327 mag ammo

D

Doc Holliday 1950

New member
I'm not sure if this is a stupid question or not.
Can a 357 mag revolver shoot 327mag ammo?? Be gentle folks, Oldtimers.
If so what's the pros and cons??
 
.327 magnum is a smaller caliber, that means the bullet is physically smaller than .357 magnum rounds.

.327 is about 8mm wide, where .357 is about 9mm wide. If you put the .327 in the .357 gun there will be about 1mm of play in the chamber and barrel and that is a very, very bad tolerance! The .327 case will probably fire form and split apart, and the bullet with have virtually no spin or ability to build up pressure.

If you do this, you would probably end up with a sezied-up revolver with a case fuzed inside it and would have something like 300 FPS and pie-plate accuracy at 2 yards distance. Oh, and you very well may severely injure or kill yourself in the process.

So please, for the love of God, DO NOT do this!!! NEVER, EVER use ammo in a gun not specifically marked for it.
 
To add to the above post...

If you have a .357 Magnum revolver, you can safely shoot .38 Special in it.

If you have a .327 Magnum revolver, you can safely shoot .32 H&R Magnum, .32 S&W Long, .32 S&W, and while you will likely have ejection issues... you may safely discharge .32 ACP in it as well.

.357 Magnum revolvers utilize bullets that run from 110 to 158 grains in weight, with some non-standard heavy 180 grain slugs somewhat available. It runs a peak pressure of 35,000 PSI. The .357 Magnum ammo is quite common and easily found at most any place that deals in ammo, with .38 Special being equally (or perhaps MORE) common and typically lower in cost also.

The .327 Federal Magnum launches a bullet in the weight range of 85 to 115 grains and operates at a notably higher 45,000 PSI Max pressure. However, the .32 H&R Magnum, and both .32 S&W Long and .32 S&W are old rounds from a bygone era, they are not produced in high volume and are typically NOT much, if any cheaper in price... when you can find them.
 
Wish I would have bought about 4 of the Ruger SP101's in .327 when they were available. Saw a few on a few online auctions that were going for almost twice msrp.
 
A .327 Federal Magnum would be unlikely to even fire in a .357 Magnum chamber because the rim of the .327 is smaller in diameter than the case of a .357 (.375" vs .379") The .327 cartridge would simply fall through the chamber until the rim was stopped by the cylinder throat with the bullet and a good bit of the case poking out the front of the cylinder. Honestly, I think that .327 Federal Magnum was a poor choice of name for the cartridge (it doesn't use a .327" diameter bullet anyway) because it invites confusion between it and .357 Magnum. ".312 Magnum" would have been the best name IMHO because it would avoid confusion with both .357 Magnum and .32 H&R Magnum.

Also, to add to Seven's post, you can also safely fire .38 Short Colt and .38 Long Colt in a .38 Special or .357 Magnum gun and you can safely fire all four of the aforementioned cartridges in a gun chambered for .357 Maximum. You cannot, however, fire .38 S&W in a gun chambered for any of the aforementioned cartridges because .38 S&W uses a slightly larger diameter bullet (.361 vs. .357-.358) and thus also has a slightly larger diameter case though the rim diameters are close enough to use the same shellholders when handloading.
 
Honestly, I think that .327 Federal Magnum was a poor choice of name for the cartridge (it doesn't use a .327" diameter bullet anyway) because it invites confusion between it and .357 Magnum. ".312 Magnum" would have been the best name IMHO because it would avoid confusion with both .357 Magnum and .32 H&R Magnum.
Click to expand...
I have to agree that it's a craptastic name, I honestly believe they were going for the draw of the three number combination that reminds some folks of a high-output small block Chevy motor of past fame. I think even something awful such as .32 UltraMag would have been a better name.

However, in the more perfect world that bounces around inside my head, the .32 H&R Magnum is the first offender in this debacle. At the pressure it runs at and the performance it offers, nobody could possibly refute the case that it should be the .32 H&R Special. It follows almost to the letter of precedent for "Special." And the .32 Federal Magnum should have followed the .32 H&R Special.

I'll call up SAAMI and get this train a-rollin' ! :D
 
I have to agree that it's a craptastic name, I honestly believe they were going for the draw of the three number combination that reminds some folks of a high-output small block Chevy motor of past fame. I think even something awful such as .32 UltraMag would have been a better name.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I think it was probably a marketing ploy attempting to take advantage of the recognition and reputation of the .357 Magnum not unlike the thought process behind the .357 Sig's name (both cartridges are/were marketed as almost the same as a .357 Magnum). Unfortunately, both cartridge's names result in a lot of people mistakenly buying the wrong type of ammunition for their guns due to either lack of general firearms knowledge or simply misreading the box flap.
 
For starters, many of these caliber names should not include decimal places, because nothing about them measures exactly that fraction. .357 Magnum is one of the few exceptions, given guns with a .357 bore.
 
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