need advice on ammo

[Doc Holliday 1950]

My wife & I both have just bought the Ruger 327 Federal magnum 1.87" 6 shot revolvers. These beauties are fantastic to shoot. Since my wife cannot handle a full bore 327 mag ammo, she has been leaning towards the Federal 32 H&R Magnum 95 grain semi-wadcutter ammo as her carry ammo.

I bought some boxes of Hornady Critical Defense 32 H&R Magnum 80 grain FTX & tried them out. For me,"Eureka, I think I found the right one for her. She'll try them out Tuesday.

My question to all is which would you choose for her & why. If not either, then what ammo should she try. Remember she is recoil sensitive & the 327 is a snub & this will be her carry ammo so the cost is not relevant to this question.

[OneFreeTexan]

I have a few 32 H&R magnum revolvers, and am very pleased with the,,,the recoil is very light, so much easier to stay on target for follow-up shots......I hand load mine so cost is minimal.

[TruthTellers]

Hornady's Critical Defense is going to be the best non boutique .32 H&R ammo you're gonna find that's not too much in recoil for her and is quite affordable. As stated in another thread, Buffalo Bore makes the best .32 H&R Mag ammo, but it's quite powerful, really almost a light .327 load, but idk if it's going to be that much better than the Hornady load in an LCR.

I wouldn't spend the money on the Federal ammo, the Hornady is cheaper and really built specifically for self defense.

[jar]

Don't forget there is still 32S&W and 32S&W Long available as well. Those can be really gentle and amazingly accurate rounds.

[Cosmodragoon]

I carried .32 H&R Magnum before I owned a gun in .327 Federal. I preferred it to standard-pressure .38 special in the same way that I prefer .327 to .357 magnum. At least a couple of years ago when I first got the LCR 327, I was only seeing one or two kinds of factory ammo for .32 H&R locally. I tried them out and was getting a fair amount of unburnt powder in the LCR so I never looked back. I'm interested to try the Critical Defense.

I'll be curious to see how your wife feels about these and also the "low recoil" .327 Hydra-Shoks when she gets a chance to try them. That particular .327 load has what I consider to be the ideal balance of power and recoil for the little LCR. Of course, noise is a factor as well. The .327 is louder and that can be part of the recoil experience.

[tallball]

S&W long for practice and a reasonable H&R magnum round for carry?

We are a family of giants, so my daughter was a large nine-year-old when she first shot 32 H&R magnum, but she was only nine and didn't like recoil (she still doesn't at age 14). She did fine with it and didn't mind shooting it at all. Hopefully Doc's wife will have an easy time with it, too.

[TruthTellers]

Originally Posted by jar

Don't forget there is still 32S&W and 32S&W Long available as well. Those can be really gentle and amazingly accurate rounds.

Problem is all they do is poke holes, they don't expand. If she shoots the Hornady well and the bullets expand, which I see no reason why they wouldn't as Critical Defense is generally a good expanding JHP, there's no reason to go with S&W Long.

.32 S&W "shorts" are obsolete and have no purpose outside of CAS matches. .32 ACP is a better choice if it fires in a revolver.

When we talk about .40 cal or larger calibers in a revolver, I have no issue recommending a wadcutter or semi wadcutter bullet for a defensive use, but that's just because the bullets are so large. Heck, depending on the situation, I'd even say the same about .38/.357, but with .32, you really need an expanding bullet to make it effective for self defense and the S&W and even some weak loaded H&R Magnum ammo don't have the velocity to get a bullet to expand.

[reddog81]

How much does she shoot? I’d recommend practicing a bunch with 32 S&W long until she gets her technique down and gets used to shooting the gun. After a couple trips to the range the .32 H&R shouldn’t be too much to handle. Any .32 H&R Magnum ammo that’s low recoil and easy to shoot for recoil sensitive beginners wouldn’t be true 32 H&R ammo.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

Excellent advice & sensible reasoning. We've just started going to our range each week and I'm very pleased that she enjoys shooting. Can't wait to see her shoot the Hornady & also the Hydra-Shok rounds. Since she's really all jazzed up about this, I think that too will make a huge difference on how & what she shoots. Since she easily shot the Federal 32 H&R's, I think she'll easily handle the Hornadys & probably the Hydra-Shoks too.
I'm not going to push her on this. I started her off with S&W 32L's (3 different weights) and each time asked do you want to try something with more umph. She kept saying yes.Then 2 different 32H&R mags & she said let's try more. So this time we'll try the Hornady & the Hydra-Shoks. I'll report on this after we hit the range Tuesday. I forgot that we are taking her instructor with us Tuesday. She's a certified NRA Instructor & they get along very well.

[Cosmodragoon]

Doc, if you can do it at your range, I recommend filling up some plastic bottles or milk jugs with water. Besides the fun of instant target gratification, it offers tangible feedback. It fills in the other side of the story for that recoil she is feeling in her hands. It helps to build an intuitive understanding of what's going on and that can be surprisingly valuable.

TruthTellers, you are right about some of those choices versus their expansion thresholds. To say "you really need an expanding bullet to make it effective for self defense" is questionable though. Any of these choices will register pain, shock, and realization stops in a defensive encounter. The average 98-grain .32 S&W Long can still stop an attack by physical incapacitation or death so long as it gets enough penetration into a critical area. It just means smaller margins.

Personally, .32 S&W Long would not be my first choice for self defense. I think a good .32 H&R Magnum with reliable expansion would be adequate. Any of the defensive offerings in .327 that fall within the shooter's comfort zone would be ideal.

