What are your overall thoughts on .32 ACP?

[Bill DeShivs]

I never said that I shoot a P32 better than something bigger. I said I carry a P32 because I don't expect to need something bigger.

[tipoc]

What I am telling you is that caliber and capacity does not trump shot placement. Never has, never will.

I think folks know this. At least those that have thought about it know it.

There is nothing wrong with someone carrying a 32. It works. It has a place in the roster. It puts holes in things that require holes.

As Bill says, you most often don't need more. But if you think you might then there might be better tools in a fight.

tipoc

[Cheapshooter]

I never said that I shoot a P32 better than something bigger.

Doesn't sound like it from this quote!

.32 is much more controllable than .380. Recoil is mild and follow-up shots are easier and faster.
Not everyone wants a gun that is painful to shoot.

Not everyone feels a 380 mouse gun, or even small, sub compact 9MM's are painful to shoot.
If someone doesn't like the slight increases in recoil in bigger calibers then what they give up on the other end of the bullet is worth the trade off for a milder cartridge.

[Bill DeShivs]

.357 magnum follow up shots are easier and faster than the same from a .44 magnum.
The statement was relative.
Damn!

[Cheapshooter]

Not subscribing to your theory of relativity. Strictly from own experience. I don't find follow up shots any harder with my LCP than with my P32. Or even any harder with my 9MM Kahr CM 9 shooting +P ammo. At the same time I don't find follow up shots particularly easier with my Ruger GP 100 357 than my Super Blackhawk 44 Magnum.
I also don't find any of the above to be particularly "painful". That enters the picture with my 10" 45-70 Contender.

[Bill DeShivs]

But, then you're a real macho man aren't you?
Besides that, no one's opinion counts except yours.

[JoeSixpack]

It's doubtful you'll feel the recoil when you're fighting for your life.

Still I would not recommend you depend on a gun that brings you pain when firing.
We're all different I've met disabled and elderly shooters that can't even handle 9mm in a fullsize gun, you can forget handing them a subcompact.

A gun that is painful to shoot you just won't practice with.
I'd rather someone find a gun they can handle and practice even if it's what most would consider weak for self defense.

A 32 or even a 22 is still a gun.

[Cheapshooter]

But, then you're a real macho man aren't you?
Besides that, no one's opinion counts except yours.

Nope to both. Just answering the OP's question.

My focus here is specifically on the .32 ACP. What do you think of it as a plinking round, a defensive round, and what do you think of the common guns that have been chambered for it?

No need to get nasty when someone expresses a different opinion backed up by substantial facts.

[Bill DeShivs]

I'm not getting nasty. The macho comment was in jest.
The opinion comment wasn't.

[mavracer]

I don't find follow up shots any harder with my LCP than with my P32. Or even any harder with my 9MM Kahr CM 9 shooting +P ammo. At the same time I don't find follow up shots particularly easier with my Ruger GP 100 357 than my Super Blackhawk 44 Magnum.

What's the difference in your split between shots?

[Cheapshooter]

What's the difference in your split between shots?

LCP, CM9 vs P32...Undetectable.

[Model12Win]

Good little poppers. I'd like one of those little Euro one stackers in 7,65mm Browning.

[deserted]

I sort of stumbled upon a Keltec .32ACP last fall, along with a variety of factory ammo, several hundred labeled hand loads, primed brass, and several thousand factory cast and lubed boolits and jacketed bullets. The woman just did not want any gun stuff in her house (her deceased father's stuff...took five pickup loads to get it all home. It wasn't just a .32...) :-) and I felt I'd won the lottery. So I've run a bunch of different factory and handloads of all sorts through this little pistol, several hundred rounds worth and, judging from the sizable exit hole in a half-frozen watermelon (big one, too) I would not want to take a head shot with a Winchester 60gr Silvertip in .32ACP at get-off-me ranges. Nosirree. I put the belt clip on it and, with jeans, it hides behind the belt and in the watch pocket. It's my backup gun for the EDC S7 in .327 Federal (which, btw, handles .32ACP just fine). I've got an old hammerless Iver Johnson Bicycle Works .32 S&W, too. Took some Federal .32 H&R magnum brass that had split at the case mouth in a Single Six (a common occurrence), shortened them past the split to .32 S&W length. A teensy pinch of Bullseye, a 71 grain cast boolitt, just the ticket for sage rats and field mice and the armored contingent of my Little Green Army Men formations. I tell ya, since I first really realized the .32s, I hardly ever shoot anything else. A boolit caster, reloader with a ton of lead, somewhat less powder, plenty of brass, and still using primers from the The Great Primer Famine of 1994, I have not bought any .22 ammo since about 2010, I guess.
.32 rocks. BTW, .327 FM, cast bullets, 2,000+ plinking rounds from a pound of Bullseye.

