S&W Ultimate Carry J Frame 432

[T. McIntyre]

Friends!

It has arrived!

After carrying my ever present and faithful companion, S&W 442 for almost 25 years, I picked up a new J Frame. The 442 is not going anywhere, and is still going to get carried and shot, but it has a new, easier to shoot younger brother.

My 442 definitely has some miles on it. I finally exceeded roughly 6K rounds through it, but I am not sure exactly what the round count is. Suffice to say, it is still rocking along, but looks a little worse for wear (kind of like its owner).

 

Last year I was asked if I wanted to be involved with a project with Lipsey's, who are the distributors who worked with S&W to bring out the Ultimate Carry J Frames. Naturally I said yes! Long story short, I developed a load that would shoot to right to the sights for the gun. As it ended up it also shot to the sights on a Ruger LCR that I had on hand for product development.

(For those who don't know, I have a small custom handgun ammo business.)

The ammo (a 100 grain poly coated full wadcutter) ran right at about 800 FPS for me, and 794-796 for the guys down in Louisiana when they did their product launch. Pretty darn consistent.

Anyways, the gun came out fantastic. Besides the truly excellent grips, the sights are the first thing that really stand out. The front sight just Pops. It immediately catches your eye.

I kind of had a hard time getting a pic of it with my phone, but it is exceptional.

 

The front and rear sight combo is such a night and day difference compared to what we have worked with for decades on your typical J Frame. It is just truly impressive. Wish they would have done this 30 years ago! The rear sight is a big U shaped trough and it is very easy to line up.

The grips, I was a little amused. They are almost identical in size to what I had built up with vet wrap and hockey tape on my old 442. Obviously these look a whole lot nicer!

Here is a pic of my old 442 grips and the new 432 grips. You can see how close they are. Needless to say, they are great.

Nice to get a set of factory grips out of the box that are done right. Plus they are relieved for speedloaders.

More to follow....

 

[T. McIntyre]

So after working with and doing development on the .32 H&R, there was no question about which caliber I was going to get. The recoil characteristics were just night and day different. I carry 148 grain full wadcutters in my .38 Special 442 and have for years. They make the gun quite manageable and do great in terms of penetration.

What surprised me with the .32 H&R was just how light the recoil was. It was like shooting a .22 Magnum. Super light recoil, and as a bonus, you get 6 rounds instead of 5. Some have mentioned just carrying a rimfire, but it has been my experience that rimfire revolvers have always needed much heavier springs, which equates to much heavier trigger pulls to make them reliable. The .32 H&R eliminated that issue.

The real surprise for me was the penetration. I honestly did not expect much in that department. I figured it would go 14", maybe 16" I was way off base. Multiple people tested the 100 grain poly coated wadcutters. One report gave 22"s, and another came back at 24"s.

In fact, Jeff "Tank" Hoover, a writer for American Handgunner shot one of the .32 H&Rs with a bunch of different ammo, including the 100 grain poly coat wadcutters, and he got 24"s of penetration.

You can read about that in his article here:

S&W Ultimate Carry: Ballistic Testing - American Handgunner


It really has proven to be a "Goldilocks" load. Super light recoil, and good penetration. Pretty hard to beat.

I decided that since I got my new 432 BUG that I really needed to familiarize myself with it, and the only way to do that is shoot it, and shoot it a LOT. When I was working on the Job, I used to shoot my 442 quite frequently, all the way out to 50 yards. In fact I cannot tell you the number of people who told me that snubby revolvers were only good for "bad breath distance" and you can't hit anything with that past arms distance, etc, etc. Only to show them on the range how very wrong that thinking was.

So my idea is to shoot the heck out of this gun over the next year or so and post up the results here. See how it does accuracy wise and how the gun holds up. Not so much a torture test, but to get used to shooting a J Frame a good bit once again. Plus using one with such dang nice sights will be a very nice change of pace! Plus I will take my old 442 Centennial along with some 148 grain poly coated wadcutters and see how they do as well.

It will give me an opportunity to shoot the Old School along side the New School and see how it all shakes out.

 

[T. McIntyre]

I forgot to post this earlier, but they did a nice job beveling the chambers on the cylinder. Another thing that you would pay a smith to do on a custom gun, and it is coming from the factory already done.

It is no wonder that the special runs of guns that Lipsey's put together from time to time are so sought after.

