[William Iorg]

DOK

The .32 Mag being my favorite handgun cartridge I just had to say something.
My favorite load for the heavy framed guns, the S&W K frame, the Ruger Single Six and Buckeye convertable is 10.0 gr of H110 and any 100 grain bullet.
For the lighter S&W J frames made of steel, 9.8 gr of H110 and any 100 gr bullet.
For the Aluminum frame M-632 4.0 gr of Alliant "New" Unique and any 100 gr bullet.

Back in the '80's W.C Davis wrote an article about the .32 Long in the American Rifleman. Davis mentioned Elis Lea had rebarreled a Remington 788 to .32 Long for a small game rifle.
Later Gen. Vernon McGee rebarreled a Ruger No. 1 and wrote about it in Shooting Times.
Then Ross Seyfried wrote about his Ruger No. 3 which C. Sharps had rebarreld for him to .32 H&R Mag.
We ordered a 24" bull barrel from Fox Ridge for our TC Carbine. This barrel is a rimmed .300 Whisper. Bullets from 170 gr. down are accurate and quiet. You can hunt without ear protection and not ring your ears. The 110 gr. JHP's are really something from the longer barrel.
Lighter loads with swaged wadcutters make fine "challange" loads. We stand up shotgun shells at 50 feet and trade shots down the row. Sad to say my wife is the champion at our house!
Starline brass saved the day when they came out with good brass for this cartridge, I need to write them a fan letter someday!

 

[William Iorg]

DOK

In my opinion there are two really fine .32 Mags that desrve attention.
The first is the Ruger Single Six Bisley.I have not found an easier gun to hit with. There are only two real draw backs. First is the small loading port. The second is that the one I have and one other I have looked at had the cylinders drilled slightly off center. The rims interfier with one chamber on both guns.
The second is the S&W M-631 4". This little Kit gun is magic. You can make hits from a rest much furthur out than you would think possible. Tuck your holster into your rear pocket and it makes a very small package.

For bullets. The 115 gr. bullets are great for solid bodied game like raccoons, porcupines etc. For turkey and other edible small game you need a 100 gr. or lighter. The bigger bullets generally exit and tear things up. The Lyman 311008 kills really well but it will detach a leg or wing if you dont hit them right. Makes the cook work harder...

 

[William Iorg]

Marshall,
I mentioned this thread to my wife and we laughed about it last night.
Her carry gun is a S&W M-631 Lady Smith in .32 Mag. she has trouble leaving any .32 caliber gun at a gun show, they're orphans you know...

We were remembering back to when we lived in San Antonio, about fourteen years ago... .32 Magnum brass was so very hard to come by. Drury's guns used to stock Federal unprimed brass in the red boxes, $9.00 for 50! At least they would stock it! There was a small group of dedicated .32 shooters in San Antonio at the time. At a range called "A Place To Shoot" we used to run into them on the silhouette range or the pistol bay, there were the usual factory guns and two converted Colt Diamond Back's and at least one converted K-22. I think all were local conversions.
The fact that the cartridge lasted (barely&#33<!--emo&--><img src="http://beartoothbullets.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''><!--endemo--> is really a surprise to us.  The .32 Mag. got good write-ups in some of the press, but that doesnt always help.
Starline's introduction of good brass probably had a great deal to do with saving the cartridge.
Prices have sure risen over the years, a new Ruger Single Six with fixed sights and color case hardend frame wears a price tag of $450.00 localy. Hard to believe!

 

[William Iorg]

Any discussion of the .32 Mag needs to take the frame size of the gun into account. The big Blackhawk will easily digest loads of rifle pressure. The lightweight J frames from S&W will stick their brass pretty easily.
The Rugers tend to have annular rings in their chambers and they stick brass quicker than the smooth chambered S&W K-frames. The Ruger Buckeye convertables will leave circular shinny marks on .32-20 brass when fired with maximum loads.
The lyman 311008 is really something special in the K-frame Smiths and the SSX Ruger Bisley. 5.0 gr Unique or 10.0 gr of H110 is a snappy load.
The lighter frame guns need to reduce these loads to 4.5 gr of Unique and 9.8 gr of H110.
I have a 24" Contender barrel from the Fox Ridge shop that is very quiet with normal hunting loads. It is my preffered turkey rifle. Ross Seyfried wrote of having a Ruger #3 barrelled for .32 Magnum years ago. A fellow Texan named Vernon McGee wrote about a Ruger #1 he had barrelled to .32 S&W Long, it was quite a small game rifle.
Loaded sensibly (1,000 to 1,200 fps) the .32 Mag is a lot of fun, has good brass life, and is a caliber that can be enjoyed by everyone. In the Ruger Bisley it is probably the easiest combination to develop real field accuracy and cinfidence.

 

[William Iorg]

DOK

Dont get me wrong, I am a fan of the .38 Spl/.357 Mag.
I feel that the .32 Mag in the Bisley, K-frame Smith and the Smith Kit Gun are easier to hit with.
It may be more accurate than the .357's but I could not prove it. I will say that I shoot better with the .32's and so does my wife. My wife can outshoot me any day with a handgun (younger eyes is my excuse) and while she handles a .38 well she is deadly with the Buckeye convertable.
There is a little less fuss and muss with the .32's. Take any 100 gr bullet and 5.0 gr Unique or 10.0 gr H-110 in your Ruger SSX and you can make life very uncomfortable for a five gallon can at two hundred yards from the sitting position.
Thanks to Starline we have an reliable supply of good strong brass. Unless you lived through the first few years with Federal's empty unprimed brass its hard to appreciate the Starline brass. We paid $9.00 a box for Federal brass at Drury's in San Antonio and were glad to get it! More than half of the cases split lengthwise within five shots! And we happily went back and bought more! Drury was the only shop that tried to help out the silhouette shooters back then. Brass was a real problem.

 

[William Iorg]

Dok, you hit the nail first try! Most people dont know the cartridge exists! Worse, there are not any good "trail" guns available for it today. You would think that Ruger could sell a few SSX's with adjustable sights if they would make them. You do not want to price a 4" S&W Kit Gun in .32 Mag! We shoot ours so the collectors can ask more for theirs!
You may be surprised at the penetration of a Keith type LdSWC in .32 caliber. The problem with the .38/.357 trail guns is that while they are light they kick a little more than the .32's. Not as much fun to shoot!

 

[William Iorg]

Dok, you sure have your finger on the pulse with the observations about: "you would think that Ruger"...
I sure wish I was saying Smith & Wesson. We look through their catalog today and there is not one gun that we would spend money on! What a shame. When we look back to the mid 80's and the fun we had! Good thing we kept most of those guns! There is not likely to be a repeat of those times!
Still, we are now looking dreamy eyed at the Navy Arms, Cimeron and Uberti catalogs...
Well, off for the weekend!