Wheelgun Wednesday: .32 H&R Magnum
Like the past few Wednesdays I’m talking about the basics of revolver cartridges for newish preppers who aren’t big gun people. I recommend double action revolvers for people who aren’t into guns but want one for their prepping, I do this for many reasons one of which I talked about here. Gun choice is personal though, this is just my recommendation for people who don’t already have preferences.
Today we’re still talking about the .32 caliber of cartridges, specifically the .32 H&R Magnum. This is one of my favorite cartridges and if you’re using a revolver for self defense, camping, as a “kit gun” or home defense it deserves consideration. First a little history courtesy of Allan Jones writing at The Shooting Times:
The .32 H&R Mag. debuted in 1983–1984 as a joint project between Federal Cartridge and Harrington & Richardson. Many compact .38 Special revolvers were limited to five shots, and their small construction made recoil with high-performance defense ammo unpleasant for some. The .32 H&R was intended to offer stopping power that approached the level of the .38 Special but with less recoil and in a compact revolver that held six rounds.
It is obvious that the .32 H&R Mag. did not supplant existing defense cartridges like the .38 Spl. Regardless, it has soldiered on, likely because it is a dandy little field cartridge with excellent long-range capabilities. It’s also more stinkin’ fun than should be legal. Other gunmakers soon joined the party, including Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Charter Arms, Dan Wesson, and Freedom Arms.
So for preppers you see the main selling point of the round. It offers performance similar to a .38 Special (in some loadings even +P) but does so with less recoil and because it’s a thinner cartridge you have more capacity in a revolver in the same size. For practical purposes this means in J-Frame revolvers you can have six round and seven round revolvers for the gun exist. One interesting gun I’ve seen is the Charter Arms “Professional” which is a seven shot .32 Magnum seemingly perfect for light security work.
The above gun is a nice update of the kind of guns night watchmen might have carried in the early 20th century up to the 80s. And since we’re comparing it to the .38 Special it should be noted that the .32 Mag is to the .327 Magnum (a cartridge we’ll talk about next week) what the .38 Special is to the .357 Magnum. So in other words If you own a .327 Magnum it can loaded it with milder shooting .32 Mags.
But that mildness isn’t to be underestimated - Black Hills Ammunition (which I use) makes a self defense loading that pushes a 85 grain bullet at 1050 FPS giving you 208 foot pounds at the muzzle. According to Chuck Hawks there are other more powerful loads:
This is a useful and balanced cartridge. it shoots flat enough from a 4" barreled revolver to be zeroed at 75 yards for use in the field and the recoil is mild. Killing power is about like the standard .38 Special. It is a fine small game cartridge and a useful understudy to full power .327 Magnum cartridges in a .327 revolver.
Federal offers two factory loads for the .32 Magnum, a 95 grain lead semi-wadcutter bullet at 1030 fps and 225 ft. lbs. of energy, and an 85 grain JHP bullet (SD .125) at 1100 fps with 230 ft. lbs. of energy, measured in a 4" revolver barrel. The latter load is the one to use for hunting or defense and Hornady offers a similar factory load.
All of these numbers put the .32 magnum neck and neck with .38 Special in terms of performance.
As alluded to in the Chuck hawks quote the .32 Mag really shines as a rifle cartridge (if you can find a gun chambered in it) giving you a very low recoiling small game rifle that can also gamely handle self defense situations. For preppers in prohibitive states often a revolver and rifle chambered in the same caliber is a good option and .32s are very capable survival rounds.
You can chamber and fire .32 S&W Long from any .32 Mag but the accuracy of the little round suffers.
For awhile the round was popular in Cowboy Action Shooting and several companies made loads for that sport. Now you don’t see that loading as much. But 32-20 revolvers (I’ll cover that cartridge later, it’s basically obsolete but making a comeback thanks to Cowboy Action) will sometimes come with a second cylinder chambered in .32 Magnum. Preppers who like to handle the big iron may want to look into this. Cimarron makes a model called the Model P Jr which is a six round single action with this dual cylinder set up basically built on a .22 LR frame making it a light, handy firearm in a decent self defense round.
So for preppers what are the pros of the round:
It’s a low recoil alternative to .38s, useful for we older folk or smaller shooters, that maintains similar effectiveness for self defense.
It’s actually fairly easy to reload.
It’s in a family of interchangeable cartridges allowing you more versatility.
Great for small game in rifles.
The cons:
It’s actually hard to find any gun but J-Frames chambered in them, especially rifles. Marlin used to make one before they went out of business and Henry made on that seems discontinued. I’ve long lusted after a Charter Arms Professional but can’t find one.
Ammo isn’t hard to find but it’s not as commonly available as other rounds like the .38. You will usually have to buy online. They run a little under $1 a round.
It isn’t for larger animals. You can make it work on a deer but bear/lion/gator attacks are not going to be stopped by this.
There are no speed loaders for the seven shot guns. You’d have to use speed strips like this:
For preppers the round should be useful for people thinking about bushcrafting as a survival strategy. Otherwise I use it in my nightstand gun. If you conceal carry a .32 Magnum makes an ideal back up gun in my mind because of the light weight and recoil. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it to check out a bump in the night but it’s not a combat round.