The Smith & Wesson K-32 is an exceptionally accurate .32
My major growing up, my true formative years, took place in the 1950s. The 1950s were also a great time for sixgunners. During those few short years Colt resurrected the Single Action Army and introduced the .357 Magnum and the .357 Python. Ruger gave us the .22 Single-Six, the .357 Magnum Blackhawk, the .44 Magnum Blackhawk and the .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk. Smith & Wesson outdid both companies with the arrival of the 1950 Target and Military Models in .44 Special and .45ACP, the .357 Magnum Highway Patrolman, the .357 Combat Magnum, the 1955 Target in .45ACP and Elmer Keith’s long-awaited .44 Magnum.
My grade school, the house I lived in the 1950s, the shipping and receiving docks I worked on after high school — all are now just a memory. The same is true of every single sixgun mentioned from the big three manufacturers of the 1950s. Most have been dropped while others exist in name only. The only Colt which remains is the Single Action Army and it has changed in several ways. All the Old Model Rugers have been dropped or replaced by New Model versions and only a few Smith & Wessons are resurrected from time to time in their Classic Series. The latter guns are excellent, but definitely not the same as they were in the Golden Years.
These are the guns I have used and prefer; your choice may be entirely different. Choosing favorites is not always easy. Sometimes I can pick one favorite; other times it will be several. With that in mind we herein look at Taffin’s Top .32 Magnum sixguns.
The Smith & Wesson K-38 chambered in .32 S&W Long was the middle sixgun to the K-38 and K-22 in the line-up of target revolvers.
When the .32 Magnum first arrived, I didn’t take it seriously. My friend Joe Penner acquired one of the first 9-1/2” Ruger Single-Sixes available. We loaded up some JHPs and searched for suitable targets. I found some well out of date cans of split pea soup and since I don’t like the stuff anyhow, I figured it would be great for experimenting. Putting a jacketed hollow point through the first can set at 25 yards changed my mind about the little Mighty Mouse Magnum. The can of split pea split — sending green soup all over us and my red Bronco. This cartridge was no toy!
The first factory loads from Federal were very mild as the .32 Magnum arrived in Harrington & Richardson revolvers. (That’s why it is officially known as the .32 H&R Magnum.) The old H&Rs were not especially strong, but handloads for use in the Ruger Single-Six could be loaded much hotter.
Hornady, Sierra, and Speer all offer excellent jacketed bullets for the .32 Magnum.
The .32 Magnum begins with the .32 S&W Long and is nothing more than an elongated .32 Long — a most pleasant shooting and accurate cartridge especially when chambered in the Smith & Wesson K-32. Back in 1956 I passed up a brand-new K-32 at the local gun shop. A friend bought it instead. He still has it and a half-century passed before I ever came up with one at a reasonable price. These excellent sixguns are regarded as collector’s items, however thanks to a reader I was able to get one for an unbelievably low-price. It had been nicely re-blued, which may bother a purist collector but certainly not me as a shooting collector. When Bullseye was the number one handgun shooting sport in the middle of the last century, Smith & Wesson offered three K-Masterpieces in .22, .32 S&W Long, and .38 Special — all having the same balance and weight controlled by the length of the rib on the barrel. Classic K-22s and K-38 are relatively easy finds but not in the .32 version. The .32 Long WC is a viable solution for those who have trouble with recoil. My wife, Diamond Dot, has a fully engraved, ivory stocked 4” S&W .32. She does not feel undergunned at all.
Moving up to the .32 Magnum, my stable of Ruger .32s doesn’t include a single factory version, but customized sixguns by both Andy Horvath and Gary Reeder instead. Andy is well-known for his Lil Guns and I’m proud to know I introduced him to sixgunners more than 25 years ago. The first Lil Gun Andy did for me was a 4” round-butted .44 Special followed by a trio of .22s and then .32 Magnums. Starting with a standard Single-Six and a Bisley Model, he cut the barrels to just under 4” along with the ejector housing and ejector rod, totally tuned the actions, round-butted the grip frames, and finished both in a high bright blue. They make excellent single action versions of the classic Kit Gun, and fit easily into a backpack or carry nicely in a holster. I mostly use these with the Sierra 90 JHC, Hornady 100 JHP, or Speer 100 JHP over 8.5 grains of #2400 for an accurate shooting 1,060 fps.