.32 Automatic

[DWalt]

For what its worth, and open to methodology debate, Marshall and Sanow's "Stopping Power" study rates the .32 ACP fairly highly among calibers. Especially with the use of Winchester Sivertips. That is what I have loaded in some of my house gun .32s.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

These little gems were made in an era when making a firearm was more an art than a feat of technology.
My PPK manufactured in 1962 is a testimony to that.
I like to shoot it a lot...but reloading for it well...that's a completely different story!

 

[Absalom]

Well, if we’re sharing, here are a few of my 7.65mm pistols (sorry, old photos, lighting could be better).

 

[BB57]

I bought a pair of Austrian police surplus PP pistols in excellent condition back when they were being imported at very nice prices. Since then I've also added a few FEG PP and PPK/S style pistols.

As noted above, handloading .32 ACP has its share of challenges.

1) European brass tends to be thicker walled to accommodate .308-309 diameter bullets, while US brass tends to be thinner walled to accommodate .310-311 sized bullets. It all works well until you seat a .311 sized US bullet in a European case and find it won't fit in a tight .32 ACP/7.65 Browning chamber.

So you either sort your brass, or you use a post sizing die to ensure the final round is sized back to the required diameter.

2) The case and the powder charges are small, so you end up having to use an extra small charge bar, or a drum style measure with a very small cylinder diameter.

3) the combination of small bullets, varying case wall dimensions and comparatively thin case walls in general, requires attention to detail and some finess when assembling the round.

 

[Absalom]

And here is the one I’d like to get if I could find a decent one at a reasonable price. The Schwarzlose Model 1908. Only made until 1911. Its “blow-forward action” is certainly the trippiest design of the era.

The attached photo supposedly is of Kaiser Wilhelm’s personal gun.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YKo06FgXlMM[/ame]

 

[Dump1567]

The workmanship on the Savage is beyond compare. The Savage is my next favorite pocket pistol to the Remington 51 which will always be in first place. I'd even like to get one of the new R51s in 9mm that had so many problems. Despite that, and the difference in caliber, the R51 is built very much like the original 51. I haven't seen one at a gun show for at least the last year. I have a friend who bought an R51, decided he didn't like it and sold it. Unfortunately he didn't tell me first or I would have bought it from him.

Just saw one today at Sportsman's Warehouse.

 

[Kurusu]

Well, if we’re sharing, here are a few of my 7.65mm pistols (sorry, old photos, lighting could be better).

Got some of them 7.65s too. And since we're sharing.

There's a .25 mixed in the group of the first photo(the theme was hammerless pocket pistols), and only the PP is in 7,65 on the second photo (the PPK is a .22, the theme was Walther pocket pistos)). But I already had the photos.

 

[mbliss57]

I have an “accumulation” but I’ve never pulled them all out at the same time for a photo shoot. I have several CZs in .32 ACP, an FN Browning Model 1900, 2 Savages,.. and a couple of others.
I have a fondness for the Savages.. I especially like Their old advertisements..”10 Shots Quick”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sistema1927]

I have exactly two .32 ACP pistols, and they are as different as day and night from each other. A Kel-Tec P32 and a VZ/CZ50.

 

[Kurusu]

I wouldn't call myself a collector but I do have a real fondness for old
.32 autos. A few of mine.

I Like your Berettas. I'm still to find a good 1935.

 

[Kiwi cop]

I bought a pair of Austrian police surplus PP pistols in excellent condition back when they were being imported at very nice prices. Since then I've also added a few FEG PP and PPK/S style pistols.

As noted above, handloading .32 ACP has its share of challenges.

1) European brass tends to be thicker walled to accommodate .308-309 diameter bullets, while US brass tends to be thinner walled to accommodate .310-311 sized bullets. It all works well until you seat a .311 sized US bullet in a European case and find it won't fit in a tight .32 ACP/7.65 Browning chamber.

So you either sort your brass, or you use a post sizing die to ensure the final round is sized back to the required diameter.

2) The case and the powder charges are small, so you end up having to use an extra small charge bar, or a drum style measure with a very small cylinder diameter.

3) the combination of small bullets, varying case wall dimensions and comparatively thin case walls in general, requires attention to detail and some finess when assembling the round.

Whenever I load .32 auto I revert back to my turret press with my Lee Perfect Powder measure on top.

It is slower than using an auto drum powder measure but the light charge (2.1 gn Mulwex AP50N) meters well through the Perfect measure and is very repeatable.

 

[nachogrande]

32's

For what its worth, and open to methodology debate, Marshall and Sanow's "Stopping Power" study rates the .32 ACP fairly highly among calibers. Especially with the use of Winchester Sivertips. That is what I have loaded in some of my house gun .32s.

NOT IDEAL "stopping power" for sure, they will leave a mark & hurt tomorrow.

 

[BAM-BAM]

This thread makes me want to dig out the .32 PPK/s I got cheap a couple of years ago.

 

[italiansport]

Here's one of my examples of perhaps the most prolifically produced and issued 32acps of all time. These Browning Model 1922s were the police standard in Europe for decades and were still commonly issued up into the 1970s. The NAZIs also issued them in the thousands when they overran Belgium during WW II.
Jim

 

[Charlie Foxtrott]

I am pretty fond of my .32 caliber guns.

The 1903 Colt pocket hammerless does it for me.

 

[mbliss57]

NOT IDEAL "stopping power" for sure, they will leave a mark & hurt tomorrow.

Tell that to the those that were executed with this caliber before the Nazis got more efficient with gas chambers. They didn't seem to think they need more firepower.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Seem to remember reading that sidearms were considered more of a 'badge of rank" than a combat weapon in European armies in WWI and into WWII....a carry over from the Napoleonic wars.......

 

[mbliss57]

Seem to remember reading that sidearms were considered more of a 'badge of rank" than a combat weapon in European armies in WWI and into WWII....a carry over from the Napoleonic wars.......

Shooting Jews in the back of the head is not combat.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I guess I never got around to "accumulating" .32s like that - I did accumulate a number of .25 ACPs. Then I adopted this little child in .32 ACP:

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Shooting Jews in the back of the head is not combat.

I hope the moderators leave that up but if they ding you then I want the ding, too! Well done!