.327 Federal Club thread

F

farmboy

New member
Dear Friends:

This thread started with a discussion of marketing but became what we call a club thread - a place for the fans or not so of the 327 to discuss the gun and round. It has been going on for a long time.

Thus, staff discussed changing the thread's name to reflect this.

Let the discussion continue! Got to love those 32s.

Glenn
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I love the .327 mag. I know not everyone does, and I understand the reasons why. I'd like to take a public pulse. Why not the .327?

I believe that the American public can be convinced to buy a product that they don't necessarily want or need. (1950: A bomb shelter? Really?)

With the fascination and pursuit of the perfect lawn, a bigger screen TV, and the occasional shag carpeting thrown in (depending on the decade), what the heck happened to the .327? What about P.T. Barnum's "..a sucker born every minute"?

My take? The .32 mag was introduced in or around 1981, a relatively tough economic time. Farm Crisis, gas lines, and high unemployment. Today? The .327 comes, and tough economic times arrive again. Nobody buying or taking chances on a long shot.

Thoughts?
 
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I think its dumb and a waste... We already have a .357mag and .357 sig, why confuse us more with a .327 ? :confused: I really think it's pointless... I like a .357 revolver, because it can shoot BOTH .357/.38 with that being said, I do not know anything on the .327 as to balistic testings and is it more powerful than the .357?
 
I want one. It's just way down The List..... a couple of places behind the AR, which is below "Deer Rifle for Jac"....... which falls below "gasoline", "groceries", and "fodder for current guns"........
 
why confuse us more with a .327 ?
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Some of us are harder to confuse than others.

I like a .357 revolver, because it can shoot BOTH .357/.38 ......
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The .327 can shoot .327mag, .32 H&R mag, and .32 Long .....

I really think it's pointless... ....... I do not know anything on the .327 as to balistic testings and is it more powerful than the .357?
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A-HA! An uninformed opinion rears it's head. You think it's pointless, but don't know much about it?

Energy delivered to the target is about equal to .357, with similar penetration ........but you can get a 6 shot cylinder in the same frame sizes that only hold 5 shot cylinders bored for .357. What is useless about an extra round (particularly in a gun that only holds 5!)? Who would not want a 6 shot j-frame or sp101. Make mine a Ruger!
 
I guess, more to the point, I understand that many can't justify the purchase of the .327 from a "what we already have" point of view. (The .357/9mm/.45. etc can already do the job)

My question is, we are alway sold, and buy into stuff we don't really have a need for. We all do it, admit it or not. Commercial enterprise wouldn't exist without our buy in.

What killed the .327, or any other new caliber for that matter?
 
I have a SP101 in .327 Mag, and love that little sucker.

I can shoot loads ranging from a barely make it out the barrel .32 S&W, to 1,600 fps .327 Mag screamers that equal .357 Mag energy, but with less felt recoil. The biggest problem I saw with the introduction of the cartridge, was the lack of components for reloading, and the scarcity of loaded ammunition.

Every gun store around me sells the .327 Mag pistols almost as soon as the arrive at the store. Loaded ammo is still a little pricey, but is getting more common, and bullets and brass are on the shelves now as well............but a lot of people were turned off to the cartridge by the initial shortages of ammo and components, and now, even thought the shortages are no longer as big an issue, people have lost interest, or, simply don't want to take a chance on not being able to find ammo or reloading supplies for the $600 gun they just purchased.
 
Quote:
I like a .357 revolver, because it can shoot BOTH .357/.38 ......

The .327 can shoot .327mag, .32 H&R mag, and .32 Long .....
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Thank you for the education!

Well maybe its not worthless as much now... It can shoot more calibers than just one :)
 
IMHO, a five shot .327 could be built to be the ultimate small CCW revolver.

But...having owned at least six J-frames, I no longer own any. My PM9 is a far more funtional CCW weapon than any J-frame I ever owned.

And in all honesty, I have come to the opinion that smaller is not always better. I spend most of my time carrying some type of .45 acp.

As someone who likes to shoot, anything like the .327 area must be a reloading proposition to be viable.

As it stands, I reload .45 acp, .45 LC, .41 Mag, .357 Mag and 10mm. If I am going to adopt another caliber, it had better do something exceptional. For my money, the .327 does nothing I can't do already.
 
.327 mag can be hard to find, expensive, and there's not a wide variety of guns it's chambered in.

The other .32's it can fire are no real draw. They are unpopular and poorly known. The best thing about them is that you might be able to find them when you can't find .327 mag.

