Tell me about your model 30

[RalphK22]

I picked up this little pre 30 last weekend and am waiting for a shipment from Midway, with the dies, brass, and bullets, so I can work up some loads and shoot it.
I was not looking for a model 30 or even a 32 caliber, but I just could not pass up on an old five screw with its original grips, especially for the price I paid. I've cleaned her up a bit since this photo, and she is in very nice shape with the exception of a few minor flaws.
I really have not been able to find out much about the model 30 or 31, which I understand is simply the square butt version. So tell me a little bit about your model 30s, 31, pre-30s, or 32 hand ejectors if you will. What do you like about them? Do you use them as carry pieces or simply to plink with? Enlighten me concerning this little 32 S & W Long caliber handgun.
By the way I do know from the kind replies to my other post on hand ejector forum, that this is a modified I-frame made somewhere around 1953 -- 54, and it is probably a transition piece.

 

[BUFF]

I have one a lot like yours, with a flat latch. I also have a three incher.

They are plinkers to me. Better than throwing a rock for self defense but I prefer rounds with a bit more poop for that.

They are really cheap to shoot if you cast your own bullets, once you have some brass. If you have to buy them, they aren't a lot less to load than .38 Special.

Very pleasant round to shoot. Accurate, low recoil, not really loud. A good cartridge to teach someone how to shoot a revolver.

S&W made quite a variety of .32's on the I and J frames. You could own quite a few and not have two alike.

 

[LouisianaMan]

Although I recently sold my Mod 30-1 to raise money for buying 8 revolvers in caliber .38 S&W, I'll offer a couple of comments.

First, the potency to which you can load the .32 S&W Long was an eye-opener to me. I'd always heard it was pathetic and I dutifully scorned it, but wound up getting one for my daughter after a horrible experience with the mule-kick of a .38SPL Airweight. . . .Once I got a .32, I did some research and found that I could load a 115g LFP bullet at 770fps out of its 2" barrel. (See Ed Harris posts for expert .32 advice.) Sure, that's not an atomic bomb, but it will drill straight through about 36" of water! The flatpoint design also creates a more destructive wound channel than factory LRNs. While perhaps the factory WC rounds create a nice wound channel, they're also lighter and loaded to a lower velocity than my handloads.

My positive experience with the .32 Long opened my eyes to the possibilities inherent in another old S&W revolver cartridge that used to be widely popular, the .38 S&W. But that's another story.

While a pre-30 wouldn't be my personal first choice for CCW, SD or HD, neither would it be my last. I think my handload put it about on par with .380 FMJ; not a cannon, but nonetheless a round that very many rely upon these days. In past times, just as many (or perhaps even more) relied on .32 S&W Long and .38 S&W. I think there's a moral to that story.

Happy shooting, and congrats on a nice, very handy, new-to-you gun.

 

[Beaver]

I don't own a Model 30 but I do own a Model 31 4", and love it to death. I bought some bullets from Penn Bullets, 95gr. swc's. Skeeter has a load that was 4.3 gr. Unique in HHH, but I couldn't find any loading manual that would go that high. I think you can reach 1000fps with the 4". I load mine with 3.9gr. Unique. I am also pretty amazed at the perk the gun has when you shoot it. My 31 will do 4" group at 25yds. and I bet it would do better if I was better. Way to go, great gun, great round.

 

[RalphK22]

Thanks for the replies. I am finding bits and pieces of information here and there on the internet and on old post on this site. Although it is not as "glamorous" as a 36, I really see little, to no negatives about the 30, other than its perceived lack of power. Some of the load data I am coming across peeks my interest and makes me want to keep my eyes open for a 4 inch or better .32 cal. A nice K32 would be the ticket, but I am afraid a little out of my price range.
I am not looking to make my pre 30 a serious CCW ,as I have many other handguns to fill that roll. I am thinking it will be a fun plinker and maybe ride on my hip in the grouse woods this fall for grins and giggles.

 

[BUFF]

I would guess that 95-99% of all handgun ammo shot in this country is shot at inanimate targets, mostly paper. The .32's relative lack of muzzle-stomp isn't much of a disadvantage in this respect. It is probably a superior small edible game cartridge to the .38 Special.

 

[Timber251]

I was happy to see so much positive response to the little .32. I got my first twenty years ago, three inch "I" frame that was priced to cheap to pass. I was amazed at how accurate the little piece was once I got used to it.

 

[LouisianaMan]

RalphK22,
BTW, you probably realize that their are Mods. 30/31 in 4" barrel, right? So although a K-32 would let you adjust the sights effectively to any load you choose, you could still go with fixed sights & a little Kentucky windage

 

[smitholdtimer]

LouisianaMan

Tell him about the pre. Mod 31 (Regulation Police) Target with the longer barrel in .32 S&W Long caliber.

 

[LouisianaMan]

Smitholdtimer,
Sounds like you're the pro here who needs to pass along a nice lead to RalphK22. . . !
All I know is I've seen 4" Mods. 30 and 31. A *Target* version. . .sounds interesting!

