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.32 auto vs. .32 S&W

50K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  stantheman86 
#1 ·
Found some old ammo, S&W .32. It seems larger than my .32 auto that I have used in a semi-auto PP and a S&W .32 revolver. Will the S&W .32 work in both?
 
#3 ·
While it is always good to shoot the type of ammo that the gun was designed for, the 32 ACP can and has been shot in revolvers chambered for both 32 S&W and 32 S&W Long. As stated the 32 ACP is semi rimmed and will allow it to be shot in revolvers. This is an old remidy if you run out 0f 32 S&W's.
 
#5 ·
I had a friend with an old Spanish Ruby that regularly shot .32 S&W out of it. Of course, the degree to which he could hit anything was limited. The old Ruby was loose as a goose and, to say the chamber was generous was like saying the West Texas sun is a trifle warm in July.... Now that I think about it, I wonder what his widow did with the old pistol?
 
#7 ·
;) Loose would be an understatement, as .32 S&W has a rim diameter of .375, .32 ACP has a rim diameter of .358 .

My remedy for ammunition supply problems is to head to the reloading bench and get to work.
The Ruby was built for the .32 and for the .380. Spaniard practice was just to make the beak longer and let the extractor swing enough to catch the extractor ring in either round. They weren't alone in that. Many of the 1922 Brownings would work either way with a simple change of barrel, though they generally wouldn't chamber a .32 Smith round. And among the Basques, what's fifteen thousandths among friends? :crossfingers:
 
#8 ·
I think its important to point out that using ammo in a gun it wasn't designed and chambered for can be dangerous - I know modern a S&W chambered in .32 S&W long can stand the higher pressure .32 ACP in it, but an older, top break in .32 S&W may well come apart if loaded and fired with .32 ACP.
 
#10 ·
Oh yeah, the old "river gun"! Here are two S&W's, a .32 and a .38, river guns that never made it to the river! Both had crudely cut barrels, although the .32 had a piece of solder or something put on for a rigged up front sight, I often wondered why someone would bother with a front sight for a gun with a 1" barrel, obviously intended as an expedient pocket piece i.e. belly gun.

I sold both of them because ammo is expensive enough for these, and I couldn't at the time afford to have guns laying around just "for curios" when other stuff was calling to me!

 
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