* - Editor's note: due to the original formatting of the load data table, it was omitted from this reprinting.
This article was written by CBA member Ed Harris and appeared in the March/April 2007 #186 issue of the Fouling Shot.
This article was written by CBA member Ed Harris and appeared in the March/April 2007 #186 issue of the Fouling Shot.
OK children, today's cast bullet trivia question is …Who was J.V.K. Wagar? No, he was not a writer of children’s fiction depicting Norse mythology. If you Google Mr. Wagar you’ll find that he was a Colorado forester who was active in the Wildlife Society of Colorado A&M University and various professional organizations into the mid 1950s. Of note for CBA members is that he wrote an article which appeared in the August, 1931 issue of The American Rifleman on pgs. 14-15, entitled “Almost, the Best Small Pistol.” If you own a .32 automatic you really must read it. If you don’t own a .32 ACP, I urge you to read the article anyway. If you do, you may just find yourself buying a .32 pocket pistol years later, in fondly recalling the article. That’s exactly why I did.
J.V.K. Wagar and a cottontail potted with his .32 ACP Let’s be clear that the .32 ACP is not my choice as a defense gun against either two-legged or four-legged predators. However, there are times when “any gun is better than no gun.” Because I can carry legally in my home state of Virginia, and West Virginia, where I have a vacation home recognizes my permit, I do so most of the time. It is also true that many social and recreational occasions require that I do so discreetly, lest I “scare the natives.” When or where the cylinder bulge of my usual D-frame Colt .38 Special is too obvious, a .32 automatic drops nicely into a pocket holster. I also like the fact that it makes a bigger hole than a .22 and still presents a low profile.
I feel it is necessary to become thoroughly accustomed to and practice with any gun I carry. The .32 is convenient, accessible and practical to carry during woods-loafing hikes or overnights, which may present an opportunity to shoot small game for camp meat or plink a magazine or two at cans by firelight. You could just as easily do this with a .380 ACP or a 9x18 Makarov, but the .32 ACP’s appeal for me is that it uses the same components I have already for the .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum, my preferred trail guns.
While the .32 ACP has benefits from new variants in factory ammunition, US loads are more anemic than their European counterparts. Typical American FMJs feature a 71-gr. bullet at an advertised “catalog velocity” of 905 f.p.s. In my chronograph test they actually produce velocities of around 850 f.p.s. in the average pocket pistol. European RWS, Sintox, Geco, Fiocchi or Sellier & Belliot ammo really does clock 900 f.p.s. or so with a heavier 73-grain bullet, which functions the pistol right smartly!
My WWII-era Beretta and Mauser pistols steadfastly refuse to function with American ammo. The newly pop-ular 60-gr. JHPs, are a sure recipe for a “Jam-O-Matic,” regardless of their flavor. Only the Italian Fiocchi 60-gr. JHP at 1200 f.p.s. has enough pizzazz, from the first round loaded up the spout, to positively eject and reliably chamber a hardball or cast bullet load following in the magazine. But its exposed lead nose doesn’t permit rat-tat-tat-tat feeding any more than the anemic 900 f.p.s. American JHPs. Expansion from typical .32 autos is a sometime thing. Of all U.S. brands I water-jug tested, only the Speer Gold Dot opened up every time, but it just wouldn’t feed.
In over 30 years experience, I have found that the best small game load for a .32 ACP is assembled with a cast bullet, heavier than the issue FMJ, to produce a heavier recoil impulse, but at lower velocity, within normal pressures, which approximates the ballistics of the .32 S&W Long or .32 Colt New Police when fired from a revolver. We are talking about an 85 to 95 grain flat-nosed bullet launched at about 750-800 f.p.s. How I arrived at this conclusion takes us directly to Wagar’s article…
When I was fresh out of the Navy and an eager new NRA Staffer back in 1972, our Executive Editor Ken Warner asked me to assemble some cast bullet loads for an M1903 Colt Pocket Model .32 ACP. The first thought in my head was, “why the &*%#[email protected] would anybody want to do THAT? The gun belonged to the late Harry Archer, who then worked for our government and was being sent out of the country clandestinely on our behalf. Harry needed some ammunition which would reliably function his old Colt, and was more effective than hard-ball, the only ammo available to us then.
