My wife is very interested in a .327 snubby for a concealed carry gun. There just don't seem to be any currently being manufactured.
The .327 Federal Magnum runs a vicious-high pressure. That translates very poorly to a snub-length barrel. Quality chrono testing has shown that if the barrel is shorter than 3 inches, the bullet speed of the .327 Federal drops off TREMENDOUSLY and I can't even imagine the colossal, stunning amount of muzzle blast.
These guys have done quite a service to handgunner with their chrono project, please take a quick look at some of their results:
http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/327mag.html
I would imagine your wife would NOT like the muzzle blast and she would not be getting the true benefit of this particular cartridge.
Only two manufacturers even marketed a snub-length barrel .327 Federal (Taurus and Charter) and both are out of production.
On the good side, a
new Taurus snub in .327 Federal can be had for low dollars -- call up CDNN in Abilene, TX, I believe they have a slew of them. For not a lot of money...you could TRY one of these snubbies.
As for the idea that you can shoot all the other lower powered rounds in these guns... I think that's simply a marketing & perceived benefit rather than a real one. I say this simply because .32 H&R and .32 S&W/S&W Long ammo is horribly expensive to buy, as is .327 Federal. I'll also add that if you've never shot a round of .32 S&W or .32 S&W Long, you'll think you had a squib or complete misfire. They're unbelievably low powered.
The best place for a .327 Federal owner is a handloader... and when you handload, you can build your ammo to any power spec of those listed above, or handload in any of those cases...assuming you can get a supply of them.
For your wife's needs--please do consider the Ruger SP-101 with it's slightly-bit more than 3-inch barrel. This gun will give you all the hairy goodness of the .327 Federal Magnum.