pros and cons of .32acp

Status
Not open for further replies.
Time For A New 32ACP Pistol

Glock should look into building pistols in 32ACP. A sub-compact smaller than the 42? A full capacity in a smaller version of the 26/27.
:D
 
P5 Guy said:
Glock should look into building pistols in 32ACP. A sub-compact smaller than the 42?
Click to expand...
It would likely wind up being almost the same size because the semi-rimmed .32 cartridge demands about the same amount of space as .380. This is the reason why so many pistols have been chambered in both; if it works with one, it's generally simple to accommodate the other.

This hypothetical Glock would have lower felt recoil than the 42, however—it would go from "minimal" to "almost none". :)
P5 Guy said:
A full capacity in a smaller version of the 26/27.
Click to expand...
The problem here is that double-stack magazines and semi-rimmed cartridges generally don't play well together. As an example, the .380 Beretta 84 has 13+1 capacity, whereas the nearly identical .32 Beretta 81 has 12+1 capacity. The reason is that the designers had to add space-eating vertical ribs to the magazine to prevent the cartridges from splaying and potentially rim-locking.
 
I've shot a few thousand rounds of .32acp over the years and I've never experienced rim lock.
Click to expand...

I'm kinda glad I did early on with my ppk. I'd hate to have that happen in a defensive scenario. One of the nastiest jams I've ever encountered. I was at S&W's range (where I had purchased the gun) when it happened and it was a bear to unjam. That's where one of S&W's gunsmiths schooled me on rim-lock. I sadly sold off the gun pretty quickly. I say that because the ppk was one of the guns I dreamed about as a kid. I first bought a ppk/s 380 but the shape of my hand, the shape of the frame and the recoil from that gun made me cry like a little girl. So... I sold that off and got the .32 ppk, then experienced rim-lock. Just one of those guns that was never meant to be....
 
Constantine:
If your'e on the internet, and haven't found .32 ACP available, you haven't been looking. I live in a town of less than 1800 people and in the local Gun Shop there sits two boxes of Buffalo Bore's 75 grain HCLFP (+p) ammunition made in the state of Montana, USA.
If you look them up, you'll discover that 'anemic' they aren't! I can tell you of six, count them, six (6) manufacturers of loaded ammunition right off the top of my head.
Kel-Tec still makes their little DAO P32, Beretta, Colt, (yes, Colt) NAA, Seecamp and more.
Evidently your search wasn't very thorough.
Click to expand...

On the internet, sure... You can find .303 British on the internet. Good luck finding a variety of .32ACP in adequate loads locally. In the end, it's not the best round to have. Far from it.

I still feel that they are anemic rounds. Sorry.

Seecamp and Keltec aren't the best out there either. I'm saying again, that there aren't a good number of gun manufacturers who make something(s) in .32ACP enough that one should buy it. It's like getting an AR chambered in 7.62 x 54R... Why?

.32ACP is a huge no-go. Just like .25ACP who's followed by .380ACP which just passes the "sometimes acceptable" margin.


I'd say Constantine was mostly right on all counts.

.32ACP is expensive ammo when it can be found in store, and buying off the internet usually ends up just as expensive when you include the shipping.

Most folks want the biggest caliber that can be fit in a pistol, and manufacturers cater to this which is why there are so few .32 options compared to other calibers.

All that being said, there is still a place for it, the .32 is a much better round for the smaller pocket pistols, and if there was a better supply of ammo I'm think pistols like the Colt 1903 would be more popular.
Click to expand...

Thank you. There is no need to have .32ACP when there is at least .380 or the even better lean and mean 9x19.
 
win-lose said:
I sold [the .380 PPK] off and got the .32 ppk, then experienced rim-lock.
Click to expand...
FWIW rim-lock in .32 ACP pistols is almost always magazine-related; it most often happens because a worn spring allows the cartridges to jump around under recoil.

That said, it's interesting that you had this problem with a S&W PPK, as my WWII Zella-Mehlis 7.65 PP runs like a top using S&W PPK/s magazines! <knocks on wood>
 
Thank you. There is no need to have .32ACP when there is at least .380 or the even better lean and mean 9x19.
Click to expand...
Because there are absolutely no people old, arthritic, frail, small in stature, and hand size, or for some other reason recoil sensitive???
While I don't mind what many call the "sharp" recoil of my LCP, and infact own, and shoot guns much more punnishing, there are plenty of people that do have a problem with recoil.
The 32acp gives them a centerfire option more reliable than 22 rimfire, and more effective than 25acp.
 
Because there are absolutely no people old, arthritic, frail, small in stature, and hand size, or for some other reason recoil sensitive???
While I don't mind what many call the "sharp" recoil of my LCP, and infact own, and shoot guns much more punnishing, there are plenty of people that do have a problem with recoil.
The 32acp gives them a centerfire option more reliable than 22 rimfire, and more effective than 25acp.
Click to expand...

I did not think of that. Sorry! You're right. I should say there is no reason to use .32ACP unless...

You are correct on that matter. Thank you.
 
There is no reason to use .32 acp unless: you WANT to- for whatever reason you have.

It puzzles me how people are so narrow-minded that they think if THEY can't imagine a reason for a particular gun/caliber that there is no use for it. That's a very arrogant attitude.

