The historical significance of this revolver has always attracted me but I never had one until now. It came to me via a satisfactory internet transaction. The gun arrived in condition exactly as described in the ad. It is not of collector grade. I gave $395 for it, which is, maybe, half or less of what a collector grade edition would have cost me? You can see that it has been reblued over some pitting. It appears rust was well removed in advance. The S&W logo and the cylinder markings are good. The wood grips do not match the frame. The best thing is, I wanted to do some shooting with it and it looked to be up to that. The bore of the 6-in. barrel was good and the action was smooth, with good timing and a tight lockup. The chamber mouths measured 0.314” and the bore, 0.311”. The trigger was fairly light with just a bit of creep.
Winter weather dictated firing this piece on a 7-yard range indoors. The report will make this post long, but I know you folks like to hear about some shooting. I fired several brands of factory ammo, including round noses and wadcutters, and a couple of handloads. Function was very good. The action was quite smooth and positive. The cylinder stop (throwback to the tip-up models) on the top of the frame worked very well. The long, straight grip was comfortable. Even though this was the first of the hand ejectors, I think you would not mistake it for anything but a Smith.
Chronograph Results Factory : Winchester 98 gr. RN, 692 fps; Remington Target 98 gr. RN, 679 fps; Magtech 98 gr. RN, 660 fps; Fiocchi 98 gr. Wadcutter, 598 fps; LaPua 98 gr. Wadcutter, 705 fps; Federal 98 gr. Wadcutter, 706 fps.
Remington Target .32 S&W (short) 88 gr., 660 fps; Magtech .32 S&W (short) 85 gr., 699 fps
Handloads: 2.0 gr Bullseye and MagTech 98-gr WC, 706 fps (SD 11 fps); 2.0 gr Bullseye and Berry’s 83-gr plated WC, 781 fps (SD 23 fps).
The velocities seem a tad slow for a 6-in. barrel and that may be due to a large cylinder gap. The cylinder has very little end play, but the gap measured 0.013”! In general, factory round-nosed ammo is mediocre stuff, loaded too light, as you know, so pressures are erratic with large spreads and standard deviations. The wadcutter loads give more uniform performance.
Accuracy was good. I fired over a sand bag and used a Merit optical disc on my glasses. The round noses gave 0.6 – 1.0” at 7yards. For the factory wadcutters, the best 4 in each of 6 five-shot groups average 0.64.” (See the first pic) That extrapolates to 2.28” at 25 yards. The weighting factor is because I can be counted on to heel or jerk at least one flier in a five shot group. I hope you will let me get by with that.
A surprise was how well the gun fired standard .32 S&W rounds. The best 4 in 5 five-shot groups averaged 0.73.” (See second pic)
Extrapolates to 2.6” at 25 yards. Makes me want to investigate how well my other 32s shoot the short round.
This was just plain fun. Thanks for reading.
Winter weather dictated firing this piece on a 7-yard range indoors. The report will make this post long, but I know you folks like to hear about some shooting. I fired several brands of factory ammo, including round noses and wadcutters, and a couple of handloads. Function was very good. The action was quite smooth and positive. The cylinder stop (throwback to the tip-up models) on the top of the frame worked very well. The long, straight grip was comfortable. Even though this was the first of the hand ejectors, I think you would not mistake it for anything but a Smith.
Chronograph Results Factory : Winchester 98 gr. RN, 692 fps; Remington Target 98 gr. RN, 679 fps; Magtech 98 gr. RN, 660 fps; Fiocchi 98 gr. Wadcutter, 598 fps; LaPua 98 gr. Wadcutter, 705 fps; Federal 98 gr. Wadcutter, 706 fps.
Remington Target .32 S&W (short) 88 gr., 660 fps; Magtech .32 S&W (short) 85 gr., 699 fps
Handloads: 2.0 gr Bullseye and MagTech 98-gr WC, 706 fps (SD 11 fps); 2.0 gr Bullseye and Berry’s 83-gr plated WC, 781 fps (SD 23 fps).
The velocities seem a tad slow for a 6-in. barrel and that may be due to a large cylinder gap. The cylinder has very little end play, but the gap measured 0.013”! In general, factory round-nosed ammo is mediocre stuff, loaded too light, as you know, so pressures are erratic with large spreads and standard deviations. The wadcutter loads give more uniform performance.
Accuracy was good. I fired over a sand bag and used a Merit optical disc on my glasses. The round noses gave 0.6 – 1.0” at 7yards. For the factory wadcutters, the best 4 in each of 6 five-shot groups average 0.64.” (See the first pic) That extrapolates to 2.28” at 25 yards. The weighting factor is because I can be counted on to heel or jerk at least one flier in a five shot group. I hope you will let me get by with that.
A surprise was how well the gun fired standard .32 S&W rounds. The best 4 in 5 five-shot groups averaged 0.73.” (See second pic)
Extrapolates to 2.6” at 25 yards. Makes me want to investigate how well my other 32s shoot the short round.
This was just plain fun. Thanks for reading.
