H&R .32S&W chamber confusion

[destrux]

I inherited an h&r solid frame double action revolver with octagon barrel that's marked "The American". From what I gathered about it the pistol was made around 1905 and is designed for smokeless. The barrel is marked .32SW Ctg, but the chambers are clearly cut for the .32 S&W long and the cylinder is the same length as my other .32 S&W long revolvers (and much longer than all of my .32S&W revolvers).

So was H&R mis marking these or was there a good reason they wanted you to shoot the wrong cartridge in that chamber?

I intend to fire this one as it's in good shape and the timing is spot on.

[376Steyr]

I believe it was simply set up so the gun's owner could walk into a hardware store, say "I want some 32 S&W cartridges", and walk out with whatever variation the store had in stock. Maybe the clerk would know there are short and long 32 S&W cartridges, and maybe the owner would, or most likely neither would. The gun would be loaded, the cartridges would fit, and that would be that.

[Harry O]

Check the chambers in the cylinder. Were they drilled straight through or do they have a "throat" (a smaller diameter portion) in the front of the cylinder. Many older revolvers were drilled straight through. That does not mean they can handle anything that will fit in them. They were designed for what was stamped on the barrel.

For example, a .38 Long Colt 1892 DA revolver I once owned was drilled straight through. It would easily take .38 Special cartridges (and most of the Pawn Shops sold them as .38 Spl revolvers). What was scary, though, was that I was able to chamber some .357 Magnum cartridges in it (lighter bullets with shorter lengths only). I have absolutely no doubt that the .357 Magnum would have destroyed the gun even though it fit and probably could have been fired -- once.

It is probably not as serious with a .32 S&W vs a .32 S&W Long. The pressure rating of them was very close, but putting cartridges in guns that were not designed for them is always a risk. It is one that I have taken a number of times, but always as a test, not for regular use.

[destrux]

These are straight through so I will probably avoid factory loaded Long ammo till I can find a definitive answer. My light handloads will be fine either way though since they're not even reaching .32 S&W velocity.

[Tackleberry41]

No throat, bet that does wonders for accuracy.

[leadman]

I too have an old H&R but it is a top break. I did some research when I bought it and found that even with bored thru cylinders use what cartridge it is marked for. I lost the website I found much H&R info on in a computer reboot.
You may find that the bore of the gun is too large for factory loaded ammo. My bore is .314" which matches SAAMI specs but the Winchester factory ammo is .310" which seems to be correct for most 32 S&W Longs.
I use pure lead boolits from a Lee mold that casts the 93gr RN. I was using 1.2gr of 700X but need to find a new load as I am out of it and have other powders to use.

[destrux]

No throat, bet that does wonders for accuracy.

It's not bad. With some old .32 SW Long ammo at 10yd it put all 5 into a softball size group. Way better than I expected. It's not as accurate as my spanish S&W clone though (which will put all six into a 2" group).