Perhaps someone already has a gun in one of your "useless" calibers? Or, they need the absolute smallest gun for some reason? Or, they just like a gun in a particular caliber?

It really doesn't matter what people like this think. The .22s and .25s, and .32s, and all those "useless" cartridges are still out there, and have been for over 100 years. So they must be good for something.
 
The question is whether a .32 Automatic is sufficient to save one's life. I think that we can all agree on the answer.

My opinion, which is just that, is that the .38 Special using 158 grain LSWC or LSWCHP +P is minimum for saving my life. Since it is my life, the idea of using the minimum cartridge doesn't appeal to me.

As in a lot of things in life, bigger is better. I'm working on applying that concept to my savings account.
 
Originally posted by Evil Monkey
who cares what people "want" to do. More often than not, what they want doesn't make sense and is not logical.

There is literally NO REASON for the 32acp round. NONE.

I don't want to hear the "elderly, woman, arthritis" argument either. If you can't shoot 6 rounds of 380acp out of a pocket pistol for example, without dropping the pistol for some odd reason, I don't think a 32acp is going to help you in anyway either. Time to carry an airsoft gun.
Click to expand...

OK, I won't use the "elderly, woman, arthritis" argument, I'll use the ".380 shoehorned into a gun so small that people with big hands can't keep it from shifting around so much that it's unreliable" argument. I've seen that happen on more than one occasion. Or how about the "my .380 hollowpoints are going to act like FMJ from the short little barrel of my pocket gun, so why not carry a .32 that's easier to shoot and gives me an extra round" argument?

Of course the most compelling to me is the "why should I take advice from the anonymous guy on the internet who says that anyone (that he doesn't know and has never met) who can't handle/doesn't like his caliber of choice is nonsensical, illogical, and should carry an airsoft gun" argument.
 
OK, I won't use the "elderly, woman, arthritis" argument, I'll use the ".380 shoehorned into a gun so small that people with big hands can't keep it from shifting around so much that it's unreliable" argument. I've seen that happen on more than one occasion. Or how about the "my .380 hollowpoints are going to act like FMJ from the short little barrel of my pocket gun, so why not carry a .32 that's easier to shoot and gives me an extra round" argument?
Click to expand...

Get a bigger pistol and don't carry in the pocket. There's no better way to earn your self a brand new coffin, than to carry in a pocket.

Of course the most compelling to me is the "why should I take advice from the anonymous guy on the internet who says that anyone (that he doesn't know and has never met) who can't handle/doesn't like his caliber of choice is nonsensical, illogical, and should carry an airsoft gun" argument.
Click to expand...

Here's a thought:

-pocket carry is stupid and dangerous
-carrying on the waistband allows you to carry a slightly larger pistol in 380acp that you can handle without it shifting in your hand shot after shot.
-Because of the parameters set forth by a larger pistol on the hip, you don't "need" a 32acp anymore.
 
Evil Monkey- Those are two of the most arrogant posts I have seen here.

Of course, you apparently know more than the rest of us.....:rolleyes:
 
Somebody please give me a decent pistol instructors name that teaches how to draw from the pocket efficiently and safely, to justify carrying a tiny pistol in 32acp.
 
Sorry Evil Monkey,
You are so far off base I am wondering if you are just trying to inflame because you are bored or if you really are that narrow-minded that common sense can't find a way in.
 
Evil Monkey- Those are two of the most arrogant posts I have seen here.

Of course, you apparently know more than the rest of us.....
Click to expand...
Quite often I have disagreements with Bill. THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM!!!!:D:D:D

Some, no MOST people don't want to run around like some kind of self proclaimed comando. Armed with a heavy caliber gun, and I'll bet multiple extra, high capacity mags.
 
I love my P32 and carry it more often than my Shield 9. it's so small and light I sometimes forget it's even there. I carry both in an OWB holster at 3 o'clock, but when I'm out running errands I'd much rather have the P32 with me.

I practice point shooting exclusively with this gun and can pretty reliably hit a 6" steel knock down at 7 yards. There is almost zero recoil, and at 3-5 yards I can put several rounds in a small area pretty fast. I'm not elderly, female or arthritic, but when I bought this I shot a P3AT and the P32 at the same time, and left with the P32.

Some people may feel that they need to leave the house prepared for a combat situation with multiple armed assailants at 25-30 yards, but I'm not one of them. I consider the P32 to be a "contact" gun, something that will save my life when I'm engaged at arms length or very close range. I usually carry it with the 10rd mag, two 60gr Gold Dots and 9 73gn Fiocchi FMJ.
 
I don't carry .32, but I do love Beretta, and have always had a lark for a Beretta 81. They're making them again so you can find factory-new ones. Tempting.
 
So a .32 ACP can't possibly harm anyone? That would come as news to a goodly number of people who died demonstrating that it is nonsense.

Jim
 
So a .32 ACP can't possibly harm anyone? That would come as news to a goodly number of people who died demonstrating that it is nonsense.
Click to expand...

I don't agree that the 32acp is some how "harmless", if others stated that.

I find that with practical carry, non-pocket sized pistol, with a locked breech design, 32acp seems unnecessary.

besides, 380acp is cheaper to shoot.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top