Where have all the .32s gone?

A few months ago I was looking at an old Colt Police Positive in .32, like the one shown above. There used to be a lot of these guns made, in what was called S&W .32 Long or .32 Colt New Police, depending on who you were talking to. The cartridge goes back to 1896, when S&W introduced it as a black powder cartridge for its first Hand Ejector revolver, and was a popular police round until the  .38 Special slowly displaced it. Today, it would not be considered an adequate defensive round, having a modest muzzle energy in the range of 100-130 foot-pounds in the few factory loadings that are still around. But defense not the only use, or even the preferred use for the .32. It's a very accurate target round and a very useful small game cartridge, too, when loaded appropriately.

Writer George Nonte was a great fan of the .32 S&W, and one of his favorite loads was a 98gr cast bullet over 4.5 grains of Unique, producing 235 foot-pounds of muzzle energy. That's better that the hottest .22s while being a lot quieter (owing to much lower chamber pressures) and a lot more accurate. The heavier bullet will produce less meat damage as well. Elmer Keith, best known for his work with the .44 special, was also a great fan of the .32 S&W. He loaded a cast bullet over 4gr of Unique and deemed it an excellent small game round. Skeeter Skelton was a fan of the .32, too.

One reason that factory loads for the .32 S&W are so anemic is that there are a lot of older guns around that are strong enough to handle black powder loads, but not strong enough to handle even 2.7gr of Bullseye (which would be a very mild target load in the .38 Special.)  So in 1984 H&R (who were still making revolvers) got together with the Federal Cartridge company and did what Smith & Wesson and Winchester had done with the .38 Special back in 1934: They stretched .32 S&W Long cartridge 0.155", just enough to keep the new cartridge from being chambered in .32 S&W cylinders, and called it the .32 H&R Magnum. Max pressure was increased from 15,000 psi to 21,000 psi, and muzzle energies went up to over 300 foot-pounds.

The .32 H&R Magnum never had a huge following, and in 2007 Federal got together with Sturm, Ruger, who make some of the strongest revolver actions available, stretched the case again, and this time set the working pressure at 45,000 psi- that's 10,000 psi higher than the .357 magnum. The result was a .32 caliber round with more energy than a .357 magnum. This time, the shooting press went wild. Magnum power in a .32 caliber! Fantastic! And, if you ask me, useless in a handgun.

We already have the .357 Magnum, a cartridge that produces so much muzzle flash and noise that it's very impractical in short barreled revolvers. In longer barrels it's an acceptable cartridge to medium sized game, but the .45 Magnum and .45 Colt are much better. It's really a better rifle cartridge than a handgun cartridge, as a long rifle barrel can make much better use of the high volume of gas and high pressures developed in the .357 case. Handguns work better with lower pressures and heavier bullets. Less flash, less noise, and better accuracy. Which would you rather shoot- a .357 with a 4" barrel, or a .45ACP 1911?

So we still have .32 revolvers, but now the only ammunition out there is magnum and super-magnum stuff that produces a great ball of flame and an earsplitting crack that will turn a rabbit into pulp but is useless for hunting anything larger. Chuck Hawks has written that the .327 would be great in an 18" barrel carbine as it would pretty much duplicate the performance of the old .32-20- a cartridge from 1882! Of course the current loads available for the .32-20 suffer from the same problem as modern .32 S&W loads in that they're very mild, on account of all the old guns chambered for the .32-20 that couldn't hold up to the kids of pressures the .32-20 can be loaded for.

The dedicated handloader can still make his or her own .32 S&W loads and fire them in a .32 Magnum or .327 Magnum revolver, but as .357 Magnum owners all know that leads to a buildup of carbon in the front of the cylinder. And the new magnum guns are designed for high pressures, so the cylinders are thick and bulky, and the frames are similarly massive to handle the high pressure. Ruger's sole .327 Magnum gun is a GP100 that weighs 40 ounces- two and a half pounds. What I'd like is a gun bored for .32 S&W that was the size and weight of an old Colt, or a Ruger Bearcat- a pound and a half. With a four to six-inch barrel it would be just the thing for small game hunting- quieter than a high-velocity .22 with just as much energy, firing a very accurate subsonic lead wadcutter.

Back in the days before Ruger offered a .44 Special Blackhawk, a number of serious ..44 Spl fans would buy a Blackhawk and have a gunsmith fabricate and install a .44 Spl cylinder and barrel. I'm picturing something like my 5" Ruger Single Six with a six-shot .32 S&W barrel. It would probably cost well over a grand, but it would be a completely unique piece. Barring hitting it big in the lottery I think I'll keep and eye open for a nice old Colt or S&W in .32 with adjustible sights.