Seecamp 32

[ARgon]

 

[ladder13]

Larry Seecamp and I were friends. He passed away July 2018. He personally made my Seecamps, 32 and 380, they function flawlessly. I have a lot of parts for both should the need ever arise. Both are 20+ years old, and I carry the 380 daily. The PMC 60 grain JHP is an excellent range bullet, and I do carry it Gold Dot as well, for the 32. All of the years of manufacture and a ton of resources were lost when the new owners closed the forum.

Larry made my 380, one of the early production. I’ll dig out the paperwork as its DOB is not listed on your chart because it has a personalized serial #.

Shame the Seecamp forum is no longer.

 

[ARgon]

Larry called me one night and said he was thinking of building a 380, the same size as the 32. He began the project, and I committed to one. A few years later, he said it would have a 750 round life time, but then, sometime later, he was excited to call that no round limit would be on it. It was a five year project, when he sent me mine. Mine is an early 2004. A good friend of Larry’s, Teddy Jacobson, took my gun years later and did his magic on the trigger. It is one sweet shooting 380.

 

[John_M52]

I actually qualified with my Seecamp 32. Course of fire was 3 to 25 yards. A bit silly but hey, why not?

 

[Law-dog]

I have one market Special Edition, I have had it over 25 years. The only ammo that is 100% is Silvertip or Corbon. The Corbon is hotter.

As a carry gun, I can shoot 2.5 inch groups at 50 feet rapid fire with my Ruger LCP Custom. With the Seecamp those groups are more like 1 foot or more.

I once shot a huge armadillo with the Silvertips, center of back, he ran off. Had to chase him down and took a second shot to kill him. Not impressed with the 32 compared to the 380. Just my opnion.

 

[2506bim]

In addition to Winchester Silvertips, the Hornady 32 ACP 60-grain XTP load #90062 works flawlessly on my Seecamp.

 

[ladder13]

Ordered my 380 in 8/2004, didn’t get it until 2006.

 

[ARgon]

I just looked back in my federal log, and I received it, and logged it in June 14, 2004. Larry shot it a while for me, and it is a wonderful piece of machinery, as is my 32. I noticed, in my log, that right before that I had four consecutive serial numbered 32’s come in.

 

[Randall_G]

All of the years of manufacture and a ton of resources were lost when the new owners closed the forum.

That's a shame.

Have Seecamp owners regrouped somewhere else?

 

[Randall_G]

Another vote for the PMC JHP load. This is probably the cheapest practice ammo, and it is 100% reliable in my Seecamp.

Another vote here.

ARgon offered advice on the old Seecamp forum when I was trying to get my California Edition .32 to run properly. Shortly (but not immediately) after a trip back to Southwick, the pistol started to run properly, and has ever since. Probably because I installed XP Wolff magazine springs. But that may have been a coincidence and the pistol just finally broke it.

At the time, the only silvertips I could find are shown in the attached photos. The tips were deforming when failing to feed. Turns out these are not the same silvertips recommended by Seecamp; "Super X" has a longer overall length.

Edit: The Super X didn't fail to feed every time. Fed properly more often than not.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I found that if you shortened other rounds very slightly they would normally work just fine. Since I reload for .32 auto that is not a big deal for me. I understand that European .32 auto ammo is routinely loaded a bit hotter than the American stuff so I wouldn't recommend that. Of course I bought mine mostly as a curiosity and have never actually carried it.

 

[ARgon]

That's a shame.

Have Seecamp owners regrouped somewhere else?

Some formed a spot on FaceBook, and RT, Art Franco, put time in on that. I’ve never been a member of FaceBook. So much info/tech stuff was loss, really to back, especially the how to videos found in one place. Knowledgeable folks like jimmyd, RT, ect. Seecamp vendors for grips, mag extensions, holsters, and on and on.

 

[ARgon]

More grips

 

[Randall_G]

Some formed a spot on FaceBook, and RT, Art Franco, put time in on that. I’ve never been a member of FaceBook. So much info/tech stuff was loss, really to back, especially the how to videos found in one place. Knowledgeable folks like jimmyd, RT, ect. Seecamp vendors for grips, mag extensions, holsters, and on and on.

