Anyone know much about .32 H&R Magnum?

[Tamara]

And the .32 mag came out as an improvement over the .32 long in the 80’s IIRC.

Yup. It was supposed to be the "Poor Man's Magnum", and the reason the commercial ammo is so mild is because of the H&R revos that debuted the cartridge. There are some Ruger-only handloads floating around out there that may have been the genesis of the .327.

[jstone]

Thanks for the infor regarding the 32's. I have shot the 327 but never even hear of these older ones.

[Tamara]

Heh. In terms of cartridge development, it's hard for me to think of the Eighties as "older". There are only a couple-few commercially successful handgun rounds newer than the .32 H&R, after all.

[Al T.]

Federal .327s for 28 bucks a box at my LGS (20 cartridges @ 85 grain IIRC).

[Wheeler]

Now I really wish I had access to a chrono. I'd be interested to see how the numbers look out of a 4" barrel.

[jstone]

Heh. In terms of cartridge development, it's hard for me to think of the Eighties as "older". There are only a couple-few commercially successful handgun rounds newer than the .32 H&R, after all.

I was born in 81' I thought that this cartridge was much older than an eighties development. Maybe I should have googled it before I gave away my age. The 327 to me seemed like a fun little cartridge. Do any of you with these "older" 32s have any problems sourcing ammo?

[Rich]

Having used a Smith 432PD for a BUG/winter coat pocket gun for almost a decade, I have a reasonably large amount of .32 H&R Magnum ammo on hand. I keep a few hundred rounds of it loose in an ammo can, and it was dumped in there from commercial boxes that I'd acquired over the years.

The loose ammo in the can consists of Federal 95gr SWCs and 85gr JHPs, as well as Georgia Arms 100gr SJHPs. The Federal HP loads are distinguishable at a glance, with the jacket running all the way to the hollowpoint cavity and the red sealant around the primers.

When I ran a ten shot string of the 85gr JHPs over the chrono today, just for giggles, and was surprised to see an extreme spread of 114.2 fps, almost four times as wide as the 95gr target loads I'd just shot. I'm wondering if, what with the 85gr JHPs likely coming from different lots bought years apart, if Federal either hotted up or toned down the caliber at some point?

Can you show me a pic of the 432PD and does it hold over 5rds?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za0wzkQhT6M

Holds 6 shots. The clip is firing the Federal round. That is not hard to find at local gun stores, Cabelas, etc.

As far as pointing the gun at the camera - oh, well.

[314159]

I shot the Federal and Buffalo Bore rounds into milk cartons of water (sort of the old Firearms Tactical/McPhereson test) from 7 yards and through 4 layers of denim. DocGKR, I am not, but I thought it was worth a look. NO expansion on any round. I dropped the denim and got closer. You could have re-used the bullets almost. So, I tested the 100 gr full wadcutter Fiocchi target load with 4 layers of denim and got the proper amount of penetration (it's been so long, I forget now what that number in water is) and said "well, at least it doesn't kick..."

[Tamara]

I wouldn't expect the JHP to expand at <900fps. I doubt you'd get much, if any, from the SJHPs, either.