I picked up this old revolver last year some time, and have been tinkering with it off and on. It's an H&R top-break from around 1890 (black powder), and chambered in .32 H&R, near as I can tell from a little research. It seems that .32 H&R is a long obsolete black powder cartridge very similar to the .32 S&W Long.
The chambers are bored straight through (no throat), so S&W Long brass fits fine. This is a cheap, weak old gun. I don't intend to shoot it much at all, but figured it would be fun to load up a few just for fun and shoot it a little. I'm being very cautious because I know it's a weak gun designed for black powder only, and I don't want to damage it. I loaded some up with Lee 314-90-SWC bullets and 2.1gr. of 231, a little under the book starting charge for 32 S&W Long. They clocked at about 480 fps. I know I can go up from there, figured that working up to around 600 fps should still be plenty conservative? Maybe I'm being too cautious?
I know I posted about this last year sometime, then forgot about the project. Anyone tinker with these old guns? Any idea what ballpark velocity would be with original black powder loads? Just how weak are they?
It's fun to shoot a few round through a 130 year old gun, but when I set it down and shoot a few rounds through my old beat-up S&W Model 10, the Model 10 feels like a Cadillac!