I feel it is necessary to become thoroughly accustomed to and practice with any gun I carry. The .32 is convenient, accessible and practical to carry during woods-loafing hikes or overnights, which may present an opportunity to shoot small game for camp meat or plink a magazine or two at cans by firelight. You could just as easily do this with a .380 ACP or a 9x18 Makarov, but the .32 ACP’s appeal for me is that it uses the same components I have already for the .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum, my preferred trail guns.
While the .32 ACP has benefits from new variants in factory ammunition, US loads are more anemic than their European counterparts. Typical American FMJs feature a 71-gr. bullet at an advertised “catalog velocity” of 905 f.p.s. In my chronograph test they actually produce velocities of around 850 f.p.s. in the average pocket pistol. European RWS, Sintox, Geco, Fiocchi or Sellier & Belliot ammo really does clock 900 f.p.s. or so with a heavier 73-grain bullet, which functions the pistol right smartly!
My WWII-era Beretta and Mauser pistols steadfastly refuse to function with American ammo. The newly pop-ular 60-gr. JHPs, are a sure recipe for a “Jam-O-Matic,” regardless of their flavor. Only the Italian Fiocchi 60-gr. JHP at 1200 f.p.s. has enough pizzazz, from the first round loaded up the spout, to positively eject and reliably chamber a hardball or cast bullet load following in the magazine. But its exposed lead nose doesn’t permit rat-tat-tat-tat feeding any more than the anemic 900 f.p.s. American JHPs. Expansion from typical .32 autos is a sometime thing. Of all U.S. brands I water-jug tested, only the Speer Gold Dot opened up every time, but it just wouldn’t feed.
In over 30 years experience, I have found that the best small game load for a .32 ACP is assembled with a cast bullet, heavier than the issue FMJ, to produce a heavier recoil impulse, but at lower velocity, within normal pressures, which approximates the ballistics of the .32 S&W Long or .32 Colt New Police when fired from a revolver. We are talking about an 85 to 95 grain flat-nosed bullet launched at about 750-800 f.p.s. How I arrived at this conclusion takes us directly to Wagar’s article…
When I was fresh out of the Navy and an eager new NRA Staffer back in 1972, our Executive Editor Ken Warner asked me to assemble some cast bullet loads for an M1903 Colt Pocket Model .32 ACP. The first thought in my head was, “why the &*%#[email protected] would anybody want to do THAT? The gun belonged to the late Harry Archer, who then worked for our government and was being sent out of the country clandestinely on our behalf. Harry needed some ammunition which would reliably function his old Colt, and was more effective than hard-ball, the only ammo available to us then.
Mauser HSc performs very well with cast bullet handloads. When I asked why Harry was packing a .32 and not something more effective, I was informed politely that it was really none of my business, but that“when in Rome, you do as the Romans do.” Ken explained to me that if Harry took a .45 or a .357 it would be obvious that he was “not a local.” Since“the bad guys” where he was going normally used .32 automatics, while military and police carried various 9mms, the Colt would be discreet and also“blend in.” While an FN or Beretta would have been better, we didn’t have one. Walthers are “hand biters,” and not an option, so ending the conversation.Loading manuals were of little help, so I researched the NRA archives and stumbled upon Wagar’s article.
It was an entertaining treasure trove of practical information on the Colt pocket model and loading cast bullets for the .32 ACP. Wagar said that, “it has proved so useful for much of the outdoor shooting in our part of the country that … I frequently leave my heavier pistols and revolvers at home…
“This is not a deep wilderness side arm…, but as a light pistol to accompany the big rifle it has many advantages… one is never hampered by its weight and bulk and it need not be left behind because the way is hard and steep or the trail long…“The .32 Colt Automatic… is the biggest pistol that fits comfortably into ones pockets… and its owner isn’t often asked by some romance filled tourist if you are a real live cow-boy, so the hills are full of these pistols.”
