Why should I get a Police Positive in .32 sw long?

[HighValleyRanch]

I love those old Police Positives. I like the dimunitive size, the classic turn of the century look (no not 2000 turn of century!LOL) and the Colt name.

I found a nice example for affordable price, but why on earth do I need it?

I would have to get .32 dies (not so bad as I need to reload for my .32 seecamp),
a bunch of .32 long brass, and reload.

Once I do all that, then I could justify getting a Walther GSP in .32 sw long as well. Now you see how expensive this cheap purchase can get!

Still there is a part of me seeing me carrying that old Colt around the ranch everyday, going down to the field and plinking a few shots every now and then!
What more appropriate sidearm to wear when I mucking the stalls or grooming my Mammoth Jack?

I gave up my Colt Op because the barrel was too long to comfortably wear all day doing chores. Now I miss it. If it had been 4", I never would have sold it.

[LE-28]

I love those old Police Positives. I like the dimunitive size, the classic turn of the century look (no not 2000 turn of century!LOL) and the Colt name.

You answered your own question.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

If you like it and want it, buy it. Should be a blast to shoot, I hope you reload.

That is a marvelous old piece of history.

[JERRYS.]

the cartridge itself is cool. very light recoil center fire yet heavy enough (projectile) to penetrate.... for those who might need such a gun.

[HighValleyRanch]

what is the heaviest bullet for this size cartridge?
Are the police positive special and the PP .32 the same size frames?

[TruthTellers]

I too love the Police Positive for its look and size. It's one of the vintage, early 20th Century Colt revolvers I would love to add to the collection one day along with the Colt New Service. The only reason I don't get either is I'd rather have modern, strong Rugers instead.

Heaviest weight I know of for the .32 S&W Long is 115 grains. The Police Positives are very well made and are known to be strong.

[HighValleyRanch]

so I see on BB's site that they have the 115 and 100 loaded to around 850 and 900 out of a 4" barrel yielding 185 foot pounds me.
That's as good as most .380 isn't it?

They also list the .32 sw long as .32 Colt new police. These are the same?

TT, I have my 4" Ruger Secuity six, but it doesn't have the old time flavor of the Colt PP.

[HighValleyRanch]

I am checking with the seller to see how the gun is marked but found this information that makes my head spin. I hope I can find ammo for it!:

If the barrel is marked "Colt D.A. .32", it is chambered for the Colt .32 short and Colt .32 long cartridges. If the barrel is marked ".32 Colt New Police", it is chambered for the S&W .32 short and S&W .32 long cartridges. Different chamberings for two different cartridges.

The Colt 32 Police Positive was chambered for these rounds: .32 Short Colt...the .32 long Colt...the .32 Colt New Police and the .38 S&W. The .32 SHORT Colt can be fired in the .32 Long Colt chamber but not the reverse...AND...both of these cartridges are now obsolete having been replaced by the .32 S&W Short and the .32 S&W Long..However...back when this family odf cartridges was in it glory...COLT tried to deal with the problem of outside lubricated bullet(the grease collected all sorts of trash) by introducing the .32 Colt take note that words short and/or long are not present..this cartridge has brass that is longer as to enclose the grease grooves within the case This is sort of a .32 Medium Colt as the short case is .63" long and the long case is .92" in length while the "medium" is .755" in length..where you may run into a problem is if your PP is chambered for the "medium" round headspace differs..both the shot and long use a rim that is .045" thick and the medium has a rim of .052 The problem would be if you have the medium length chambering and the headspace is at max depth then using the short or long could give you a headspace problem and the Medium was developed and loaded as a low pressure blackpowder cartidge using an 82 gr bullet and 12 grs of BP and that could be a difference maker if you are shooting smokeless loads in a .32 short or long..even factory loads. If you give us the EXACT format of the chambering info as stamped on the barrel then an exact determination may be madeBTW if it is the .32 long Colt or .32 Colt New Police then the factory .32 S&W cartridge is OK..if the gun is in safe and shootible condition

[bn12gg]

Gorgeous revolver. Wow, those grips are something else. Good luck with it !

.02. David.

[smee78]

I think as a reloader a 32 is an easy sell, you already stated why you should get it. As long as the seller gets back to you and it shoots a round you want to reload for I say go for it. I found a love for the 32L when I first hit the 22Lr drought a few years ago and shot a friends little 32 Smith, wow what fun it was and it was reloadable! I was hooked and haven't looked back.

[Bill DeShivs]

I believe .32 Colt chambers can be reamed for .32 S&W long.

[couldbeanyone]

You should get it because you want it. If you can afford it, that is reason enough. Not everything needs a justification.

[Model12Win]

Nice "po-po +"!

[FrankenMauser]

Classic look.
Smooth action.
Petite.

And the little .32 cartridges are just fun to shoot. All. Day. Long.
... .32 S&W Long, especially.

[HighValleyRanch]

I guess I'm confused about the particular chambering for the various .32 cartridges.
The buyer specified that it was for .32 SW long, but listed it as positive police, not new police. So I PM'ed him to ask the specific markings on the gun per post 7 to determine if he really knows. .32 sw long I'm OK with, but if it's a harder to get caliber, I'd rather save my chunk of money on a police positive special in .38 special.

[Mike Irwin]

I didn't need the one I bought either. But I still bought it. Mine is from 1935 or so. The barrel is simply marked 32 police, not new police, but it is chambered for 32 S&W long

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[tallball]

I really like shooting 32 S&W long! I don't have an old Colt in that caliber, but I have an old S&W hand ejector from 1916 or so. I enjoy shooting it. My old Colt is an Army Special from 1921. It has a slightly better trigger and sights than my similar old S&W's.

