Why are .32 Cal handgun cartidges so pricey?

[George P]

https://www.meisterbullets.com/AWSProducts/419-C-22-P-0/32-DEWC-100GR-312

100 cost you .17/ea
1000 cost you half that much.............BULK, to ME is a minimum of 1000 at a time.

 

[George P]

I reload for all my centerfire calibers. That comes in handy for two of my favorite rounds: 32 long and 41 magnum. Not the most popular caibers (although they should be) and ammo is expensive. Buying in bulk, especially for the 32, helps but reloading with used brass and cast bullets makes a huge difference. I shoot both calibers in single action revolvers so I'm not blowing through ammo at 10 rounds per second. I usually get at least ten reloads from 38 special brass, often more, and hope to get the same from 32 long and 41 mag brass. That's a lot of shooting for an initial outlay. I use cast bullets from Missouri Bullets but have the means to cast my own in 32 and 41 which would save more bucks.

Jeff

I shoot my revolvers in SA mode, even though they are your standard DA/SA. As to 38 brass, I am still shooting brass I have accumulated over the last 35 years or so. Most have WAY more than 10 reloads through them. They get tossed when they split.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Lee Precision sells bullet moulds for cheap, around $21 for a double mould with handles.

 

[Walkalong]

Yea, .32 Revolvers and their cartridges will never be as popular as .38 Special, but for those of us that love them they are worth the extra trouble. Not that most of us don't love the .38 Spl as well.

The .32 ammo will never be as inexpensive as .38 Spl, it's just a matter of sales.

.32 Long Regulation Police. Small gun, tiny sights (Which if you can see you can aim very small with), very cool, and fun to shoot.
Extremely accurate. Not highly sought after, which means you can get one reasonable.


Taurus 741 .32 Mag. Small, lots of fun. Accurate. Lots of fun.


Model of 1905 .32-20. Accurate, super cool, lots of fun.

 

[Walkalong]

Oh yea....H&R 832. .32 Long. Not as accurate (Me?) as the revolvers above, but fun, and it was cheap.

 

[George P]

I had a very rare 32SWL S&W R&P Target gun; one guy wanted to give me a whole lot more than I paid for it; still have a 4" I frame shooter and a H&R Guradian/ShopKeeper, which, IIRC is the 733 (I think) - still have the box it came in; nice gun, nickel plated, just not that accurate.
Would LOVE to find (and afford) a K32 Masterpiece.........


PRICE: $3250

 

[ChiefTJS]

Which .32 handgun cartridge do you perfer to use and reload?


My hands down favorite is the .32 H&R Magnum which (to me) is a perfect balance of size and power and fits perfectly in a Ruger Single-Six. I consider the .32Mag to be my reloadable .22mag which I love but costs more than it's worth. I own and have owned .327's and while it's a great cartridge in its own right, it's a bit much of a good thing for me with the blast and flash. Recoil on the .327 isn't the issue that I see, it's the concussive blast, at first I thought it was recoiling like crazy but then I realized that it was the muzzle blast and there really wasn't much recoil to it. I shoot H&R's in my .327's and am perfectly happy.

 

[whm1974]

Yes, the 327 Federal is a very powerful cartridge, and in a snubby can be painful. It has a little less recoil than a 357 magnum.

Snort!!! I had used S&W .38 Special I brought off a friend with the small wooden grips, And boy oh boy was that extremely painful to shot a mere five shot string from... My hand really felt broken after 5 rounds, the pain went away around some 5 minutes.

I quickly replace said grips with really nice $20 to $30 "rubber" ones and I could double tap the gun and get very reasonable groups at 25 yards for a belly gun.

 

[GarrettJ]

https://www.meisterbullets.com/AWSProducts/419-C-22-P-0/32-DEWC-100GR-312

100 cost you .17/ea
1000 cost you half that much.............BULK, to ME is a minimum of 1000 at a time.

Yeah, what he said.

I’ve been shooting some Hunters Supply bullets from Midway for around 8¢ per bullet. 115s for .32 H&R and 78s for ACP. When I’m out of those I’ll probably switch to MO Bullets. With the THR discount they come out around 6.6¢ ea.

I’m still trying to convince myself to get an SP-101 in .327 Fed. Seems like it would be a wonderful woods / hiking gun.

 

[somethingbenign]

I’m still trying to convince myself to get an SP-101 in .327 Fed. Seems like it would be a wonderful woods / hiking gun.

It is. The 4" has a nice FO front sight that really pops in the woods. With the adjustable rear sight it can be a pretty accurate little opportunistic small game gun.

 

[Speedo66]

Why are .32 Cal handgun cartidges so pricey?

As to your original question, if I remember correctly from an economics class, the correct term was "economy of scale". The more you make of a product, the less expensive it becomes to produce. Witness the price of 9mm.

I guess the same goes for reloading components. Though sometimes it's fun to shoot a not so popular round regardless of cost.

 

[Texas10mm]

I have a little Colt in 32 Short Colt.

I've got 8 ancient rounds with it.

As much as I'd love to shoot it it's not worth even starting to reload for it.