“Practical accuracy is not of the spectacular kind… I can obtain quite good accuracy holding the pistol in both hands and resting them upon my knees I can hit a 50-cent piece practically with every shot at 20 yards. … is almost ideal for strictly small game shooting, we have shot many cottontails, grouse, squirrels…over 200 pieces of game in all—- and have found it unexcelled. It is just enough larger than a .22 Long Rifle to make it a more certain killer, yet destroys little more flesh and makes little more noise in the woods…cast bullets will give more killing power than the jacketed fac-tory bullets. They do not expand upon flesh, but rough-en when they strike bone and tear flesh rather than parting it.”
“This is not a deep wilderness side arm…, but as a light pistol to accompany the big rifle it has many advantages… one is never hampered by its weight and bulk and it need not be left behind because the way is hard and steep or the trail long…“The .32 Colt Automatic… is the biggest pistol that fits comfortably into ones pockets… and its owner isn’t often asked by some romance filled tourist if you are a real live cow-boy, so the hills are full of these pistols.”
“Practical accuracy is not of the spectacular kind… I can obtain quite good accuracy holding the pistol in both hands and resting them upon my knees I can hit a 50-cent piece practically with every shot at 20 yards. … is almost ideal for strictly small game shooting, we have shot many cottontails, grouse, squirrels…over 200 pieces of game in all—- and have found it unexcelled. It is just enough larger than a .22 Long Rifle to make it a more certain killer, yet destroys little more flesh and makes little more noise in the woods…cast bullets will give more killing power than the jacketed fac-tory bullets. They do not expand upon flesh, but rough-en when they strike bone and tear flesh rather than parting it.”
“If one has access to an Ideal No. 4 tool and mould for the .32 S&W he is well equipped… The .32 S&W bullet weighs 88 grains and its diameter of .313 inch is well adapted... I have loaded many hundreds of .32 A.C. cartridges with .32 S&W tools…If one shoots a high-powered .30 caliber rifle Marbles adapters using the .32 A.C. cartridge can be used for small game shooting or one can use the .32 A.C. cartridge in the Winchester adapters made for firing .32 S&W cartridges in the .30-30, .30-40 and .30-‘06 rifles.
The custom barrel machined for this 1935 Beretta made a night-and-day difference in accuracy. “In closing, permit me to summarize: This is not a target arm, nor is it powerful enough for defenses purposes against great beasts or armed men of great virility; but considering its short length, light weight, light report and recoil, and cheapness of ammunition, one will have difficulty in finding a more accurate, more reliable and more powerful pistol just to take along.
”Moving our clock back to present era, Sandy Garrett at Northern VA Gun Works doesn’t get excited by very much. But recently he was. He told me that he never thought a .32 ACP could be accurate. He now knows better after test firing my Beretta 1935 pistol for which he made a new barrel to replace its original “salt & pepper” WWII-era one. It’s machined from a piece of .30 caliber Hart stain-less 14” twist, and chambered with a custom reamer I designed to headspace on the case mouth. It shoots very well for a pocket gun, 2-1/2” at 25 yards for an 8-round magazine of 1970s vintage German Geco 73-gr. hardball, hand-held from sandbags, striking precisely to point of aim with the issue sights. He also did a trigger job so that it breaks at 5 pounds with a slight “roll” at let-off like a good .45 hardball gun, instead of the gritty 16 pounds that it originally did.
It is true that .32 ACP pocket guns don’t have a great reputation for accuracy. Speer’s loading handbook states that 3-4” at 25 yards is about the best you can hope for. This is in keeping with WWII German military and postwar German police acceptance accuracy standards which allowed 5 mils or 75mm of dispersion (about 3”) at 15 meters (approximately 49 ft.). Any pocket pistol which groups better than 4 mils, or 60mm (2.36”) at 15 meters is said by Europeans to be quite good. My experience with a number of pocket guns over the years suggests that any combination which reliably shoots 2” or less at 50 feet was a “keeper.” Almost any decent kit gun sized revolver, should shoot an inch at 50 feet, but pocket auto pistols which do this are rare birds.