 

[jcelect]

632

Have the Lipsey's 632 hit the market yet?
jcelect

 

[LOBO]

Good deal!!!! What's the street price on these running?

BTW, good to see you over here (I'm on the single action forum too.)

Chris

 

[Delta Rose]

Have the Lipsey's 632 hit the market yet?
jcelect

A 632UC just sold on Gunbroker for over $1500….

 

[riverrat38]

A 632UC just sold on Gunbroker for over $1500….

We knew that that had to happen. About twice list!

73,
Rick

 

[riverrat38]

Duplicate some how

73,
Rick

 

[Model 15-4ever]

I hate those VZ grips on a revolver; having them just adds to the cost in replacing them. Don't need the goofy round ball sights either. A plain jane 432 would be fine from S&W.

 

[Well Armed]

I hate those VZ grips on a revolver; having them just adds to the cost in replacing them. Don't need the goofy round ball sights either. A plain jane 432 would be fine from S&W.

Well the majority likes the sights and the grips Nancy.

 

[dubshooter]

I hate those VZ grips on a revolver; having them just adds to the cost in replacing them. Don't need the goofy round ball sights either. A plain jane 432 would be fine from S&W.

Luckily I got enough J Frame grips lying around. Won’t cost me nothing to replace the VZ’s.

 

[SuperMan]

Ordered a 642UC and a 632...642 came in last Monday but have not had time to shoot it yet... Planning on shooting it against a 649 and 60-1 for both accuracy and speed of followup shots...

Bob

 

[BeachBumShooter]

I paid $739.00 ($790 with tax) for my new 632UC that I will be picking up on Monday. I feel like I got a real sweet deal! My dealer said the margins on this gun were very slim and at $739 was only clearing about 19%.
So, I would speculate that when supply catches up with demand the “street price” will be $700-$750?

 

[Electraclyde]

Waiting for one of the 2 LGS to get one of these in. My name is first on the list at these shops. Seems that Lipsey's favors their larger dealers with these specials before the smaller dealers. I hope I live long enough to get one and still be able to shoot it.

 

[CajunBass]

Even though I just bought a Taurus 327, I'm looking forward to seeing one of these 432's at my LGS. Nothing says I can't have both.

I never thought I'd be interested in a 32 at all, but I've had my eyes opened to "possibilities" shall we say.

 

[BeachBumShooter]

Waiting for one of the 2 LGS to get one of these in. My name is first on the list at these shops. Seems that Lipsey's favors their larger dealers with these specials before the smaller dealers. I hope I live long enough to get one and still be able to shoot it.

Um, well, I checked out four local gun shops in my area for getting one, only one was a large dealer (PSA), and it turns out the smallest one of all was the dealer that got me one!
It appears that dealer put this gun on their wish list with Lipsey's in late February and got the call first! I was told by my dealer that only one 632UC was allocated to my area and my dealer had first option because they used the Lipsey's distributor "wish list" system.

 

[T. McIntyre]

I hate those VZ grips on a revolver; having them just adds to the cost in replacing them. Don't need the goofy round ball sights either. A plain jane 432 would be fine from S&W.

Everyone has their own tastes and that is fine. Having been handling them, I think they are some of the most well thought out grips I have seen on a J Frame. They cover the back strap nice and high, plus fill the hand very well. Plus they are relieved properly for speedloaders.

Overall they are a truly excellent grip and one that Jason Cloessner from Lipsey's spent a lot of time making sure was done properly. I am very grateful he spent the time he did and we benefit from his work and effort.

However if you do not like them, that is not a problem, you will have zero problems selling them. If you choose to buy one of these revolvers, please let me know and I would be happy to consider buying the grips from you, as I am sure numerous others would as well.

 

[T. McIntyre]

I took a couple of low light pics last night, which was harder than I thought with a cell phone. The camera was very slow to take the pic and it took a bunch of tries, trying to get it focused, as well as holding the gun still while doing so.

The sight is Very bright in low light.

 

[ogso]

If you are interested go over to RevolverGuy.com and read the full development of the UC's. I wasn't really interested in the UC's until I read this review and the development history. Now I think I'll pick up a 32 and get the family shooting it!

 

[Ingramite]

What caught my attention on the initial press release was an "improved trigger pull". Supposed to be oh so much better than a regular J Frame.

Well?