Oldies but goodies

[GhostHawk]

About a month ago I ran across a thread around here somewhere talking about .32 SW, .32sw long, etc.

I got curious.

First off knowing that I don't play well with recoil and muzzle blast why do I always have this hankering for big bore pistols? Maybe it was time I grew up and went the other way.

So I did some reading, some looking on gun broker.
In the end I found this pair.

Both H&R's, nickle model is 733 I believe, blued is 732.
I'd of liked to have had a 4" barrel on one of those but this is what I ended up with.

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Nickle one cost me 150$, the blued one 20$ less. Plus of course shipping, FFL fee's.
So I ordered 500 Starline .32sw long brass. Mold, I used the Lee .314 90 gr truncated Cone TL. Some got sized to .312 as they were a bit big.

CCI small primers and 2 grains of Red Dot complete the load. They have not been fired yet. But the loaded rounds drop right in like the should, and slide right back out again.

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All I have done to either was just give it a quick cleaning and oiling.
Other than .22lr these are my first revolvers.

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Really looking forward to the first range trip. But it is in the -20's right now and the range is closed for new years.

Next week. :)

Also wanted to send a big thank you to outpost75, we had a little flurry of PM's, I was just wanting to make sure I was headed down the right load with these guys.

[Thumbcocker]

I will be watching

[Bzcraig]

Good going buddy!! Let us hear soon

[WebMonkey]

very nice pistols.
maybe a bit envious.
;)

[GhostHawk]

I'm pretty pleased with myself so far, we'll see how I am after we shoot them. Just started the process of loading the 2nd 100 round batch of ammo.

Wife went out to the second hand store, came home with 4 small zippered bags just the right size to hold one of these and a box of ammo. Perfect for taking them to the range.

One is going to be the new home for my Heritage Rough Rider .22lr/.22wmr pistol.

One thing I was curious about, the blued one states Model 732 .32sw

Nothing else, yet it easily chambers the .32sw longs I loaded. Could that cylinder have been reamed out to take the bigger ammo?

[azrednek]

Back in the late 70's I watched an old guy draw a crowd at the range to watch his impressive shooting. He was shooting an old S&W revolver shooting 32 shorts at 25 yards. He was shooting Bullseye style both single and double action and printing clusters.

[EMC45]

.32 S&W-L is one of my favorites. Shot some the other day.

[Earlwb]

Nothing wrong with those. Nice find. Those pistols are fun shooters too.
Congratulations.

Many years ago, I bought a .32 Magnum, H&R pistol with a 7.5 inch long barrel and it has a adjustable rear sight too.It has been the only H&R pistol that I have ever seen with a long barrel on it like that too.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=177190&d=1474552822

[stubshaft]

.32's are fun and cheap to shoot. Good buy!

[EMC45]

Had my Model 31 snub out the other day. Got home and detail stripped it and my Model 30 down to the frame and cleaned and re oiled everything up. May take them back out this weekend now that you've talked me into it.

[FergusonTO35]

I always thought H&R would have had much more success if they had offered .38 Special. I think a lot of folks didn't take them seriously as they were stuck on older cartridges that were viewed as also-rans.

[GhostHawk]

I have to admit I am keeping an eye open for something in .32 H&R mag with a 6" barrel.

All the reading I did on these little .32's seems to stress that they had a real reputation for accuracy both target and on small game. Making some very long shots out to 100 yards.

Weather is warming up, got out of the Minus's today. I think sat could be range day.

I am a little surprised that H&R did not at least try a .38 special.

Personally I'd rather have a gun that I can choose which eyeball to put the round in.
Than to have a gun that if it hits will knock a guy down, but you may not be so sure about precisely where it will hit.

Everyone says .22lr is worthless for self defense.

I say if you put one in his eyeball, chances are that varmint ain't going to bother you no more.
And it seems to me the smaller calibers are a bunch easier to do that with.

[NoZombies]

Welcome to the .32 club. The membership is larger than you might expect, and the company is good.

[Texas by God]

Earl, we have that same gun in .22 rimfire. Lots of steel in the cylinder and deadnuts accurate.
One of my favorite all time revolvers was the Ruger .32 SSM. Perfect packing pistol in 4-5/8" persuasion.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[MT Gianni]

A trick I stole from one of Ed Harris's articles is to go to the store and pick up some paper bags. The ones in the ice cream aisle work fine. Put the gun in it and shoot a cylinder full noting after each shot if there is any spitting around the cylinder gap. If the only holes are through the barrel you are good to go. If it spits, which the older H&R's can do I would put it back up for sale.