[mavracer]

lcp, cm9 vs p32...undetectable.

what are your splits?

[gwpercle]

I had a WWII era Walther PPK in 32 acp. I liked that little gun, it was stolen and I never had the chance to get another. Nothing wrong with the 32 acp round , I cast bullets and reloaded ammo for it. could shoot it accurately and would like another. Carries easily .
Gary

[Cheapshooter]

what are your splits?

Like I said, undetectable.

[mavracer]

Like I said, undetectable.

Split times are detectable even with machine guns so I'm calling bovine feces.
How fast are your split times with each gun. Saying you can't tell means nada if you're taking a shot every 10 years.

[amd6547]

My first CCW was a Manurhin Walther PP in .32acp. When the German police traded in their 32's after the days of the Red Army Faction, in the '80's, these Walthers were cheap. Like, $160, I think.
It was extremely accurate at 75yds and completely reliable. Very easy to carry, and an excellent instinctive pointer.
I'm very sorry to say I traded it away for I can't remember what...One of my greatest gun trading regrets.
I've since owned 380's and 9mm Makarov-caliber pistols. The P3AT is one. I don't find it hard to shoot at all, but I have come to the conclusion that I would rather have the P32.
Comparing the Walther PP 32 to the Browning 1910 380, or the Polish P64 9mm Mak, hands down, the Walther is just a smooth shooting machine.

Having said that, my favorite 380 is an Israeli surplus Beretta 84F.

[Cheapshooter]

I don't play "sports" games with my guns so all I know is the difference in time intervals between rapid fire shots, that hit the target with my P32, LCP, or Kahr CM9 are undetectable. Probably can throw in a few others as well.
Although I enjoy shooting all of them, and more. The main purpose of the guns mentioned is CCW. I seriously doubt that an attacker is going to put a stop watch on my shots if I need to defend myself.

[SauerGrapes]

If that's the case, we're all in trouble.....lol.
I need to try and dig up that story. It was a catholic hospital. They were considering dismissing the doctor for having a weapon on hospital grounds. The public raised you know about that, but I never heard the out come.
I'll concede, a lousy placed shot is a lousy shot.
I'm still not carrying a 32 though.

[mavracer]

I don't play "sports" games with my guns so all I know is the difference in time intervals between rapid fire shots, that hit the target with my P32, LCP, or Kahr CM9 are undetectable.

So you don't have a shot timer and really have no idea what you're talking about.

I seriously doubt that an attacker is going to put a stop watch on my shots if I need to defend myself.

If you're in a defensive shooting there's most defiantly a stopwatch on it.

[Cheapshooter]

The "idea" you think I don't have is reality, not electronic timers. I know that there is little if any difference in how well I shoot rapid, accurate shots with a 32, or a 380.
My "real world" doesn't revolve around Mall Ninja TV. But nice try in attempting to trip me up in it.

[Atonal]

Here's my little Seecamp 32. The best thing about it is always with me.

[44 AMP]

Hitler shot himself in the head with a .32. Died.
Tojo shot himself in the heart with a .32. Didn't. (we hung him, later)

based on this, if you attacker is a German (Austrian) the .32 will kill him.
If your attacker is Japanese, it won't.

(sarcasm intentional)

The thread has devolved into bickering, so we're done here.

Closed.