The Model 16-4 was the first K frame (mid-size frame) .32 H&R Magnum revolver made by S&W, in 1989. The earlier Model 16's (M-16, 16-1, 16-2 and 16-3) were K frame revolvers chambered for the shorter, less powerful father, the .32 S&W Long cartridge, are also referred to as the "K-32 Masterpiece," and had been discontinued by 1974. All Model 16's of any era are fairly scarce and pricey, but the most modern, the .32 H&R Mag M-16-4, is the most affordable. The M-16-4 was made with 4, 6 and 8-3/8 inch barrels with the full-length barrel underlug.
In "Smith & Wesson-speak", MOST of the time the first digits of the model number designate the frame size, frame material and cartridge, while the "dash" number designates an engineering change or some other variation, but the exceptions to this scheme are huge.
I would google or search ".32 H&R Magnum S&W" and variants, like ".32 Mag Smith & Wesson" and so forth and see what turns up. .32 H&R Mag revolvers made by other makers include products from Harrington & Richardson, Ruger and Charter Arms.
The .32 caliber handgun never really has caught fire in the U.S. It is a great little family of cartridges (.32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Magnum, plus relatives .32 WCF/.32-20 Winchester, .32 ACP) that are accurate and cheap to reload for, but they have, especially since WWII, become pretty much a niche item.
Laid off one summer between college quarters, and unable to find other work, I spent the better part of a month casting SWC bullets for the .32 Long (free wheelweights), reloading them with a small pinch of Bullseye powder (then about $5.00 a pound) and small pistol primers bought for 50 cents a hundred, then driving to a nearby range on my motorcycle (gas was about 65 cents a gallon for premium) and spending the afternoon shooting my shiney little cartridge gems through a 4 inch Model Model 31. I got pretty good at it when I could shoot up 500 rounds a week, and those 500 rounds cost me about $3.25 to load. It made me feel frivolous to waste $7.50 for a brick of .22 LR cartridges!
I felt absolutely giddy when I found a used plain base mould, Lyman 3118, $10.00 with handles, in a gunshop junkbox, so I could save the spendy price of gaschecks I had been using on my Lyman 311316 mould!
I had wanted to find a K frame K-32 Model 16, to go with my K-38 Model 14 and K-22 Model 17, but I never saw one for sale in my home city from 1974 to the 1990's. I was thinking hard on sending the little Model 31 off to Larry Kelly's Mag-Na-Port firm to have it outfitted with an adjustable J frame Kit Gun rear sight and taller ramp front sight, but that would have to wait until work started back up to pay for it.
By fall, school started back up, the plant reopened and I had enough spending money to go back to shooting my beloved home-cast .44 and .45 caliber bullets, and to shoot .38 Special varmint loads in my 6 inch M-14 K-38. The .38 handloaded cartridge was a Sierra 110 grain JHP ($5.00 a box of 100) over 7.0 grains of Unique ($5.00 a pound) on top of small pistol primers at 50 cents per 100. So the hot 110 grain JHP loads (now they would be called "Plus-P" loads) cost me $17.50 to load 500 of them.
There wasn't many little varmints at the range to shoot, so my motorcycle was parked and my trusty 1974 Ford Bronco became the means of searching out hunting fields to take the place of the target fields, to turn loose the K-38 when punching paper got tiring. The mountain and agricultural land around the outskirts of town and in the hills and canyons nearby were populated with jackrabbits, cottontails and mobs and throngs of small, vocal, skitterish ground squirrels, also called "pinion pickets" or "pocket pests" by the ranchers and farmers. We called them "ground grizzlies" for the enthusiasm they displayed for carting off the freshly-shot remains of their clan so they could eat them.
It was easy to find farmers and ranchers who, when asked politely, were pleased to have us damage, dent and reduce the varmint populations that were digging holes all over their fields and tunnelling into their canal banks.
The hot .38 Specials, a 110 grainer at almost 1,200 fps from the 6 inch K-38 barrel, was a lot better at stopping the ground grizzlies' charges, flanking movements and tactical retreats. The little bullets often really splattered the savage rodents, while leaving our .32 Long, propelling it's 112 grain solid at half the speed, needing much closer targets to score. The little mobsters really didn't get dismembered from the slow .32's anywhere near the way they were torn up by the screaming .38's.
I really wished I could have found a K-32 back them. A cast .32 bullet at some 1,000 fps would have been very do-able.
That little Model 31 was a ton of fun The cheapest real shooting I ever had. I foolishly sold it when the stainless, .32 H&R Mag 4 inch Model 631 .32 Mag Kit Gun came out in 1990 because I hadn't shot the M-31 for a few years and figured the newer stainless steel gun, with more power from the longer, hotter cartridge, and adjustable sights might be an improvement. Sadly, I didn't find that .32 Mag Kit Gun until 1992 and still haven't shot a handloaded round through it yet.
I really would like S&W to make a "Classic" 6 inch K-327 Mag with the slender barrel of the original Model 16. MIM and IL aside, I would still buy one.
I hope you find what you want!
. Definitely not a bad gun and would recommend it...
