Is the .32 long / .32 Magnum dead

Are the 32 S&W L and H&R DEAD? Heck, they aren't even SICK at my house! I just got (finally) a 631 (4", adj sights) last week and the conversion parts to load 32 H&R on my Dillon 550. What with hundreds of rounds of brass in all lengths 10 or more different bullet moulds, the 32 family of revolvers will be there when I'm gone.

Froggie
 
Like Green Frog, I have a 4' 631. I live in desert in Nevada, and find the the .32 long/magnum accurate enough to kill a rattler or squirrel, ideal for coyote sized critters and (hopefully) adequate for unsavory desert weirdos. only thing better would be a K frame .327 Mag and the availability of shot cartridges.

OZ
 
Oscar Zulu said:
Like Green Frog, I have a 4' 631. I live in desert in Nevada, and find the the .32 long/magnum accurate enough to kill a rattler or squirrel, ideal for coyote sized critters and (hopefully) adequate for unsavory desert weirdos. only thing better would be a K frame .327 Mag and the availability of shot cartridges.

OZ
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I've got one out of two covered (Project 616) and have seen a couple of threads on loading shot shells in 32. IIRC, somebody was using crimping dies for making blanks to duplicate the style of the old 22 Rat Shot cartridges we used to shoot at Mo-Skeet-O mini skeet. No reason that shouldn't work; I just haven't seen the need for them yet.

Froggie
 
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RWJ said:
There are 13 items in my inventory that would be very sad to hear that :eek:
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Ditto at my place, a baker's dozen.....and a guy in the club has a model 31 reamed for 32 Mag that I am hoping he brings to next week's meeting so I can bring it home....mine were all made between 1882 and 1955...looking to put something newer into the fold.....and if a 4" 631 ever pops up for a reasonable number.....
 
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Just keep them in the dark for a while, Robert… they tend to multiply! That Model 31 in 32 H&R has become pretty popular in some circles and seems like a very worthwhile upgrade. :cool:

Froggie
 
A little something from LuckyGunner in praise of the .32.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz_m4M8CAe0&list=PLYqiOqBy2WM8xwHJt4tKJ4SJRinqP5S1B&index=11[/ame]
 
The reason I got involved with 32 was pretty simple. I was at an auction one evening.. They had a pretty large batch of 327 Fed and 32 H&R mag ammo. I bought all 22 boxes for like 75 bucks. Didn't even have a 32 of any kind at the time. Took me 3 years to find a Ruger SP101 327. I have sinced ender up with 6 32's. Last year at a gun show I found 6 boxes of 32 S&W Long and bought 'em all for 10 bucks a box. I guess not many shooters are all fired up on the 32's..that 101 will even shoot 32 ACP
 
I'm going to the wrong auctions and gun shows. Twenty two boxes of any 32 ammo for "like 75 bucks" would be unheard of here. Even 10 bucks a box for 32 S&W Long is a screaming deal.

With great jealously,
Green Frog
 
Well the last show I went to I found almost nothing. I came away with 150 Rem 50 gr .224 FMJs for varmints and another 80 50 gr .224 HPs both in the old red boxes(222bullets) all for 10 bucks and two rear sights...one for an older Marlin lever gun and another rear sight for either an older 94(or M-70) Winchester both complete for 10 bucks. No 32s some overpriced 22 rimfire ammo some overpriced by far 38s and a bunch of fantastic plastics. I was offered a S&W 22 jet in at best 88% for 2000 dollars.... no box bunch of reloads with 224 bullets and the 22 rimfire adapters
 
I have .32's in revolvers and semi-auto's. Not the high dollar 32's but the old fashioned ones. My I frame S&W is a tack driver so long as I do my part. As long as there is target shooting with revolvers the 32long will be around.
 
32's are still kicking. Not the latest and greatest whiz-bang on the cover of the over priced gun rags these days, but not dead by a long shot.


Lotsa new cartridges introduced in the last decade or so that were the 'new great thing destined to replace whatever you used to like'. Now finding ammo and such for them is getting harder and you just don't hear much about about them taking over the world and making the old standards obsolete.
As a young pup the first center-fire handgun I remember firing was a model 31 snub and I was immediately smitten with S&W revolvers. Dad didn't keep it long but for nostalgia's sake I got a duplicate a few years later when I attained legal age and still have it.


Great for cheap reloading and teaching new shooters moving up from rimfires. As much as many want to eschew the little 32's, 25's and .380's their grim statistics of shooting fatalities contradict the conventional wisdom that such cartridges are likely to bounce off of tee shirts.


And the Colt classic 1903/1908 hammerless autos are grand old collectibles that are still a ball to shoot after a hundred plus years.
The 'Super Short Magnum' rifle cartridges would hope to be doing as well after the next hundred years . . . .
 
Never owned a .32 Magnum but I do shoot and load the .32 Smith & Wesson in long and short . Both are fine target cartridges and both do a good job as small game getters . They are also about as cheap to load as they come . Dead ? No.
 
My dream is to have someone say, "Mom had this old revolver and we don't know what to do with it" but I can't see a new shooter buying a 32 for self-defense. Not when you can get an LCP.
 
I want to try a 32 mag but rather than invest the time and money finding a S&W get some experience with a Charter arms. I realize might be a bad idea to mention on a S&W forum
 
If the .32's are dead, nobody told me.
Fedora-and-32s.jpg

Charter-Snubby.jpg
 
In my opinion the 32 caliber revolvers are perfect to teach youngers to shoot and well as people who have a low recoil tolerance. I have 4 grown children, 5 grandchildren, and the common theme is everyone started out with a 32 revolver learning shooting fundamentals.
Now currently in my safe, are enough 32's for everyone to get two each!! The 327 magnum is the top end and they have a hoot shooting it as well. Now the other fun items are the marlin rifles in 32 magnum as well.
 
The .32s may not be as popular as they once were, but they're a long way from dead. I happen to like .32 caliber revolvers and own several. I also own several .32 acps as well.
I've told the story several times on this forum about my wife's arthritic hands and how she was sensitive to recoil. For her a 2" Model 30 was perfect. She could shoot it quite well and had no problem with recoil.

1mYleg6.jpg
 
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