 

[smitholdtimer]

Regulation Police Revolver

No Sir, no expert but I'll make an attempt to give a brief description from the Standard Catalog of S&W 3rd edition by Jim Supica & Richard Nahas. The revolver is built on an I frame and offered with a 3.25", 4.25" or a 6" barrel, blue or nickel finish. The "Target Sights" are square cut on a raised boss with the rear sight being adjustable for windage & elevation and is mounted on the top strap. The unique thing about these little revolvers is that they have a shouldered back strap to accept the new style of square-butt stocks. These stocks have the Pat. Date of June 5 1917 stamped on the bottom of the left panel. The stocks are checkered and give the appearance of a square butt to the revolver until they are removed upon which time you may observe the shouldered back strap. This revolver was chambered for the .32 S&W Long caliber & the .38 S&W caliber, not to be confused with the .38 S&W Special and the .38 revolvers were marked as Regulation Police on the right side of the barrel where as the .32 cal. were not. Made from 1917 - 1942. As you can observe the manuf. dates places my post on the wrong area but seems to be somewhat appropriate for this topic. There are others here that "are" experts who will certainly make corrections to my mistakes. Apologize for hijacking your thread Ralph22 but I hoped this would be helpful.

 

[tom turner]

I had a 4" Model 31-1 from 1969. The M31 is the square butt version of the M30, including fixed sights.

It shot right to point of aim with the right ammo. Particular .32 S&W long revolvers can be fussy about what ammo they like but mine was a tackdriver.

Best of all about these little .32 revolvers? Very light kick and recoil makes 'em the most enjoyable-shooting centerfire revolvers of all, IMHO!

Alas, I traded mine off to get a really nice 1964 nickle-plated Model 36 .38 spl. snubbie. No regrets though . . . for in time I'll get another S&W .32 revolver. They aren't best for anything . . . except having FUN, and that's what shooting is all about!!!

Enjoy your Model 30, they are perfectly sized little "shootin' irons" indeed!

Tom

 

[BUFF]

I have a couple of square butt guns, too. The oldest is a 4-1/4 inch .32 Hand Ejector Third Model made about in the mid to late 1930's. Cute little I frame gun. Another is a J frame Model 31-1 from the early 1970's, blue finish, 2 inch barrel, blue, square butt with walnut Magna's.

One I let get away was a Model 31-1 with a square butt and a four inch barrel. It was brand new when I got it. I was between quarters in college, it was summertime, and there was a recession going on. My job as a printer in a paper packaging plant stopped for several sessions of 2 or 3 weeks off each time. There was no suitable work available in the valley. I got the folks house and yard in shape and needed something cheap to do for entertainment.

I found a 4 cavity Lyman mould that threw a .32 caliber SWC bullet of about 115 grains. I cranked out a pretty good pile of shiney little bullets. I had previously bought a bag of 500 W-W primed brass casings. Using 4.5 grains of Unique, it barked! and gave me almost 1,000 fps. i dropped down to 2.5 grains of Bullseye, and it barked a little less at about 925 fps.

Wheelweights were free. I used 16.8 pounds of them to produce 500 good bullets. 500 primers cost me $7.50. The required amount of Bullseye cost me $.89. So I could load 500 very high quality rounds of 115 gr. SWC's at 925 fps for the whopping sum of $8.39 and a couple hours of my free time. That was about 84 cents a box of 50!

My folks lived about 5 miles from the range I liked to use. I'd load the 500 rounds of ammo, the Model 31-1, my ear muffs and eye protection onto my 1974 Triumph 750 Trident and cruise on up to the range. As a member, targets were mostly free.

I hit the range 4 or 5 times a week that summer, until work opened back up. I probably loaded and shot 7,000 to 10,000 rounds of the little .32. The sixgun got smoother and smoother. I won a lot of cold sodas shooting it. I really wished I could have found one wih a 6 inch barrel. I took a few very attractive coeds shooting and biking, and we all greatly enjoyed the time together.

I sold the Model 31-1 that fall, needing money for tuition and books, not having had enough work to pay for school when it started in September. I miss it. The guy that bought it was delighted with it. He told me latern that it was a ground squirrel-killing fool.

I have the next best thing, now. In 1992, I scarfed up a new stainless steel Model 631. Six shots of .32 H&R Mag, but of course my old .32 S&W Long loading runs great, too. Four inch barrel, great adjustable sights. It is maybe the best edible small game gun I have had.

The .32 caliber revolver cartridges get overlooked a lot. One can find really nice 6 shooters for a lot less money than a .22 rimfire or .38 Special usually costs. S&W's .32 revolvers are just fun witing for a place to happen.

 

[LouisianaMan]

BUFF,
Your story makes me wish I'd started reloading when I was in college!

What powder were you using to get a 115g up to 925fps from the 4" barrel? That it some serious performance. Almost like a 110g .38SPL, with smaller wound cavity diameter but deeper penetration.

 

[BUFF]

"What powder were you using to get a 115g up to 925fps from the 4" barrel? That it some serious performance."

Old Skeeter Skelton data from published articles he wrote for SHOOTING TIMES. My notes show the hotter load at 4.0 grains Unique. I never chrono'ed it, not yet having ever used a chronograph at the time; maybe Skelton was guessing at the velocity, too. The lighter load was 3.5 grains, from the Lyman #45 (book shows 823 fps, they used a 3 inch M-30). I think my earlier report of velocities was from memory and I think I must have been pretty optimistic! (Couldn't find my notes.)