try one though. I have no problem with Charter Arms. I have had my 44 Bulldog for 12yrs and shoot it often with never a Problem. As someone mentioned Starline sells 32H&R brass so ammo wouldn't be a problem.

 

[wrangler5]

All 32H&R factory ammunition is built to not blow up the original guns in that caliber from H&R. They weren't actually black powder guns, but in terms of strength they're close to it compared to the much stronger offerings from S&W, Ruger and Charter (that I can think of.)

My carry load is the 100g JHP 32H&R offering from Buffalo Bore - which is explicitly labeled NOT to be shot in H&R brand guns. It offers more energy from a 2" J frame than the +P 38 Special lead SWCHP from Remington that many refer to as the current equivalent of the "FBI Load." I have had two of my 32 Long revolvers reamed to take 32 H&R, and BB has advised that their hot load is suitable for unlimited use in these guns, too. Which, to me, really says something about the design strength of those original H&R pieces.

BTW, from my 3" 30-1 that has been reamed to take it, the 100g BB load delivers 1234 fps of velocity and 338 ft/lbs of energy. I saw a video recently that tested Federal's 85g HydraShok round in 327 Magnum out of a 3" Ruger Sp-101 - it delivered 1250 fps of velocity which gives 295 ft/lbs of energy, a bit less than the BB load out of my similar length barrel.

To be fair, there ARE more potent loads in 327 Mag - 100g Speer Gold Dots and American Eagle JHPs - that get into low 357 Magnum energy territory. They are just as much fun to shoot in 2" snubbies as 357s are (i.e. - not), but are a LOT of fun to shoot in a 4.5" Ruger Single Seven, where they run in the low 1400fps range and deliver ~450 ft/lbs of energy.

For daily carry (in a 432 or 632) I personally prefer 32H&R over 38 Special at equivalent energies because (1) there's an extra round available, and (2) the lower power loads I can shoot for fun with my carry gun are more comfortable to shoot and more accurate than anything I've found in 38 Special out of a 2" J frame. But then, I'm a reloader. (BTW, I have never been able to come close to equaling the BB carry load by reloading within the published limits of any powder/bullet combination - including some that are announced as being over the limit of what a H&R-brand gun can stand - so I'm stuck with $1.50/shot when I want to practice with those rounds.)

But as others have noted, if you can't mail order and don't reload, you're probably going to be pretty much stuck with 22LR, 38 Special, 9mm and 45ACP at big volume general retailers, with maybe 357 Mag and 44 Mag at some of 'em. Gun stores should have the 357 and 44 Mag, and probably 45 Colt, perhaps 44 Special. But anything else is probably going to be special order - they can't make any money stocking stuff that doesn't sell reliably.

 

[glenncal1]

Here are a couple loadings from georgia arms

HANDGUN - **SELECT BY CALIBER - .32 H&R MAG - Georgia Arms

shoot well for me

 

[Green Frog]

That Federal high performance defense load for 327 FM impressed me beyond all belief. If I'm going to be serious about either of my 327s, that's the round that will be in the chambers. When I reload, I lean toward a medium hot load of AA #7 or #9 under my 125 gr LSWC from NOE.

OTOH, most of my 32 H&R shooting is done with whatever random ammo I have on hand, much of it factory loaded, the rest really just a little warmer than 32 S&W L. You know, about the way the factory loads were set up.

I've now gotten to the point where I'm looking for one go-to loading for the S&W L that is supremely accurate. Other than my post-War transition 32 HE Snub (old I-frame) I don't foresee any of my S&W L guns being carried for self defense, and that one gets some "factory reload" JHPs from Georgia Arms.

Since it seems I've committed myself pretty heavily to the 32 families, I guess it makes sense for me to have some pretty specific choices like these. As with all things, YMMV!

Froggie

 

[wrangler5]

Green Frog - if you have access to a chronograph, it might be worth checking out Buffalo Bore's 115g hard cast load for 32 Long as something to carry in a 32L revolver instead of the GA Arms load (should the need arise.) I have not shot either over my chrono, but based on my experience with both brands in 32 H&R I would expect the BB load to be more potent.

BB claims theirs is safe in ANY solid frame (non-top-break) 32 Long revolver in good condition, and that their pressures do not exceed SAAMI specs. They report that the 115g bullet gets to 781fps out of a 3" M30 (their published velocity data on the 100g 32H&R round matches my own results quite closely, so I tend to trust it.) That calculates to 156 ft/lbs of energy, which is more than I've seen from any 32 Long round I've fired from my guns, except for a couple that were beyond the powder charges listed in printed reloading books and will not be repeated here.

In addition, there were a series of posts 10 years ago in the Ammunition/Reloading subforum Working up The Anemic .32 S&W Long Load that laid out some rather exciting opportunities for handloaders of the 32 Long, one of which gave energies with a 98g LRN over Unique in the low 200s, equal to that of the Federal 85g JSP round in 327 Federal Magnum. (Admittedly that's the weakest 327 Federal factory load I've chronographed, but it's still beyond any 32H&R factory round I've checked except the 100g Buffalo Bore, so it's a seriously hot load for 32 Long.)

 

[Green Frog]

Wrangler5, even though I posted in that thread I had forgotten all about it. (Frogs have notoriously poor memories.) Thanks for bringing it back to our attention. I for one really enjoyed seeing a variety of potential loads, some of which I've tried and many of which I need to revisit.

Froggie

 

[wrangler5]

I had not realized you posted in the thread. I saw it a couple of years ago and printed off the opening posts, to keep in my 32 DATA notebook. I only looked the thread up again to get the link, but didn't read all the comments again.

There certainly is a wealth of information in these forums. Too bad it's not more easily found. IMHO. (I still haven't found a comprehensive explanation of the search syntax for these forums - I can think in And and Or and But Not, for example, from my days using Lexis, but have never figured out how to enter those, and multi-word strings, in the forum's search box.)