[TruthTellers]

Yeah, anything that pokes a hole has a puncher's chance, but with .32 I want it to have every advantage possible.

[T. O'Heir]

"...I found the right one for her..." Isn't you who should be looking.
That 1.87" barrel is more likely to be the issue than the ammo. Muzzle blast and noise alone can make the recoil seem to be more than it is. I suspect she'd be happier with a 4" barrel. Likely be better if it was a .38 Special too.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

My wife went to our GS one day & found "the right one" & my wife bought her 327 by herself on the spot. It wasn't until we went to our range & I shot her 327 that I too thought it was terrific & I then bought mine.
As to to carrying a 4" 38, that's very difficult to carry in a state where you must carry concealed. The size of her purse et al would be ridiculous.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

We went to our range & she loaded her first round with Hornady 32H&R 80 grain ctitical defense flex tip at 20 feet.It was like a stroll thru the park firing the Hornady ammo. She then loaded a couple of rounds of 327 mag Hyra-Shok. That really stung her hands, but she was able to bring the 327 back on target & shoot the other 2 rounds. She said " I think I'll keep the Hornady ammo as my carry ammo".
Now it will be practice, practice, practice & I now have a a great shooting partner.

IMHO, I think that this Ruger LCR 327 mag Fed. Revolver is a very good revolver & as more people get in to it, the ammo prices might com down. I got a deal online with Foundry for 25 boxes of the Hornady ammo for $18.54/box. Shipping was $2.36/box. Still a great deal. The Hornadys are a great ammo line & very clean to shoot.

[TruthTellers]

Originally Posted by Doc Holliday 1950

We went to our range & she loaded her first round with Hornady 32H&R 80 grain ctitical defense flex tip at 20 feet.It was like a stroll thru the park firing the Hornady ammo. She then loaded a couple of rounds of 327 mag Hyra-Shok. That really stung her hands, but she was able to bring the 327 back on target & shoot the other 2 rounds. She said " I think I'll keep the Hornady ammo as my carry ammo".
Now it will be practice, practice, practice & I now have a a great shooting partner.

IMHO, I think that this Ruger LCR 327 mag Fed. Revolver is a very good revolver & as more people get in to it, the ammo prices might com down. I got a deal online with Foundry for 25 boxes of the Hornady ammo for $18.54/box. Shipping was $2.36/box. Still a great deal. The Hornadys are a great ammo line & very clean to shoot.

That would be great, but I don't see enough people buying into the .327 to make the prices go down that much. Leaving out Armscor and Fiochhi .357 ammo that's generally weak loaded stuff, .357 Mag is about the same price as .327 is at half a dollar a round, a full dollar for JHP. .327 is a bit smaller, uses less lead, brass, and powder, so I can see it going down to around 40 cents/round if it became more popular, but what would really help is someone other than Federal loading for it.

I know the .32 S&W Long is popular in Europe and parts of Asia, but I wonder if .327 has any appeal to the Europeans. If it does, I can't see any reason why Fiochhi, PPU, maybe even Tulammo wouldn't start making some downloaded .327 ammo.

Doesn't bother me none, I reload .32, what I desperately want is more bullet options.

[Doc Holliday 1950]

In reality I think that you mostly all are correct. There just realy isn't enough call here for 32 H&R & 327 mag ammo.

I find it ironic that a lot of you out there will spend hundreds to several thousand of dollars for that special Pistol/Revolver, but balk at more costly ammofor that special gun.

I'm lucky that in retirement, I can afford the more expensive ammo, but the only reason I'll buy it is because Adriane really enjoys her new LCR 327 Fed Mag revolver. Since she finally found a revolver she can shoot & likes, I will spend the extra bucks.

The 32S&WL ammo is cheap for messing at the range at $12-14/box of 50.
In my reality, I would have never bought the 327 mag revolver for all the reasons that were stated before. Since I really enjoy her company I'm thrilled that she will shoot with me & also enjoy it.

[Cosmodragoon]

... she finally found a revolver she can shoot & likes... Since I really enjoy her company I'm thrilled that she will shoot with me & also enjoy it.

This alone is worth so much more than the little extra you'll pay. That she'll be carrying an effective defensive tool with plenty of practice is icing on the cake.

[Mike38]

Light loaded .32 S&W Long. Then work up from there.

[TruthTellers]

Originally Posted by Doc Holliday 1950

In reality I think that you mostly all are correct. There just realy isn't enough call here for 32 H&R & 327 mag ammo.

I find it ironic that a lot of you out there will spend hundreds to several thousand of dollars for that special Pistol/Revolver, but balk at more costly ammofor that special gun.

I'm lucky that in retirement, I can afford the more expensive ammo, but the only reason I'll buy it is because Adriane really enjoys her new LCR 327 Fed Mag revolver. Since she finally found a revolver she can shoot & likes, I will spend the extra bucks.

The 32S&WL ammo is cheap for messing at the range at $12-14/box of 50.
In my reality, I would have never bought the 327 mag revolver for all the reasons that were stated before. Since I really enjoy her company I'm thrilled that she will shoot with me & also enjoy it.

Not now, but in a decade, dare I say maybe a score, if the .327 continues to be made the demand will increase. IMO the best way to get .32 revolvers popular is get them into female shooters' hands. Women like .32, it's more fun for them to shoot and not feel like all they'll ever be able to handle is .22, so it's encouraging for them.

Same goes for .32 ACP as well. If someone were to make a larger size .32 and not a tiny pocket pistol, you know, something like the old Savage 1907, it's something that will have little recoil, but hit harder and be more reliable than .22

Savage knew it in 1907, idk why people poo poo the .32 today.