Why don't we see more US made pistols in .32 S&W Long?

Serious target pistols mostly come from Europe. I have two Benellis and a FAS in 32 S&W Long. Few Americans seem interested in precision target shooting so there is little interest in a high-end target pistol. YMMV
Click to expand...

Great shooting!

I have seen a few Pardini pistols in 32 S&W Long in Bullseye competition. For a paper punching round, the 32 S&W Long is low recoiling and accurate out to 50 yards. However, I think the 38 Special buried the 32 S&W Long.

Americans want to kill things with their guns not punch holes in paper. The 38 Special was the Police round and a very popular target round through the 1970's However even in Bullseye Competition, shooters began shooting their 45 ACP during the Centerfire stage and the 45 ACP stage. The 38 Special was popular in the Centerfire stage, but cleaning three guns after a match, and, heck, good shooters shoot their 45 ACP M1911's well enough, and, the S&W M52 went away. As a Police round, the 38 Special was still popular up to the 1990's, but semi automatics replaced revolvers for law enforcement.

There was a time when the 32 S&W Long was common among law enforcement, (pre WW2) but the round is not very powerful. I think the main appeal was the revolvers are just a little larger than a toy gun. I purchased this revolver from a 70 + year old man who said an Uncle relative of his was a Reserve Policeman, and this likely was the revolver he carried. It is tiny, light recoil, and very unimpressive on my gong target. It makes a ping but barely moves the thing. I am certain given time, it would kill. Maybe through infection, assuming it did not bump off a belt, a wallet, or a watch.


yVNHAks.jpg
 
Bill DeShivs said:
The .32 S&W long was once one of the most popular cartridges in the US. There are hundreds of thousands of revolvers made for it. Never been popular here???

The .32 long is an inherently accurate cartridge with low recoil.

But this is America-where bigger is always better and people are struggling with .38 special-when they would have had a blast with a .32!
Nope- for a cartridge to be in demand in the US, it has to be a .575 super magnum.
Click to expand...
My Grandfather was a Philly uniformed cop then, a detective from WWI into the 1950's. I inherited his service revolvers. The one he carried the most was an S&W in .32 S&W Long. His "dress" revolver was a larger S&W .38 Spl.
 
Current supply and demand from consumers will dictate a gun's success or failure. Personally, you can reload and shoot a 32SWL for a out what it costs to shoot .22lr.
 
I had always hoped that S&W would have chambered their 52 in .32 long and made a limited run.

FF to today, I have seen first hand the accuracy of the 952s they made.
Why could they not make a run - very limited - in .32?

No, this new gun would not break sales records, but I'd buck up if they could keep the 'custom' cost at 2 or so.

I shoot a 208s and so am familiar with just what Hammerli can do with a target gun,
how about an upsized, holster friendly Trailside type offering in .32?

but my thoughts are a .32 Long target pistol is probably more accurate than a .22 target pistol
Click to expand...
I'll just have to disagree with that statement.
As would the folks with Pardini, Hammerli, and Walther (to name the biggies) I'll bet.

JT
 
NRA shooters have had the occasional fling with the .32 S&W L auto, but those guns are optimized for 25 meter shooting. They do not appear to hold up as well as .38 at 50 yards.

Might be why the K32 is a collector's item while the K38 still gets play among traditionalist target shooters.

I was surprised to see that Pardini makes a target .32 ACP that has gotten good reviews.
 
For handgun target shooting, the ideal round is one that will give the minimum recoil combined with good accuracy, and the capability for reloading. The .38 Special was, for many years, the most popular target round in the US, primarily because it was the standard police cartridge. But in Europe, the police early on began to use auto pistols, which, by their nature, require a certain power level. So the European answer was to "repurpose" the .32 S&W Long, a low-recoil cartridge that still would function an auto pistol and could be reloaded. Some very good loads and some excellent pistols were developed in Europe for that sport, and most are allowed in U.S. centerfire target shooting, something a few canny shooters have used to their advantage.

Jim
 
Few Americans seem interested in precision target shooting so there is little interest in a high-end target pistol.
Click to expand...

Over the last 40 some years, traditional Bullseye shooting has lost popularity to "combat" style shooting matches, in the US.

The .32 S&W is one of, if not THE lowest power centerfire rounds out there. Americans like accuracy but they like accuracy with useful power more.

Europeans are much more heavily restricted by law, and in some places, the only pistol one can own is a target pistol, which is kept stored at the range, or a police station...

Small wonder they have a stronger interest in what they can have, over what they cannot.
 
