Modern ammunition in .32 S&W

[first-model]

There is most certainly an obligation, and a very strong one. And it is enforced by an army of trial lawyers who love to sue on even the weakest of product liability grounds if anyone is injured.

Many may not be aware that smokeless powder handgun ammunition has been factory loaded in the USA since 1896, and at that time there were no handguns made other than those for black powder cartridges.

Respectfully, someone that brings suit against an ammunition manufacturer because their 120+ year old gun broke is going to get laughed out of the courtroom.

I think we may agree to disagree on this one, and that's cool.

Mike

 

[deadin]

Then again, no ammo manufacturer is going to want the reputation of their ammo blowing up guns...... (Just sayin'......)

 

[DWalt]

I will absolutely guarantee that if a shooter or bystander is seriously injured as the result of firing modern ammunition in an old gun, it will be far from a laughing matter in court. The litigant's attorney will argue that the ammunition manufacturer knew, or should have known, that their ammunition fit and could be fired in an old gun, thereby constituting clear negligence on the part of the ammunition's manufacturer to ensure that their product is safe in all guns. And the litigant would probably win, possibly big, absent an out-of-court settlement.

 

[Skeetr57]

I don't think that most people here realize that the .32 S&W Long, the .38 S&W Special and the .44 S&W Special were all originally designed as BP cartridges. The extra case length was not needed to accommodate a charge of smokeless powder, but to accept more BP for more velocity, so all of the modern hand ejectors were designed around BP loaded ammo originally, but I don't hear people saying not to fire smokeless loaded ammo in a 1896 I frame .32 or a 1899 K frame .38 Special or an 1908 .44 triple lock. Recoil and velocity can not be used to compare smokeless and BP, only pressure counts. Black powder ammo with the same bullet weight and velocity will ALWAYS have more recoil than the same cartridge loaded with smokeless to the same velocity and with the same bullet weight. The only valid criteria to determine if a load is safe in a particular gun is the max pressure produced in comparison to what the gun was designed for.