The .38 Super Auto, despite its whiz-bang ballistics, was lackluster in the accuracy department until custom gunsmiths modernized the chamber design so that the cartridge head spaced on the case mouth, instead of the semi-rim. Modern IDPA and IPSC competition guns with custom barrels chambered this way shoot very well indeed.
So, strictly for academic curiosity, I wanted to see how well we could get a .32 ACP to shoot. JGS made my reamers and gages. This chamber has the minimum SAAMI chamber body, with a throat and origin of rifling based upon the form of the U.S. Cal. .30 M1 carbine chamber, but enlarging the forcing cone diameter to fit the larger .32 ACP cast bullets. Sandy machined my chunk of Hart barrel to fit my wartime M1935 Beretta. If you have to ask what this all cost, you cannot afford it. To me it’s worth every penny. My Beretta .32 now shoots as well as my Mauser HSc, accurate enough to assassi-nate WV bunny wabbits with head shots.
I sent John Taylor at Taylor Machine the reamer to make an 18” long .32 ACP rifle barrel to fit my 4.5 pound, take-down pre-war H&R single-shot .410, which doubles as an American-Style Rook Rifle. I don’t know anyone who has ever fooled with the .32 ACP in a rifle. You will need to stay tuned for that one.
”Moving our clock back to present era, Sandy Garrett at Northern VA Gun Works doesn’t get excited by very much. But recently he was. He told me that he never thought a .32 ACP could be accurate. He now knows better after test firing my Beretta 1935 pistol for which he made a new barrel to replace its original “salt & pepper” WWII-era one. It’s machined from a piece of .30 caliber Hart stain-less 14” twist, and chambered with a custom reamer I designed to headspace on the case mouth. It shoots very well for a pocket gun, 2-1/2” at 25 yards for an 8-round magazine of 1970s vintage German Geco 73-gr. hardball, hand-held from sandbags, striking precisely to point of aim with the issue sights. He also did a trigger job so that it breaks at 5 pounds with a slight “roll” at let-off like a good .45 hardball gun, instead of the gritty 16 pounds that it originally did.
It is true that .32 ACP pocket guns don’t have a great reputation for accuracy. Speer’s loading handbook states that 3-4” at 25 yards is about the best you can hope for. This is in keeping with WWII German military and postwar German police acceptance accuracy standards which allowed 5 mils or 75mm of dispersion (about 3”) at 15 meters (approximately 49 ft.). Any pocket pistol which groups better than 4 mils, or 60mm (2.36”) at 15 meters is said by Europeans to be quite good. My experience with a number of pocket guns over the years suggests that any combination which reliably shoots 2” or less at 50 feet was a “keeper.” Almost any decent kit gun sized revolver, should shoot an inch at 50 feet, but pocket auto pistols which do this are rare birds.
The .38 Super Auto, despite its whiz-bang ballistics, was lackluster in the accuracy department until custom gunsmiths modernized the chamber design so that the cartridge head spaced on the case mouth, instead of the semi-rim. Modern IDPA and IPSC competition guns with custom barrels chambered this way shoot very well indeed.
So, strictly for academic curiosity, I wanted to see how well we could get a .32 ACP to shoot. JGS made my reamers and gages. This chamber has the minimum SAAMI chamber body, with a throat and origin of rifling based upon the form of the U.S. Cal. .30 M1 carbine chamber, but enlarging the forcing cone diameter to fit the larger .32 ACP cast bullets. Sandy machined my chunk of Hart barrel to fit my wartime M1935 Beretta. If you have to ask what this all cost, you cannot afford it. To me it’s worth every penny. My Beretta .32 now shoots as well as my Mauser HSc, accurate enough to assassi-nate WV bunny wabbits with head shots.
I sent John Taylor at Taylor Machine the reamer to make an 18” long .32 ACP rifle barrel to fit my 4.5 pound, take-down pre-war H&R single-shot .410, which doubles as an American-Style Rook Rifle. I don’t know anyone who has ever fooled with the .32 ACP in a rifle. You will need to stay tuned for that one.