[Crash_Corrigan]

Some time ago I noted the 327 Fed Mag caliber. The ballistics were amazing as Federal was selling 100 gr softpoint copper sided bullets that achieved 1500 FPS velocity. This was approaching some 357 Magnum loadings. Then an old shooting buddy offered to me a Charter Arms 327 Mag revolver to me for sale. We took it to the range that day and according to my chronograph those fed boolits were moving out at over 1400 FPS average with an SD of 8.

They were nuts on accurate at 25 yds with the short 2.5" tube on the Charter Arms Patriot revolter. The recoil was a ton less than the 357 but it was loud.....very loud and it had 6 chambers rather than five. I snapped it up and put it away in the safe.

Then I saw one by Ruger. A Blackhawk with a 5.5" tube in stainless steel. I jumped all over it. That also went into the safe.

There they both resided for some time until my wife finally began so see the value of carrying a gun when she walked her Australian Shepard in an empty city park early in the morning. Her dog "Angel" ran off to cavort with a Coyote and the Coyote was having no part of it as it's potential playmate was large and a lot heavier than the Coyote. She ran out of the park and caught the Coyote. There was a fight with the result of one dead Coyote and a torn up domesticated dog. The vet bill was over $1,500 and the scarring permanent.

That was with only one Coyote. There are plenty more of them around here in Sun City a suburb of Las Vegas on the Western border of the city. I had to resort to firing a shot in the air to discourage 3 Coyotes who believed that my beloved little attack trained Chihuahua "Sgt. Rambo" should be their next evening snack at 2300 hrs one evening. Believe me a Charter Arms Bulldog Pug .44 Special has a nice full and round bark when fired. Those 3 wild canines decided that they had important business elsewhere and left the area fast whilst my little Rambo cringed and shivvered behind me on his leash.

My wife wised up and asked me for a gun. I reached into the safe and brought out the Charter Arms Patriot 327 FED Mag. She liked it. We took it out and shot it some and she really was dead accurate with it. I bought her a decent belt (Beltman.com) and a nice holster (SimplyRuggedHolsters.com) to wear and it is now part of her walking routine. She also carries an air horn with compressed air in a small container, a powerful LED flashlight, cell phone and extra speeloaders with more ammo.

This is quite a woman. I found her in NYC in '82 and I have kept her around me ever since. She is from Burlington Vermont and migrated to NYC in '73 when her husband began to irk her too much. Somehow as the middle child of 3 she was not respected by her family at all and she was married off at the tender age of 17. By the age of 22 she tired of her husband who had strayed off the reservation on many occasions and who also did not respect her at all. She came to the big apple and was very successful and ended up as the Administrative Assistant to the CEO of a very large Wall street firm.

We met in the summer of '82 and by the winter we were an item. She invited me to spend Christmas with her in Vermont with her family. There I got the distinct impression that this fine person was not wanted nor appreciated by her siblings nor her parents. We ended our visit early and went back to NYC. In '85 she had a premonition about the upcoming move of her company to the World Trade Center and the thought of having to work on the 43rd floor of the building did not sit well with her. Her Father also had developed Cancer and she wanted to be closer to him. She quit her job and moved back to Vermont. We kept in touch and in '86 I also moved to Vermont to be with her as my retirement job had turned sour in New Jersey as my expense checks bounced. Months after my leaving the company the SEC closed them down for various stock manipulations and the like.

She had smelled a rat in the company when the checks started to bounce and I was required to pad the books with higher than normal expectations of incoming receipts by the company. I left and they offered me all kinds of inducements to remain but I refused and left the building. We ended up buying a log home in the Green Mountains of Vermont and commuting to our jobs in nearby Burlington, VT. There we enjoyed living near to a small village Jeffersonville VT. I bought her a Mossberg 12 Gauge pump shotgun and we went hunting together without success. Along came a serious back problem that the doctor suggested might be allievated by moving to a drier and warmer climate.

We sold the house and bought a 30 foot travel trailer. We had our belongings moved to Albuquerque NM and we hauled the trailer over 23 days in a slow trip to Littlefield TX where we visited with her brother until the beginning of '89. We then pushed on West and rejoined our belongings and rented a home in Corrales NM where I found employment as a Lieutenant in the Corrales Police Department.