Thanks.

I found the FaceBook spot on an internet search, shortly after the forum closed. Technically, I have a FB account. But I never use it, and am not motivated enough to start now.

I found so much valuable information on the old forum; very helpful for a new Seecamp owner.

 

[DARE]

I had an early one. In the beginning my dad was friends with Larry Seecamp. They had a "Restricted Edition" that was supposed to be limited to 2000 sets. A .25 ACP and .32 ACP with the same serial number. Dad wound up with a pair numbered 1313. Understand ATF got involved and made them quit this. Only around a hundred sets were shipped.
My father owned a gun store and we were dealers for Seecamp. When the .32 was introduced it was specified to use only the Winchester Silvertip. Don't know if that ever changed.

 

[ARgon]

I was a dealer, and bought directly from the factory, as a manufacturer, I liked having for my customers. Those were great years. Larry ventured into ammo design, after selling the company, I wish that had taken off. I have a 32 slide he engraved his signature, as many I’m sure do. I offered that to a friend, and have misplaced it in my shop.

 

[bph9]

Page 12 of the owners manual speaks to ammo. You can use other brands but hollow point only. NO BALL AMMO - it can damage the chamber I was told by Larry Seecamp. I have used Federal in addition to Winchester. The manual is a very good read especially the introduction/ company history.

https://seecamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Seecamp-Manual.pdf

The company also lists these recommendations on line.

Ammo Recommendations - Seecamp Firearms

There is no serial number lookup that I am aware of perhaps a call to the factory in MA can be helpful. Yours is not an early gun.
They also sell holsters and accessories on their website.

I think what Larry meant was that no ball ammo should be used because even if you managed to load one round in the gun by hand feeding a round into the chamber ( it will not fit in the magazine because of the long overall length) pressures would rise because the bullet would be jammed far, too far into the rifling. The result might be an exploding handgun.

You can indeed shoot ball ammo out of the Seecamp but I am "not" telling you to do what I have done and still do. I simply took a cast bullet that was, if I remember correctly, about 71 grains and seated it far enough down in the case so it would fit in the magazine. Now this will raise the pressure and is dangerous to do with full power loads so I just used a "starting" load to lower the chamber pressure and it has worked out just fine, except for one glaring problem. The recoil on this pistol is bad enough with 60 grain bullets but with 71 grain bullets its really out of this world. You will get a rap on your knuckles actually exceeding the brutal Wack vicious Catholic Nuns used to give us with a wooden ruler in grade school.

The recoil on this gun was not the only thing that soured me on this handgun. The other problem is that the pistol has no sights. When you shoot it in order to know "exactly" where you are pointing it you must "tip up" the front of the handgun so high you probably would shoot right over the top of any bad guy you were trying to hit.

The other problem is the long hard double action pull. I can hit a man size silhouette target all the way out to 25 yards with ease with a "single action" pocket pistol (.25 acp size) but with the Seecamp I cannot consistently hit even a man size target as close as 7 yards. To me the "personally" the Seecamp is a totally useless pistol. For those people who are the reincarnation of Annie Oakly and Daniel Boone that can shoot the antenna off of a fly off at 1,000 yards you will probably like the Seecamp very much.

I suppose the Seecamp has some limited use for a person who is not a "gun person", especially a woman who does not shoot at all but only needs protection with a small handgun that will fit in a small purse and when the range would be only at arms length when she was attacked. The hard and long stroke double action pull is somewhat of a safety factor and the gun is instantly ready to fire (no safeties to remember to flick off or no hammer needed to be thumb cocked on the draw. Also despite the "no sights handicap" the "point and shoot" would work even if the shot went really high. It's hard to miss a man size target at arm's length and honestly "arm's length" is the maximum range for me when using a Seecamp.

I do still have my .32 Seecamp and why I do makes no sense at all except I do like its workmanship but I carry a Beretta .25 that shoots like a laser out to 25 yards with no problem at all and its smaller and lighter in weight as well.