Which revolver can chamber and digest the most calibers?

Most 327 Federal chambered guns will also safely fire 32 ACP.
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Yep.

...but not all. ;)

Both of mine will run with .32 Auto and .32 S&W (which also has some extraction or ignition issues in some revolvers). But my brother's .327 Federal SP101 won't run the .32 Auto.



And, being pretty beefy revolvers, I run hot .32 Auto loads in both the .32 Auto and the .32 S&W cases.
With moderate or light loads, performance can get erratic - something that I attribute to the bullet having to make a long jump to the throat in the .327-length chamber.
 
500 SW, everything will chamber and go off, at least once.
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Haha, hardly. How would you ever get anything smaller than a .380 to ever lay in a chamber in such a way that the firing pin is going to make contact with the primer?
 
(QUOTE)Haha, hardly. How would you ever get anything smaller than a .380 to ever lay in a chamber in such a way that the firing pin is going to make contact with the primer?(QUOTE)

Easy! Cotton stuffing and Scotch tape.
 
UncleEd said:
A Colt .45 can easily fire a .45 Colt, and also handle (BUT NOT WELL) .44-40, .41 Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 special, .44 Magnum, .38.40. Now that's versatility!

And in some instances you get KAPOW excitement. :D
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I think we have a winner! Except the revolver should be a 460 S&W Magnum so it will also take .454 Casull and 460 S&W.

The others are interesting, but even though they chamber different cartridges they are pretty much the same caliber. ;)
 
Correct me if I'm wrong ( and I may very well be ),but I think the .454 Raging Bull ( or is it the Judge? ) can also take the .45 Schofield.
 
.327 Federal Magnum. (BTW my SP101 will handle .32ACP w/o problems)

The following is offered for your critique and expert opinion. I'm always trying to learn, here.

I am not advocating that anyone fire any ammunition from any firearm which is not specifically approved by the manufacturer of said firearm and/or ammunition!

Per a recent internet search, I have found 21 different cartridges which may be compatible with a .327 Federal Magnum revolver. Of these, there were eight different chamberings which have been reported to have been safely and successfully fired through either a .327 Federal Magnum revolver or a .32 H&R Mangum revolver.

This is the eight:


Cartridge: / Bullet diameter: / Case length: / Case diameter:

.32 Colt / .299 in / 0.755 in
(Caution: smaller case diameter [.313 in] has resulted in split cases and possible damage to user)

.32 ACP / .309 in / 0.680 in ?

.32 S&W / .312 in / 0.610 in / .337 in

.32 S&W Long (.32 Colt New Police) .312 in / 0.930 in / .337 in

.32 H&R Magnum / .312 in / 1.080 in / .337 in

.327 federal Magnum / .312 in / 1.200 in / .337 in

.32 Short Colt / .313 in / 0.610 in / .313 in
(Caution: smaller case diameter [.313 in] has resulted in split cases and possible damage to user)

.32 Long Colt (.32LC) / .313 in / 0.920 in
(Caution: smaller case diameter [.313 in] has resulted in split cases and possible damage to user)

These following may be compatible but I was unable to confirm anyone actually trying (or in some cases even being able to find) these cartridges:

Cartridge: / Bullet diameter: / Case length: / Case diameter:

.32 Protector / .300 in / 0.350 in

7.65mm Roth-Sauer / .301 in / 0.510 in

7.65mm Frommer / .301 in / 0.510 in

7.62mm Tokarev / .307 in / 0.970 in

7.65mm Borchardt (.30 Borchardt) .307 in / 0.990 in

7.65x22mm Para (.30 Luger) / .308 in / 0.750 in

7.65 Mannlicher / .308 in / 0.840 in

7.62 mm Mauser / .308 in / 0.990 in

.35 S&W Auto (.35 Auto) / .309 in / 0.670 in

7.62x17mm Chinese (Type 64) / .309 in / 0.780 in

.30 Wildey (.30 Wildey Magnum) .309 in / ?

7.92x224mm VBR / .312 in / 0.940 in

.32-20 Winchester / .312 in / 1.320 in

There are other .32-comparable cartridges out there but none which appear to be even close to compatible with a .327 revolver.

W.
 
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The 357 still ranks near the top . . .

38 Colt Short
38 Colt Long
38 Special
357

not as many as some but still a nice selection of choices . . .

I reload and use all four casings quite often . . .
 
