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I seem to be tumbling down the .32 rabbit hole and I blame Will for the heads up on the .327 brass!
What intrigues me is that having a sixgun in .327 means you can also run the charming little .32 S&W (not the Long) through the thing. I have always wanted to mess with this little toot and now might have a chance. I did a search here and came up empty, but could swear this has come up before. Jim T -- were you the one?
I always longed for a Marlin 94 in .32H&R but could never afford one likewise, the Henry .327.
I wondered if they would feed the .32S&W and how many rounds the magazine would hold.
Way back when I was just a wee pup an elderly gentleman gave me a cigar box full of old gun stuff including an unmarked self-loading pistol and a throat lozenge tin with cartridges for it. The pistol resembled a walther ppk/s but was single-action. The slide mounted safety/decocker lever was completely missing. The magazine would oddly only hold three rounds. Come to find out, the supplied cartridges were .32 s&w and the pistol was .32 acp though there were absolutely no markings on it. The gun fed, chambered, fired and ejected those rounds despite being both fatter and longer than the acp. The reduced magazine capacity must have been due to the full rims of the incorrect cartridges.
I traded the pistol for a four-barreled intake to a f.e. ford big-block. Aftermarket performance parts for that engine were as much as three times costlier than the common small-block and twice as much as the more common lincoln big-block. I spent all my childhood pennies on that old truck only to have pop give it to uncle leo whilst I was on treasure island for firefighting school.
As for the .32 s&w cartridge, I have a howell cylinder for the uberti 1863 somewheres but it (the revolver) is going to need a bit of pawl shaping to make the cylinder work.
Last edited by Ray on Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
765x53 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 5:01 pm
I always longed for a Marlin 94 in .32H&R but could never afford one likewise, the Henry .327.
I wondered if they would feed the .32S&W and how many rounds the magazine would hold.
My henry .327 feeds h&r correctly but does not with longs so it will obviously not with "shorts".
John, thanks for that link. There is actually data for the 75- and 85-grain lead bullets in .32 S&W in the 51st Lyman Reloading Handbook. Lee makes a 93-grain RN bullet mold that would certainly give a traditional appearance, but it wouldn't be much use to me in the .327. Their 90-grain semi-wadcutter would look a little weird.
A friend gave me some 85 grain FN .312's that I thought would be pretty neat loaded in 32 Long brass. It turned out that there was enough of a lateral POI shift vs. my .32 H&R load to make it a non-starter for me. Just something to consider if the short case exhibits the same.
I've got an H&R revolver in 32 H&R mag - one of the original guns that H&R made to fire the new 32 H&R mag cartridge. My dad bought it new around 1985 - not long after the 32 mag came out. I know that overall H&R gets a bad rap but this revolver is really not bad at all and is quite accurate with its 6" barrel.
My dad also formerly owned at least one revolver chambered in 32 long, but must have traded it away at some point long ago, but we had some 32 long and even some 32 S&W ammo laying around in junk drawers.
I've definitely shot LOTS of 32 longs in the H&R revolver and I'm pretty sure even some 32 S&W. If I look I might find some a few pieces of the shorter brass.
However, there is one 32 caliber revolver cartridge that will NOT fire in it - well, it will fire, but it doesn't like to. I was taking a friend shooting one time 20 years ago and suggested that he should stop by the gun store and pick up a box of 32 Long or 32 mag shells. He showed up with something that was different. it wasn't 32 acp either. It was maybe some kind of 32 colt ammo. We shot a couple of them, but the cases would bulge and split when fired. I actually ended up selling that box of shells to someone from this forum - way back in the day - probably back in the original leverguns forum.
I’ve shot thousands of 32 shorts out of a Ruger S.S. and many old top break S&W’s and Smith New Departures, usually out back so the noise don’t aggravate my neighbors…..1.5 grains of bullseye and a 71 grain cast. Out of a Ruger SS chambered in 32 mag, the short cartridge with the above load will consistently hit the 8” plate at 75 meters.