Power is not a factor in formal target shooting; ranges are short and the only thing that the bullet must penetrate is a piece of paper. Most rules, though, do distinguish between rimfire (.22) and and center fire due to the difference in handling recoil. And it is there that the .32 Long shines. Loaded with wadcutter bullets, it is an outstanding target round, as accurate as the .38 Special and with less recoil and noise.

While European laws have restricted handgun possession in general, they had less to do with the choice of .32 Long as a target round than did its other characteristics.

Jim
 
Power is not a factor in formal target shooting; ranges are short and the only thing that the bullet must penetrate is a piece of paper
Click to expand...
Olympic pistol is 25 and 50 meters.
IMHO - that's about as formal as it gets.

Organized silhouette matches extend out to 250 meters & the amount of raw power needed to topple the steel targets is considerable.

Even Bullseye has 25 and 50 yard matches.
 
I don't consider 50 meters or 50 yards as long range. I admit I was not aware of European pistol shooting at 250 meters; that is fantastic. Do you know what group sizes they get?.

Jim
 
Fifty yards is long range considering that virtually all action type pistol competitions are shot at distances considerably shorter than that.
"Even Bullseye has...50 yard matches".....Even??? Most outdoor Bullseye matches are shot with the Slow fire targets at fifty yards.
There are few pistol competitions that go beyond 50 yards. Pistol Silhouette is one. In both NRA Silhouette and IHMSA competitions, the maximum distance shot is at Rams at 200 yards.

The advantage of the 32 S&W LONG is minimal recoil. The disadvantage is that the little wadcutters tend to instability at the long line targets (50 yards). European ISSF CF matches are shot at 25 meters. The only 50 meter matches are Precison Pistol (Aka Free Pistol) which is a rimfire competition.
 
Last edited:
250 meter's target's with a 32 long? Wow! I have a mod 16 Smith in 32 long and if I had to get rid of all my handguns but one the one I'd keep would be the 32 long. I'm not a big time handgun shooter and other than self defense prefer DA revolver's. I do have a 22 auto, a High standard HD Military I love and it can shoot right alongside my 32 long. But ir require's factory ammo, my 32 shoot's my cast bullet's very well. Come to think of it, I have never fired a factory round from it.

But I doubt we'll ever see it get popular again. Shoot, a lot of people believe they need a 40 cal min for everything. I read of the use of people's pistol for pretty much self defense only, that would include self defense from a bear while your hunting sage rat's! :eek: Throw down the rifle and get out your 44 mag! That always tickles me! :D

My son has several handguns mostly semi auto for self defense. started with 357 MAG and has never fired a 38 in it and never a cast. Then needed an auto for carry so got a Glock in 9mm. That wore out fast enough and he just had to have a new Glock in 40 cal. That's about run the course now and he's looking for a 50 cal I think it is? It's really funny watching these things develop. I think the thing that does this is advertising! If the firearms industry told us the 32 had some kind of magic that would take Godzilla out with one shot, people would rush out to get it! Then when Godzilla attacked, they would throw down their 460 Weatherby and pull out their 32 long! I'm sorry, I find so much of this stuff amusing! :D
 
"...to have a 32 target gun made..." You'd be daft. Lots of .32 Longs around. Cheap they ain't though. Walthers and the like are 4 figure target pistols and use WC's. The .32 ACP is not suitable for target shooting though.
 
Come on, guys, I don't think Hal meant he was shooting IHMSA with a .32. Although .32-20 was popular in Hunter Pistol at 100 metres.

darkgael confirms what I have read. .32 is a fine 25 metre round, not so hot at 50 yards. Not that you cannot find somebody who does well with it.
 
Note:
International rules require all pistol calibers to produce at least 250meters/sec velocity. That translates to around 812fps. Perfect for the .32 Long. When was the last time you priced a brick of Eley Tenex .22LR???? We're wasting our time shooting .22LR. It's way past time to beat the Chinese at the Olympics and World Cup!! We can't get more shooters in these events because it costs too much to shoot. The pistols will last a lifetime.
 
. The .32 ACP is not suitable for target shooting though.
Click to expand...

Times change. The Pardini HP - a precision pistol - sports a .32 ACP conversion.

We're wasting our time shooting .22LR. It's way past time to beat the Chinese at the Olympics and World Cup!! We can't get more shooters in these events because it costs too much to shoot.
Click to expand...
Wasting our time shooting .22 LR???? Want to beat the Chinese at the Olympics??
Well then...if we want to beat them, then we had better waste more time with the .22 since the two Olympic pistol events -Rapid Fire and Precision Pistol - are both shot with .22LR.
The third Olympic pistol event is Air Pistol.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top