"And a .32 gun in his pocket for fun ..."

[Bill in Oregon]

Saw a thread on the Smith & Wesson forum about the 1907 Savage and was reminded of the 1917 in .32 ACP that I played with a few years ago. These are fascinating little pistols that were ahead of their time. They even were designed to field strip without tools. And I tend to forget how much fun it is to shoot a .32 ACP.







Larry field strips one:
https://www.midwayusa.com/knowledge-cen ... ic-handgun

[marlinman93]

Those Savage semiautos are all tough to find, and great handguns! A .32ACP is fun one to shoot!

[Ysabel Kid]

Laughing at the song, not the post. When Y2K was young, when he heard the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", he'd get to that verse, singing along, and say...

"he had 32 guns in his pocket for fun, and a laser in his shoe!"



I think I probably said the same thing when I was young and first heard the song!

[AJMD429]

.
The little 32's wouldn't be anything I'd want to depend on for CCW (although obviously 'back in the day' many did so), but they ARE fun little pistols.

The 'long' 32's like the 32-20 were certainly great and potentially accurate target rounds in the right firearms, as well.

I think they are an underexplored niche in today's firearms world. Glad I have the 32-20's and if I had the time I'd probably play with some of the shorter 32's as well.

[OldWin]

I agree that the .32acp is fun to shoot. I was gifted a Colt Pocket Hammerless a few years ago. When I took it out and shot it I immediately saw why they sold so many. It never missed a link and shot extremely well.

[GunnyMack]

Sometimes I regret converting my single six from 32 h&r into 44 special but then I realize I have a one of a kind 44 special!
Can't say I've spent any time with a 32ACP, but I used to blast a bunch of 380 from a Star 1911 copy- man that little gun gave me hammer bite!

[samsi]

I've always had an affinity for the Savage 1907 and Colt 1903 but intentionally avoid them for fear of the rabbit hole journey that would likely follow. One of my grandfathers always had a .32 auto on him somewhere, so it's probably genetic.

Ed Harris has done some interesting experiments with the .32 self-commencers, makes for good reading.

[Bill in Oregon]

Samsi, I'll look for Ed's words on this subject. Thanks.
I was looking at the results of Chris Baker's ballistics tests of .32 ACP ammo and concluded that I would not care to "catch one" under any circumstances -- especially if it was an Underwood Lehigh Extreme Defender copper solid.

https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/pocket ... t-results/

[Ray]

I've shot quite a few 7.65×17 mm SR as they say in froggy across the pond. That 3" at 50' or the metric equivalent is very optimistic in my opinion. Minute of medium pizza box has been my experience. I've taught scores of gatos some manners with near misses but they soon forget and climb up on the roof and do things that gatos ought to do in more private places !

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/a ... isited.htm

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/b ... kdiary.htm

[samsi]

Ray posted good links already but here's a thread on "brisk loads" for the .32's. Ed is Outpost75 over at the Boolits place.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showth ... st-bullets

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, Samsi, thanks for the "libary" of reading material!

[pinefd]

Speaking of 1907, here is my .32 (WCF) from that year, although not exactly a pocket gun...a Colt SAA. The flour-de-lis grips are after market, but look so nice on this gun that they've become a semi-permanent fixture on there.



And here's a pocket .32 that I just picked up, a Kel-Tec P-32. I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet, since I've been confined to the living room couch pretty much ever since I brought the gun home, with a bad case of sciatica, making it very difficult to stand or walk. I'm feeling a little better today, so hopefully I'll be feeling well enough by next week to get to the range with it.




Frank

[Bill in Oregon]

Found a copy of Bat Masterson's 24-page pamphlet written for the Savage 1907, "The Tenderfoot's Turn," and will report when I receive it.