 

[TTv2]

I was well surprised on how much .312" Cal bullets for reloading are. One brand is ~$30 for 100 count bulk pack of wadcutters... Might as well buy .32 S&W long wadcutters instead instead of reloading.Seems like the only reasons that cartridge survives at all is due to international target shooting and a few countries such as India, restrict which handgun caliber their citizens can have.

Yeah, and Speer sells 1000 rd boxes of .32 wadcutters for $70. You should check multiple sources before you jump to conclusions that the bullets are expensive. There are some .32 bullets you can get for a nickel a bullet.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Yeah, and Speer sells 1000 rd boxes of .32 wadcutters for $70. You should check multiple sources before you jump to conclusions that the bullets are expensive. There are some .32 bullets you can get for a nickel a bullet.

You can buy the lead, a double cavity Lee Mould, a pound of Harbor Freight powder coating and a toaster oven from Wal Mart -- all for just about that price. From then on, you're only out for lead -- the powder coating will last forever.

 

[TTv2]

I'm wondering if both the .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum would became more popular and widespread with much better marketing?

.32 S&W, both short and Long, is pretty much dead and in the US remains obscure because no US manufacturer has made a revolver chambered in .32 S&W in probably close to 40 years (last I know is Charter Arms with their 6 shot snub and IDK exactly when they were discontinued.)

That said, the ammo is useful because it works in .32 Mag and .327 Mag revolvers just fine and it a lot cheaper than both of those.

.32 Mag... yeah, I feel that could be a lot more popular if companies would mass produce the ammo for a target/practice role. Currently most .32 Mag ammo is based around self defense, which means it gets the near $1/round treatment because it's not common or in high demand. I think the reason why nobody bothers making a .32 Mag practice ammo that's loaded to the same levels as self defense ammo is they just expect people to buy the cheaper and lower recoil .32 S&W ammo instead.

 

[TTv2]

You can buy the lead, a double cavity Lee Mould, a pound of Harbor Freight powder coating and a toaster oven from Wal Mart -- all for just about that price. From then on, you're only out for lead -- the powder coating will last forever.

I agree, but if we're just talking wadcutters the amount of time lost in casting, coating, and sizing will be a wash. For something like my idea of powder coating a 120 grain .313 bullet for use in a .327 rifle, that's worth it because there's nothing else like it available.

 

[Ziabeam]

Bought a Marlin 25-20 lever action in 2011 from my uncle just before he passed away. He tossed in an ammo can containing roughly 750 rounds of commercial ammo, for which I was grateful. Years later I caught a glimpse of a $75 price tag for a box of 50... which made me sorry I didn’t give him a big old bear hug.

 

[garandsrus]

I cast for, load, and shoot the 32 S&W (black powder), 32 S&W Long, and 32-20. The 32-20 is a Contender barrel so it can be loaded to a higher pressure than the revolvers, which were first made shortly after 1892. I don’t know who all made revolvers for 32-20, but at least Colt, S&W and Ruger did. There are rifles in 32-20 also.

 

[Tallball]

The less popular the round, the more expensive it is, roughly?

I like my 32 revolvers a lot (and my 32 autos, for that matter).

If you want a very accurate and fairly affordable 32 revolver, I don't think I paid a whole lot for this (used) Ruger Single Six in 32 H&R magnum. I will never be as accurate as it is.

Ruger Single Six 32 H&R magnum

• Tallball
• Dec 13, 2018

 

[Steel Hayes]

Yeah, and Speer sells 1000 rd boxes of .32 wadcutters for $70

I shoot .32S&W long a lot, I had to start reloading or I’d go broke.
Speer wadcutter’s are the way to go and still a good defensive round to boot.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Although wadcutters are traditionally loaded flush with the case mouth (as in your picture) you can load them out a bit and safely drive them a bit faster with a slightly larger powder charges when using them for self-defense.

 

[whm1974]

Although wadcutters are traditionally loaded flush with the case mouth (as in your picture) you can load them out a bit and safely drive them a bit faster with a slightly larger powder charges when using them for self-defense.

Any commercial wadcutter ammo loaded that way for self defense?

 

[cfullgraf]

In my opinion, it is a shame that 32 caliber revolvers and their ammunition is not more popular. 32 S&WL could be a centerfire version of 22 rimfire. My S&W Model 30 and Model 31 are crazy accurate with 32 S&WL wadcutters but without adjustable sights, you always have to use some "Kentucky windage" for good hits.

But, with enough volume of sales, ammunition prices could be reasonable.

Also, 32 H&R Mag and 327 Fed Mag have a wide range of capabilities but it seems only the full power loads are popular.

The low volume of sales force the price of ammunition higher and the availability of revolvers low.

I enjoy reloading and casting so I can make 32 caliber ammunition that is competitively priced with any center fire handgun ammunition.

Now, my life would be complete if I could find a 32 S&WL S&W K-frame revolver.

 

[Steel Hayes]

Any commercial wadcutter ammo loaded that way for self defense?

Buffalo Bore makes some potent hard cast wadcutter’s for SD.
They’re a bit on the pricey side.

 

[drk1]

"Pricey" is a relative word. If you think that .32 S&W or .32 HR mag. are "pricey," you should be happy that you're not looking for 8mm Japanese Nambu, 7mm BR, or 13mm Gyrojet.