Finally after 4 years we pushed on West to Las Vegas, NV. We have been here since '93 and we have no plans to move. I am too old to move again and I dread the thought of packing up my stuff again. In '95 I started to shoot again with my .38/357 Mag S&W 686 and the .38 Spcl. Model 10 4". I was spending too much money on ammo and I started out on my reloading and bullet casting life.

When the 9/11 tragedy developed in '01 she was very upset and sad. If she had remained in her job she also would have died but she was very upset knowing that all of her work friends and colleagues did die a horrible death on the 43rd floor. To this day she will not ascent to an upper floor of a building as that fear kept her alive.

I probably have somewhere in the mid 30's K invested in the sport and I have yet to stop buying stuff. Now that she is also shooting I will probably get her interested in the reloading arts as well. Life is good.

[GhostHawk]

Thanks guys, paper bag trick sounds like a winner.

I have to admit I went browsing on Gun Broker last night, lots of Ruger Single Six's in .32 H&R mag in the 450-500$ price range. 6" barrels, and it would shoot the .32sw longs.

Tempting.

[EMC45]

I loaded up 83 rounds of .32 S&W-L yesterday with 2.7gr. Bullseye under the RCBS 32-098. You convinced me. They are going to the range on Saturday.

[MT Gianni]

I love the accuracy of my SS 32 mag.

[EMC45]

Have you shot the H&Rs yet GhostHawk?

[BOSCHLOPER]

I picked up a 32 mag. Single Six "Baby Vaquero" on the clearance rack at the lgs, new old stock, about 2 years after Ruger stopped making them. From a decent rest I don't have any trouble hitting the 200 yd gongs, so it is accurate in my book. Great shooter and nice to carry. My load is the Lyman 313249 and any pistol powder on the shelf, red dot to 2400. Great gun and great cartridge.

[GhostHawk]

Tommorow!

Weather warmed up, have 100 rounds of factory ammo, and 200 of mine loaded and ready.

[GhostHawk]

Well I came, I saw, I cried, and I conquored. Mixed results.

The nickle plated one which I have been in my mind calling nickie, left me crying.

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Little blackie on the other hand took me to the top of the mountain.
Left me full of hope and potential and happy as I could be with my new toys.

Both were a pleasure to shoot, barely more recoil than a .22lr, a bit more pop, but not noisy. Truly fun to shoot.

While I was there I took one more swing at my "car" gun. A 120$ Pheonix Arms HP-22a that I have modified slightly to remove some objectionable safety features.

Like unable to open the action with the safety on. Or remove the Magazine. And of course the "can't fire the loaded round with the magazine removed".

These are not expensive guns. And not hard to work on. But I have never really been able to get it to do quite what I want. Well today it did.

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[GhostHawk]

http://www.mainegundealer.com/PHEONIXARMSRANGKIT.jpg

Mine is actually the longer black barrel only in silver, on a black frame.

For the first time it really paid attention and put them all in a nice group.

Just as an FYI all rounds were fired with me sitting in a chair, bracing my elbow on a small sandbag. 20 foot for all targets.

All were fired single action. Not even concerned at this point how they will shoot in double. Was just looking to get a feel for what they are capable of.

Nickie at 20 feet, aimed center of mass should put most of them into the chest.

Blackie on the other hand while not quite up to choosing which eyeball yet, is showing promise and potential for better to come.

24 rounds fired, less than 2$ to reload them. Little more oomph than a .22lr and yet not so much as to tingle my hands or ears.

Yeah, daddy's happy with his new toys.

[EMC45]

GhostHawk I had a blued one just like your "Blackie" years back. It shot well. It did prefer the lighter Lyman 311-252 to the heavier bullets, but it would group 'em well.

I am a .32 S&W-L fanatic. I was telling a buddy yesterday that I could shoot the .32s all day and not want for anything else.

My father had the silver Phoenix .22 like you have. I JB welded the swinging safety on the side of the slide. It got loose and kept swinging into position and rendering the gun "safe", and not being able to fire it. The JB fixed it. My Dad's is accurate like yours. They are fun little pistols.

[Petrol & Powder]

It has been a long time since I played with the 32 S&W long and the 32 H&R mag. but they are both excellent cartridges.
Most of my time was with a Ruger Single-Six in 32 H&R mag. Somewhere along the line I decided to reduce the number of different cartridges I reloaded and the 32 gear went away, followed by the guns. Big mistake but such is life.