Wow. I just posted this as a fun thread that is unique to revolvers vs semi autos (at least as far as I know)

With all that being said I'm now on the hunt for a .327 federal. Thanks folks for once again putting my marriage at risk?
 
If we restrict this to a current production revolver and restrict it to cartridges which are universally recognized as safe to fire (bulged and split cases should be a big red flag), then I'd probably have to go with a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible with both .357 Magnum and 9mm cylinders. In that gun you can safely fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and 9x19 Luger.

If we opened this up to revolvers which are out of production, but still relatively common, then a gun in .357 Maximum would tie the aforementioned Blackhawk. In a .357 Maximum, you can fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and .357 Maximum.
 
How about trying .38 Super in .357 Magnum revolvers?
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It might be possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. SAAMI max pressure fore .357 Magnum is 35,000 psi and .38 Super is 36,500 psi. .38 ACP would probably be alright though as it is significantly lower pressure than .38 Super though dimensionally identical.
 
If we restrict this to a current production revolver and restrict it to cartridges which are universally recognized as safe to fire (bulged and split cases should be a big red flag), then I'd probably have to go with a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible with both .357 Magnum and 9mm cylinders. In that gun you can safely fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and 9x19 Luger.

If we opened this up to revolvers which are out of production, but still relatively common, then a gun in .357 Maximum would tie the aforementioned Blackhawk. In a .357 Maximum, you can fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and .357 Maximum.
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Could you also fire .380 and 9x18 in the 9mm cylinder of the convertible Blackhawk?
 
.327 Federal. In addition to this round the gun can shoot any of the various .32 caliber revolver rounds. It was my most versatile revolver and I may buy another to replace the one I foolishly sold.
 
Originally posted by steveNChunter
Quote:
If we restrict this to a current production revolver and restrict it to cartridges which are universally recognized as safe to fire (bulged and split cases should be a big red flag), then I'd probably have to go with a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible with both .357 Magnum and 9mm cylinders. In that gun you can safely fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and 9x19 Luger.

If we opened this up to revolvers which are out of production, but still relatively common, then a gun in .357 Maximum would tie the aforementioned Blackhawk. In a .357 Maximum, you can fire .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and .357 Maximum.

Could you also fire .380 and 9x18 in the 9mm cylinder of the convertible Blackhawk?
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No, you could not fire .380 Auto or 9x18 Makarov without modifying one of the cylinders, and in the case of 9x18 Makarov the barrel, in such a way that the original caliber could no longer be used.

Because the 9mm is a rimless case, a so-chambered revolver must be made to headspace on the case mouth as a semi-automatic does. Technically, a swing-out cylinder or top-break gun could be made to headspace solely on moonclips, but nearly every 9mm revolver headspaces on the case mouth so that it can be safely fired without moonclips in a pinch and a Ruger Blackhawk cannot use moonclips anyway.

Because of this, a shorter cartridge like .380 or 9x18 would not be able to headspace properly because it would sink too deeply into the chamber before it's case mouth could come into contact with the headspacing shoulder. Also, unlike most other .38/.357/9mm cartridges, the 9x19 Luger is a slightly tapered case rather than a straight-walled one. This means that aside from the headspacing issues, a straight-walled case like .380 Auto would fit very loosely in the chamber and almost certainly bulge or split the case when fired.

The 9x18 Makarov cartridge provides even more problems because, despite it's 9mm designation, it actually uses a slightly larger diameter bullet (.365) than either 9x19 Luger (.355-.356) or .38 Special/.357 Magnum (.357-.358). While the base a rim diameters of the cartridge are quite close to that of 9x19 Luger, the neck diameter is substantially larger (.390 vs. .380). This would further preclude proper headspacing (actually, a 9x18 cartridge probably wouldn't even fully chamber in either a 9x19 Luger or .357 Magnum cylinder) and the larger diameter bullet would be unsafe to fire through the gun's .358" bore.
 
Webleymkv- Thanks for clearing that up. I learned something. After I posted I remembered that all those cartridges headspaced off the case mouth which would prohibit their interchangeability in a revolver like the Blackhawk but I didn't have prior knowledge of the other differences.
 
Safety should be priority. I've heard of an event where a 40S&W cart. got lodged in a 45ACP barrel. The 9mm and 357/38 cart. will just fall thru the 45ACP barrel.
 
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A .44Rhino (predecessor to the .445SuperMag) can handle:
.44Rhino (cut down .30-40)
.445SuperMag
.44Mag
.44Spl
.44Colt
.44Russian
 
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