32 special

D

Deerhunt

New member
I'm only 13 so I'm not able to buy pistols yet bit I was looking at a Winchester rifle in 32 special and was wondering if there was any single action revolvers in that caliber. I know they make snub nose and such but I want one like a colt 1873 so that I can use the same ammo for my rifle and pistol.
Thanks
 
L

Loosedhorse

Moderator
The overall length of that round is over 2.5 inches, and the pressure is 42k psi.

Would be quite a revolver. Haven't seen one; don't expect to.

As an alternative: how about .327 Federal mag in both a lever-action rifle (Henry) and a single action revolver (Ruger). Quite a step down in power.
 
D

dahermit

New member
The .32 Special is a rifle cartridge only. The are no snub nose, or other pistols in that caliber. You must be thinking of the .32 S&W or the .32 S&W Long.
 
W

Wyosmith

New member
Yes Deerhunt, the names are a bit confusing. No need to be sorry. Asking those that know is how you learn. We all had to go through it when we were young too.
The word "special" is usually associated with revolver rounds, (like 38 special and 44 special) but the 32 Winchester Special is a bottle-necked rifle round made to go in the M-94 Lever action carbine. It's nearly the same in most ways to the 30-30 cartridge. Instead of a .308" bullet of the 30-30 is fires a .321" bullet, hence it's name.
Here are three links that may clear it up for you more. Hope they are helpful.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Special

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Special

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.32_Winchester_Special

Happy hunting
 
F

FlyFish

New member
Hi Deerhunt -

No need to be sorry, the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask. As others indicated, there has never been a revolver chambered for the .32 Winchester Special. The cartridge was developed for rifles (it’s basically a necked-up .30-30) and for a variety of reasons – bottleneck design, operating pressure, length, etc. - rifle cartridges usually don’t make good handgun cartridges. The rifle/pistol combos that we’re all familiar with (e.g., .45 Colt, .44 Mag, .357 Mag, .38 Special, etc.) all began life as revolver cartridges and it’s simple to chamber rifles for them. Going the other way is typically not a good idea or even possible. You might be able to find, or have made, a barrel in .32 Winchester Special for the single-shot T/C Contender type handgun, but even then it would be a handfull – the .32 may be a middlin’ rifle cartridge by today’s standards, but recoil and muzzle blast from a handgun would be considerable.

Good shooting,
FlyFish
 
B

Bob Wright

New member
As a matter of interest, the .32 was introduced in case the .30-30 wasn't successful. The .30-30 had shallow rifling for smokeless powder. The .32 Special had deeper rifling to accommodate black powder. The cases are very nearly the same.

Bob Wright
 
J

Jim Watson

New member
There is sometimes confusion between .32 Winchester Special, which is the same as .30-30 except a .321" bullet instead of .308" and the .32 Winchester Center Fire, commonly known as .32-20. The .32 WCF/.32-20 can be had in a revolver. It is not real powerful.
 
B

Bob Wright

New member
FlyFish said:

You might be able to find, or have made, a barrel in .32 Winchester Special for the single-shot T/C Contender type handgun, but even then it would be a handfull – the .32 may be a middlin’ rifle cartridge by today’s standards, but recoil and muzzle blast from a handgun would be considerable.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly, the .30-30 is fairly mild in the Thompson Contender. The nominal bullet weight is only 150 ~ 170 grs., much less that the 200 ~ 250 grs. bullets of the .44 Magnum. Even the .30-40 Krag is pleasant shooting in single shot pistols. Its when bullet weights get into the 300gr + weights that recoil starts to get noticeable in these guns.

Bob Wright
 
B

Bob Wright

New member
Jim Watson said:

There is sometimes confusion between .32 Winchester Special, which is the same as .30-30 except a .321" bullet instead of .308" and the .32 Winchester Center Fire, commonly known as .32-20. The .32 WCF/.32-20 can be had in a revolver. It is not real powerful.
Click to expand...

True, that little round is not a powerhouse, but in a modern Single Action and properly handloaded, it makes a dandy varmint cartridge. One of my dream guns is a Colt New Frontier, 7 1/2" barrel, in .32-20.

Bob Wright
 
S

Sudo

New member
Deerhunt said:
I was sorry
Click to expand...

No need to be sorry.

Magnum Research probably could make a revolver for 32 Special.

They have BFR revolvers chambered in 30-30 and even 45-70.
 
M

Mike Irwin

Staff
"As a matter of interest, the .32 was introduced in case the .30-30 wasn't successful."

Well, no, not really.

The .32 Winchester Special was introduced 5 years AFTER the .30-30. Winchester, by that time, had absolutely no doubt that both the round and the smokeless powder technology backing it were here to stay.

Winchester introduced the round because there were constant calls from sportsmen for a round that could be loaded with either smokless or black powder.

It gave the reloaders back then the option of using either smokless or black powder, depending on what they preferred and, perhaps more importantly at the time, what they could find.

Winchester was convinced, but apparently not everyone else was convinced that the round was here to stay, so Winchester bowed to consumer pressure.


This ad, from around 1905, I think, states well why Winchester introduced the round.

WIN-ad4049a.jpg
 
P

P5 Guy

New member
32-20

Just when all seemed the darkest as far as the .32-20 is concerned, along came Hunter Pistol/Field Pistol courses of fire under NRA and IHMSA and the deep need was for a light-recoiling, flat- shooting, pistol cartridge for use in short range silhouetting. My Stetson is off to whoever it was that decided to chamber the Thompson/Center Contender in .32-20.
Click to expand...

Some light reading on the subject of 32 caliber rounds that work in rifles and pistols.
http://www.sixguns.com/tests/tt3220.htm
 
M

Mike Irwin

Staff
I have two .32-20 revolvers...

A Smith & Wesson K frame from the 1920s, and the Colt Police Positive Special from, I think, the early 1930s.

Love them both!
 
4

44 AMP

Staff
FWIW, other Winchester literature contemporary with that ad recommends ordinary folks do NOT attempt reloading with smokeless powder. I've seen it, though I have no way of putting on the web. (sorry)

Smokeless, at that time was new, complex, and not at all safe if done wrong (and in those days, doing it wrong was easy). Winchester was fine with everyone reloading with black powder, and made the .32 Special to do just that.

Of course, over time, Winchester became an advocate, and major supplier of smokeless powder reloading components, but back in the early days, it was still something akin to voodoo, that "only" the factories knew how to do right.

Deerhunt, pick up a reloading manual, old ones can be found real cheap (the data isn't very valid, due to changes in powders, over the years) Speer, Hornady, and several others have descriptions of the cartridges and brief histories, which you will find useful.

Welcome to TFL, and welcome to the world of shooting sports!
 
C

Cheapshooter

New member
g.wilikers has excellent advise for you. Get a copy of Cartridges of the World. Not only a excellent reference book for new shooters, but an interesting, and inforative read for any shooter.
 
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