My 32 adventure occurred long before I starting casting so all of my bullets were purchased from commercial vendors. I loaded the 32 S&W long with some type of round nosed bullet, I don't remember exactly what it was. That cartridge was fun to shoot. My primary bullet for the 32 H&R mag was some type of solid wadcutter, generally purchased at a gun show. The 32 H&R mag was an awesome cartridge and I really regret that I moved away from it.
The 32 revolver cartridges never held my attention like the 38 Special. Looking back now with near perfect hindsight ;), I realize the 32's are economical with their small demands for lead and powder.

[GhostHawk]

JB would be one way to do it.

I took the grip off, the part of the safety that lies beneath the grip is actually quite large.
One "spur" goes to the mag release, locking it when on safe. I nipped that off.

Another bigger bit goes back to "catch" the slide, preventing it from being opened when on safe. I broke that off with a pair of pliers.

The magazine disconnect was just a matter of lifting a little bar up. Then I used a paper clip stuck into place with a little hot melt glue to hold it in just the right place.

Grand total 5 minutes.

We have two of those, one for each car. Never needed them, but nice to know they are available if we do.

Really enjoyed shooting the little .32's today. Just pleasant shooting. Nice little pop, virtually no recoil, or muzzle blast. Just pop.

[EMC45]

JB would be one way to do it.

I took the grip off, the part of the safety that lies beneath the grip is actually quite large.
One "spur" goes to the mag release, locking it when on safe. I nipped that off.

Another bigger bit goes back to "catch" the slide, preventing it from being opened when on safe. I broke that off with a pair of pliers.

The magazine disconnect was just a matter of lifting a little bar up. Then I used a paper clip stuck into place with a little hot melt glue to hold it in just the right place.

Grand total 5 minutes.

We have two of those, one for each car. Never needed them, but nice to know they are available if we do.

Really enjoyed shooting the little .32's today. Just pleasant shooting. Nice little pop, virtually no recoil, or muzzle blast. Just pop.


Now I wish I still had access to my Dad's. I could do all those things and make it a little more agreeable.

I loaded 50 more rounds of .32 S&W-L. Lyman clone 3118 115gr. over 3gr. Unique. This is a heavy little sucker for the S&W-L and it shoots well.

[GhostHawk]

EMC you can find those new on Bud's for 109$ some days.

I have 2, one in each car. Both are in small zippered bags. Gun is unloaded, 2 loaded mag's and a full 100 round plastic box of CCI Mini-mag hollowpoints in with the gun.

Slap the mag home, jerk the slide back and your ready. Both cars have a small door "pocket" built into the bottom of the door panel. Both just about totally disappear, but they go nowhere.

I could carry, I can legally CC in ND with no classes, or fees, license, etc. I guess I just don't like to admit that I have to CC in Fargo ND to feel safe. But if that ever changes I will.

I think if I ever did little "Blackie" would be my #1 choice.

I have to admit I debated long and hard about load for these.
I checked all my manuals, found loads from 1.8 gr of Red Dot up to 2.6 or 2.7. But Outpost75 in one of a flurry of PM's about these said something about 2 gr of Red Dot. So I decided to start easy and see.

I have to admit they are a pleasure to shoot. I will be shooting them often.

Would like to find something reasonable with a little longer barrel and little better sights. There are lots of Ruger Single Six's out there in .32SW long. But the price is a little higher than I like.

[GhostHawk]

Been thinking about my little .32sw long that likes to shoot big patterns.
Today while mulling this over in my head my eye happened to land on a bottle marked 00 buck, about half full.

Hmmm I go, that is bigger. Wonder if that will go through a .314 lee sizer.

Hmmm, little grunt, not bad. So I ran about 30 of them.

Then took my 24 empty once fired brass, sized, deprimed, expanded, primed, charged with 2 grains of Red Dot.

Weighed a couple of those buckshot. 51 grains give or take a tenth or 2. Hmmmm.

Well lets see.

Have not shot them yet, time will tell.

They sure look purty.

Sizing put definate sides on them, flattened the base a bit. I concentrated on putting sprues towards the pusher. So they have nice hemispherical heads.

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[Thumbcocker]

Check out Frank Marshall's article on the SWOB (swaged oblong round ball). He was a fan and his articles are great reading.