Cartridges

Introduced by Colt in 1875 for their New Line revolvers, the 32 Long Colt was developed with the conversion from the old 32 Long rimfire to center fire, much like the old 38 Long Colt Navy. Original loadings were black powder, outside lubricated, but these cartridges...

The 32 Merwin, Hulbert & Co Short cartridge was launched around 1883 and is basically a standard 32 S&W loaded for the Merwin & Hulbert Revolver. It is distinguished by the large lubricating groove on the bullet. There is a full discussion on the Merwin,...

The 32 Merwin, Hulbert & Co Long cartridge was launched in 1883 and is basically a 32 S&W Long, loaded for the Merwin & Hulbert Revolver. Joseph Merwin has been involved in the firearm business since 1856 when he formed a company called Merwin & Bray...

A 32 caliber has always been seen a too light for serious self defence with the 380 a much better option, even more so today with the serious quality sub-compact handguns available. Even so, the case could be made that for certain firearm owners, especially ladies in...

This is the American version of the British 320 Short Centerfire and was launched by Colt in 1875 for their New Line revolver, which was a popular pocket revolver during the early years. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 330).

The 32 S&W was designed by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company as a black powder loading and was launched in 1878 for the Smith & Wesson pocket revolvers. It was a popular caliber, as can be seen by number of manufacturers both in Europe and the US offering...

This was a Smith & Wesson development for their .32 Hand Ejector Model of 1896. It followed on from two significant steps in revolver evolution, namely the double action and the swing-out cylinder pioneered by Colt in their Model 1889 revolver. (Erlmeier, Brandt...

This cartridge remains somewhat of a mystery. There was a long discussion on the history of these early S&W/Colt developments on the IAA Forum that is well worth the read. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 333).

From an earlier IAA Forum discussion, the so-called “8 mm S&W Experimental” is a nothing more than a standard .32 WCF specially loaded for the S&W .32-20 Hand Ejector 1st Model (1899) revolver. It features a solid-head case and a 105 gr metal cased bullet. It...

This cartridge is described on page 312 of U.S. Cartridges and their Handguns by Charles R. Suydam. It is attributed to Smith & Wesson and has a case length of 1.113”, which is longer than the 32 S&W Long. There was also a discussion on the IAA FORUM where is...

The 32 ZVI is based on the 9mm Makarov case necked to .32 and is manufactured by the ZVI Corporation in the Czech Republic. The pistol model is called the KEVIN and is a sub-compact handgun available in 9mm Short and 9mm Makarov. IAA Forum member Tomáš Kárník had his...

The 32-44 S&W was developed by Ira Albert Paine (1837 – 1889) in 1886 for a S&W Single Action No.3 Target Revolver. Together with the 38-44 S&W, these were low recoil target revolvers. Paine, together with contemporary F.E Bennett were very good shots with...

This would be the smallest of the Dan Wesson cartridges for silhouette shooting.

This cartridge is listed in the ECRA database as the 320 Extra Long and is also listed as the 7.8x26.5R CATTLE KILLER

Brandt, p.379 lists a .320 Garrucha that was loaded by CBC in Brazil with a CBC headstamp as can be seen on the headstamp listing for the 320 SHORT CF. According to Wikipedia, a Garrucha was a small rifled or smoothbore pistol, like a derringer, which was common in...

As discussed during under the 320 Short CF, the 320 Long dates from around 1873 and was also probably an English design that was also loaded in Rook rifles. It also bears a resemblance to the.32 Long Colt, but with a slightly shorter case and underpowered. The 320...

For a cartridge that has been in existence probably since around 1867 there is a lot of contradictory information on the internet, starting with the exact date of introduction, but it was in all probability a British design. The 320 Short Centerfire resembles the...

The 320 Spirlet dates from 1895 from gunmakers A. Spirlet & Cie from Liege in Belgium. It was an inside primed case and based on Gevelot Design 10037. (Brandt Ref. 338A).

The 327 Federal was launched at the 2008 SHOT Show by Federal and Ruger. It is based on the 32 H&R case lengthened by 0.125” to 1.20”. The .32 H&R Magnum was launched in 1984 and although on par with the .38 Special +P loads, did not achieve the popularity...

The 338 CJMK (Crowley-Jones Mastodon Killer) was developed by JD Jones during the early silhouette shooting days and was based on the 35 Remington case neck down, with fellow shooter Phil Crowley building the first Remington XP silhouette pistol for it. According to...

Designed during the late 1970’s this is one of eight IMSA calibers in the series, with the smallest being the .25, followed by the 6.5mm, 270, 7mm, 30, 8mm, 338, and 35. The original designs by Elgin Gates were based on the 300 Savage case with the shoulder moved back...

Short summary of the history of the BSA pistol cartridges from Vol. 2 No.7 of The Historical Breechloading Firearm Association by Dr GL Sturgess. Both German and English arms manufacturers suffered a significant decline in their fortunes after the end of WW1 with the...

This was a British development from the mid to late 1880’s for revolvers and from an old IAA Forum discussion, this cartridge was also loaded in rifles. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 341).