1st. Gen. Colt SAA’s, 1878 D.A.45 and a 38-55 Marlin TD
Ray, I had a '76 Ford pickup with a 460 for years. The previous owner had put a 2 bbl intake and carb on it hoping to improve the fuel mileage but I found an original 4 bbl and manifold and bolted them on. Emissions requirements from a few years prior to mine had retarded the timing by 11° but I found a cam gear intended for marine use that I installed. Yep, the old truck would pass about anything but a gas station. I wouldn't say it was a screamer; it roared.
Sixgun wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 6:57 pm
I’ve shot thousands of 32 shorts out of a Ruger S.S. and many old top break S&W’s and Smith New Departures, usually out back so the noise don’t aggravate my neighbors…..1.5 grains of bullseye and a 71 grain cast. Out of a Ruger SS chambered in 32 mag, the short cartridge with the above load will consistently hit the 8” plate at 75 meters.
I was about to say that Sixgun had a great little recipe for the .32 S&W, and here he shares it!
When I would shoot 32 S&W Long in the Ruger SS. A little lead would build up in the cylinder. When you went to load 32 H&R, the cartridge would not chamber all the way. Minor cleaning would fix it. I did have a bunch of 32 S&W that I got from buying a bunch of used reloading stuff over a decade ago. But I sold it all and don't have any left other wise I would send some your way. (just to plant the seed). Slug the barrel on what you buy. The older Rugers run .312 but the later ones .313.
Walt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:31 pm
Ray, I had a '76 Ford pickup with a 460 for years. The previous owner had put a 2 bbl intake and carb on it hoping to improve the fuel mileage but I found an original 4 bbl and manifold and bolted them on. Emissions requirements from a few years prior to mine had retarded the timing by 11° but I found a cam gear intended for marine use that I installed. Yep, the old truck would pass about anything but a gas station. I wouldn't say it was a screamer; it roared.
Walt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:31 pm
Ray, I had a '76 Ford pickup with a 460 for years. The previous owner had put a 2 bbl intake and carb on it hoping to improve the fuel mileage but I found an original 4 bbl and manifold and bolted them on. Emissions requirements from a few years prior to mine had retarded the timing by 11° but I found a cam gear intended for marine use that I installed. Yep, the old truck would pass about anything but a gas station. I wouldn't say it was a screamer; it roared.
Walt ..I had an 86 Ford 3/4 Ton with that engine and the ton and a half drive train. I got the same mileage if it was empty or if I had 2 1500 pound round bales in the back. I did get it up to 11 MPG once by coasting down some of the New Mexico mountains and not counting what I used going up.
Walt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:31 pm
Ray, I had a '76 Ford pickup with a 460 for years. The previous owner had put a 2 bbl intake and carb on it hoping to improve the fuel mileage but I found an original 4 bbl and manifold and bolted them on. Emissions requirements from a few years prior to mine had retarded the timing by 11° but I found a cam gear intended for marine use that I installed. Yep, the old truck would pass about anything but a gas station. I wouldn't say it was a screamer; it roared.
Walt ..I had an 86 Ford 3/4 Ton with that engine and the ton and a half drive train. I got the same mileage if it was empty or if I had 2 1500 pound round bales in the back. I did get it up to 11 MPG once by coasting down some of the New Mexico mountains and not counting what I used going up.
Our '67 olds with a 455 rocket got nearly as good fuel mileage as our '64 falcon (half the weight of the olds) with the 144 straight-6 as long as you kept your right foot out of the olds.
That old olds just floated. Now with the speed limits 70+ and the road surfaces better overall I wonder if those old sleds would be better than newer ones.
Had a little luck today. After realizing I was completely out of small pistol primers and had to go pick up a spindle sander in Abilene, I checked the Academy Sports Web site, and lo and behold, they had CCI 500s, limit four trays, at $7.99. The other place in town wants $12 ...
