.32-Caliber Cartridges: Far From Obsolete

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While they don't get much attention these days, there are a few different .32-caliber cartridges out there that remain far from useless.

A hundred years before anyone thought about a .32 H&R Magnum, Winchester introduced the .32-20 WCF cartridge for their Model 73 lever-action rifle. The year was 1882, the same year Robert Ford shot Jesse James. The .32-20 soon became very popular in a variety of revolvers, especially Colt’s Peacemaker. Elmer Keith even developed an early relationship with the .32-20, shooting cottontails with his granddad and later carrying a 7½ inch Colt in .32-20 while working with a survey crew.

Other 0.32-caliber handgun cartridges, like the .32 Smith & Wesson, .32 Smith & Wesson Long and .32 Colt New Police, were popular with private detectives, cops and target shooters. In 1896, S&W attempted to improve the .32 S&W by lengthening the case by 0.31 inch. The .32 S&W Long was just as anemic as its parent cartridge, but when Teddy Roosevelt was police commissioner of New Your City, he chose Colt’s .32 New Police Revolver as the department’s issue sidearm. Colt’s cartridge was identical to the S&W Long.

Six years later, a 0.32-caliber handgun would make Roosevelt president when McKinley died from complications of his gunshot wound. And, 4 days prior to the assignation, Roosevelt spoke the now famous words, “Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.” Though it’s doubtful he was talking about a .32.

Surprisingly, in 1984, Harrington & Richards teamed with Federal and introduced the .32 H&R Magnum for their five-shot model 504, 532 and 586 revolvers. Charter Arms offered the new .32 in their six-shot, Police Undercover Revolver, and, in 1985, Ruger began chambering it in their SP101 and Single Six revolvers. As expected, 0.32-caliber fans were excited by the new cartridge, and as factory loaded, the .32 H&R essentially duplicated the performance of the .32-20.

However, the story line in gun magazines at the time was that the .32 H&R Magnum would outperform standard .38 Special loads. Maybe that’s true on paper, but actual terminal performance testing showed otherwise. Ultimately, in 2007, when Federal introduced the .327 Federal Magnum, all but .32 H&R Magnum devotees forgot about the first 0.32-caliber cartridge with “magnum” in the name.

Far from Useless

That does not mean the .32 H&R Magnum is worthless or not good. In fact, with the most modern ammunition, like the brand-new Hydra-Shok Deep load from Federal, it’s a capable self-defense cartridge. I recently tested this just-introduced load in blocks of Clear Ballistics from a 4-inch barreled revolver, and it consistently delivered 12 inches of penetration with an upset diameter of nearly a half inch. That’s better than most .380 Auto loads. The Hydra-Shok Deep .32 H&R Magnum load comes 20 rounds to the box, and with a suggested retail price of $38.99, it will cost you about 2 bucks a pop.

Federal introduced another new .32 H&R Magnum load with the 85-grain HST load, but Federal loads this one with an 85-grain JSP bullet. It will generate velocities that are nearly identical to the Hydra-Shok Deep load, but the 85-grain JSP bullet will not deform/expand. It is a great practice load, and if you prefer deep penetration to bullet upset, it will easily drive to depths beyond 16 inches. The 85-grain JSP load will cost you about a dollar a shot; a box has a suggested retail price of $47.99.

When it comes to personal protection with a revolver, the .32 H&R Magnum is not in the same league as the .327 Federal Magnum. The best .32 H&R Magnum loads generate less than half the kinetic energy of good .327 Federal Magnum loads. In fact, some of the best .327 Federal Magnum loads generate more kinetic energy than some well-respected 9mm Luger, .40 S&W and .45 Auto loads. Federal has recently introduced two new .327 Federal Magnum loads, and I tested those right alongside the new .32 H&R Magnum loads.

The first new .327 load is the 104-grain HST. HST ammunition is some of the best self-defense ammo you can find, and the new .327 load did not disappoint. It penetrated to an ideal depth of 14.5 inches, retained 90 percent of its weight, and the bullets had an average recovered diameter of more than a half inch. Based on terminal performance testing, that is stellar performance, regardless of the cartridge. With a retail price of $41.99 for 20 rounds, Federal is proud of this load—and they should be. It’s one of the best I’ve seen for this cartridge.

In all, I tested four new loads for the .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal Magnum, and the last load tested was the one that really got my attention. It is the .327, 127-grain HammerDown load. Federal designed HammerDown ammunition specifically for use in lever action rifles. Federal tempered the bullets to work at longer-than-revolver barrel velocities, and chamfered the forward edge of the case rim for smoother feeding in lever guns. However, you can still shoot this stuff in a revolver, and out of a 4-inch barrel it passed through the 16-inch block of Clear Ballistics. I was only able to recover the bullets because a panel of soft body armor stopped them. That’s fantastic terminal performance for a .32.

I’m confident that, though the new Hydra-Shok Deep load for the .32 H&R Magnum is a practical choice for self-defense, it is not a “big stick.” But I’d bet you that if Roosevelt got to see what the new .327 Federal Magnum loads can do—especially the HammerDown load—he might think it would qualify. Remember, he armed New York cops with the anemic .32 Colt.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the August 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.

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