The cartridge is also a bit meh. It's in the same ballpark as a 9mm or a 7.62 Tokarev.

So, if you are willing to put up with all that, what do you get out of it? An extra round in a cylinder. That's it. If you can find ammo.
 
kozak6 said:
The cartridge is also a bit meh. It's in the same ballpark as a 9mm or a 7.62 Tokarev.

So, if you are willing to put up with all that, what do you get out of it? An extra round in a cylinder. That's it. If you can find ammo.
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"Same ballpark as 9mm"... What are you talking about? Are you referring to actual ballistics, or just your own, ridiculous, personal opinion? The .327 Federal is a major step up from 9mm Luger.
Have you completely missed all prior comparisons of the .327 to other cartridges, and jimbob86's statement?
jimbob86 said:
Energy delivered to the target is about equal to .357, with similar penetration
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And ammo...
Every gun store within 20 miles of me has a good supply of .327 Federal on their shelves. Most of them have more .327 than .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R combined.

It is no longer 2009, or early 2010. The shortage of .327 ammunition is over.


The .327 is far from dead. Every store around me sells their stock of .327s at the rate of about 1 per day, per model. If they get 7 handguns in a shipment, they'll be sold out in a week. Even Glunks and Taurii don't move that fast around here.

.327 is a "sleeper" cartridge. It's selling quite well. ...You just aren't seeing it, or hearing about it.
 
I think its dumb and a waste... We already have a .357mag and .357 sig, why confuse us more with a .327 ? I really think it's pointless...
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OK, lets go with your take on things and develop nothing new. After all, we have plenty of guns that work perfectly well. Nothing new need be developed and marketed to the public. Same for calibers.

And why stop there. Why market new products at all knowing full well that some of them won't be accepted by consumers?

That the firearms industry is IN GOOD SHAPE AND MARKETING ALL KINDS OF NEW PRODUCTS IS A VERY GOOD THING.

And not every thing is going to catch on.

We didn't really need the .357 SIG or the .40 S&W. Don't need the GAP, either. Etc., etc, etc, ad nauseum. I'm a consumer, and I'll decide if I want to purchase a new concept, but thanks for your opinion.:cool:

OK, I'll go take my chill pill and relax.:D
 
I like the idea, but the reason I have not got one is for already stated reasons. I have other cartridges that do the job and I don't want another caliber to reload atm. For what it's worth, local gun stores here cannot keep them in stock, they sell very quick. Also there is plenty of available ammo around here as well.
 
Have you completely missed all prior comparisons of the .327 to other cartridges, and jimbob86's statement?
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That's OK ..... I have 5 kids: I am used to having my statements ignored at least once.....
 
"I was not aware anything had gone wrong...... "
Exactly - if you like revolvers it makes sense like the Rugers. Would like to get an eight shot Blackhawk.
 
I don't think anything went wrong, precisely. The problem is that the cartridge doesn't really fill any pre-existing void.

I'm actually impressed with the load.
 
I still think it's a little early to start digging the .327 a grave. Both S&W and Ruger are still making guns chambered in it, and although ammo is scarce and expensive it is out there. There are some troubles I see for it though.

The .38 Special and .357 Magnum are so well established that trying to introduce anything to compete with them seems like a very silly idea. Everyone makes guns in .38/.357 and you can find ammo in just about any Walmart you walk into. In order for a new cartridge to really take hold in today's market, you have to throw some major support behind it, like S&W did with the .40S&W. That hasn't seemed to have happened with the .327.

Also, There hasn't been any real interest in .32 caliber cartridges for a pretty long time. .32 H&R Mag and .32 S&W Long faded out a good while back and .38/.357 took over. Public perception can go a long way, especially with uninformed gun buyers. Everyone knows about the legendary .357 Magnum, gun person or not. They have never heard of the various .32 caliber cartridges, so they aren't going to buy them. The .38 snubnose is something everyone knows, but the .32 snubnose not so much.
 
Essentially, nothing went wrong.

Every new product is a hit or miss proposition.

One could ask the same thing about the .45 GAP. Offers some distinct advantages over the .45 ACP re: size of grips.

Yet it is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Doesn't matter if it has great credentials or not. If people look at it and heave a collective sigh of "nice, but meh," it's going to fail.
 
I'm really wanting to handle one of those smith 632. I'd also love to see a little levergun in 327 maybe by Marlin or Mossberg. Idk though I read on gunblast that its sales were far better than what federal had expected.
 
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