So I would say "Go for it!"

[HighValleyRanch]

From my research tonight, this looks to be the first issue with the hard rubber grips from 1907 to 1927:
"he First issue of the Police Positive ran from the revolver’s introduction in 1907 until 1927. Sporting Colt’s standard hard rubber grips, it was offered with barrel lengths of 2.5 (available only in .32 caliber), 4, 5, and 6 inches, and was chambered for the .32 Long Colt (it would also accept the .32 Short Colt), .32 Colt New Police, and .38 Colt New Police cartridges."
From what I understand, Colt didn't want to use their competition's name on the cartridges, so they called their version the .32 Colt New police and it had a flat nose bullet instead of the round nose. But it is the same dimensions as the .32 SW long.

But the early colts chambered in .32 that took the early Colt short and long .32 are smaller in diameter and not the same as the "new police .32?

[Driftwood Johnson]

Are the police positive special and the PP .32 the same size frames?

No.

Top revolver in this photo is a Colt Army Special (same frame size as the later Official Police Model). 38 Special. This one left the factory in 1921.

Next down is a Police Positive Special, also 38 Special. The 38 S&W caliber Police Positive has the same size frame as the Police Positive Special except the cylinder of the Special is a little bit longer to accept the 38 Special cartridge. This one left the factory in 1922.

Bottom right is a 32 Police Positive. It is marked 32 POLICE CTG on the barrel but accepts 38 S&W Long ammo too. Basically the same round. It left the factory in 1917.

The little revolver bottom left is a 32 Pocket Positive. Same frame size as the 32 Police Positive except the grip is a little bit shorter. This one happens to be chambered for 32 Colt which uses a heeled bullet. It will not accept the wider case of a 32 S&W Long. 1908.






32 S&W Long is a fun cartridge to shoot, but I confess I have not started reloading for it yet. Factory ammo is pretty easily available.



The little Colts are fun, but I prefer the trigger pull of a S&W 32 Regulation Police. The one at the top of this photo left the factory in 1924.

[Mike Irwin]

"But the early colts chambered in .32 that took the early Colt short and long .32 are smaller in diameter and not the same as the "new police .32?"

No. The .32 Colt cartridges started out life with heeled bullets like modern .22s.

In the 1880s or 1890s the design was change. The case remained the same, but the bullet was changed to a single diameter like today's modern bullets.

This mean that the bullet for the .32 Long Colt was now .299 diameter, whereas before it had been .312.

When S&W designed the .32 Long in 1896, it used a thicker brass case (making the case's outside diameter larger than Colt's) and a single diameter .312 bullet.

Because of the dimensional differences, the two rounds are not interchangeable.

When it came to handgun cartridge development and popularity in the US, S&W largely ruled the roost, and Colt had a very hard time competing with its cartridges in the civilian market.

The .45 Colt got a boost from being a military standard cartridge, and the .41 Colt was quite popular for a time because S&W had nothing to compete against it, but by and large, S&W cartridges did far better than Colt's, which forced Colt into chambering S&W rounds.

[RKG]

FWIW -- and I'm not suggesting this by itself is the reason to purchase a revolver -- I load .32 S&W Long with a tiny charge of Unique and Speer 98 gr. HBWCs for less ¢/round than good .22s. Fifty to a hundred rounds of this and a small frame revolver (e.g., M31) makes for a fun afternoon.

[HighValleyRanch]

The seller wrote back:
"barrel marking: Police Positive - 32 Police ctg"
serial dates it to 1909. He says it's in good working condition and he's shot it.
Holster wear on the barrel.
He wants 450.00 for it. This is Calfornia so these are hard to find.
Although these are so old that they could be imported from out of state as C&R being off the approved roster.
The .38 special police positives are going for around 600 on the gun auctions.

The cost of ammo and dies could easily cost me 200.00....hmmm

[TruthTellers]

A .38 Special is boring, a .32 is the new slim hotness. I think as the .327 gains popularity, it will make the .32 as a whole more popular. In that, I think the ammo will become more common and the prices of the .32 S&W Long will drop to that of .38 Special levels and then people will start to take notice.

It's worth getting and keeping for a few years and watching where the .32 market goes.

While it may not be as powerful as .38 Special is, I don't think you can go wrong getting a .32 Police Positive over a .38. Also, the .32 dies will work with .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Magnum should you ever buy one of those revolvers and want to load for them too.

I have guns chambered for all three and for my .327's, I plan to just use .32 H&R in it for the range. My .32 Long loads occasionally will see some time in the Magnums when I want a really low recoil load.

There's a lot of untread ground when it comes to the .32 revolver cartridges. Being able to shoot projectiles that weigh under 50 grains up to 130 grains leaves a lot of experimenting to be done.

[sgms]

Well I can't really tell you why you should get one but I got one because I found one that was at a good price and I wanted one, that has now grown to 3 (and may still be growing) they are great range toys that I like to shoot occasionally.

[CajunBass]

I almost bought a Regulation Police 32 a week or so ago, but changed my mind at the last minute. I realized I really didn't want another cartridge to reload for. I told myself at first I'd just shoot factory ammo, but I know me enough to know that I'd save the brass. As soon as I had 100 pieces or so, I'd get to thinking..."I should get a set of dies...."

So I passed.

But if YOU want to get one, I'm all for it. Let us know how it shoots.

[Mike Irwin]

My circa 1935 Police Positive .32.



Unfortunately, there's a chip in the bottom rear of the left grip panel. I've seen numerous Colts with similar chips there over the years and I've always wondered why there...