.32 rimmed Cartriges?

Z

ZVP

New member
While at the range today I met a guy with a .32 Short Harrington and Richardson. I couldn't tell from just looking at the cartriges, but are they sized like a .38 S&W or they just like the .32 long Colt?
The cartriges he had were remington Factory Bullets and just a quick "eyeball" apprasial didn't reveal much to me.
If there is an outside diameter, Heeled .32 could someone please tell me?
I am in the process of trying to locate either an old .38S&W or a .32 Colt revolver for CAS Side Matches and I don't want to get into something too weird should I locate a nice .32 top Break.
How many types of rimmed .32 cartriges are there that would be chambered in a old Break Top revolver?
ZVP
 
Agree with hardworker.
Most if not all US made topbreak .32s were .32 S&W.
I think there were some .32 S&W Long, although not from Smith & Wesson, but they will still handle .32 S&W which is ample for CAS Pocket Pistol.
 
FWIW some older H&R pistols are marked ".32 H&R", which is an alternate term for the obsolete .32 Merwin & Hulbert cartridge. This is nearly the same thing as .32S&W, just with a case that is a fraction of an inch longer, and these revolvers will still safely fire .32S&W, but usually not .32 S&W Long. None of these cartridges use heeled bullets.

If you've never handled an M&H revolver, they have a twist-open frame that allows the shooter to drop the empties while retaining unfired rounds; it's hard to describe how this works without pictures or a video. At any rate, the .32M&H cartridge was made slightly longer than .32S&W so people would have to buy special M&H ammunition for the selective-ejection feature to work properly. Since this ammo was still on store shelves in the late 19th century, H&R decided to chamber their revolvers for it, but they renamed it like Colt used to do with Smith & Wesson cartridges (e.g. .32 Colt New Police = .32 S&W Long).

BTW half of the reason the .32 H&R Magnum had "Magnum" added to its title was to prevent confusion with the earlier .32 H&R terminology, which could cause an uneducated shooter to inadvertently convert his or her 19th-century BP top-break into a hand grenade. :eek: (The other half of the reason was to make the cartridge sound powerful.)
 
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OK Thanks guys!
I guess it was a .32S&W as the bullet just looked funny, like it was outside lubed. I just looked up the .32 short caliber bullets and WOW they cost as much as a .357! For anyone to use this caliber for CAS, then they would have to reload to keep up with pricing.
ZVP
 
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