Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Inherited S&W 32 long

Recently inherited a S&W, chrome plated, 2inch barrel revolver in 32 long. Can not do pics but hoping someone can tell me just what it is.

ON right hand side toward the front it is marked

Made in USA
marcas registradas
Smith & Wesson
Springfield, Mass

Right side of barrel says .32 S. & W. Long
Left side says Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson trade mark on left side under the cylinder release..

What I assume to be S&W logos on both sides of grips with one screw toward the bottom of the grip.

Know this is probably dead simple for you guys but my knowledge is very limited. Thanks for your help.

May be a model number inside the crane cut out on the frame; open the cylinder and take a look.

You da man! Mod 30-1. thanks. Also several other marks down there. 5 digit number, different from the serial number. Also a mark very much like a heart, one like an arrowhead pointed down and another slightly different arrowhead like mark pointing up?

Thanks again for the help.

The odd marks are proof and inspector markings.

Steelhead just bought a 4" Model 30, I believe. Very nice little pistols. A 2" with soft lead HPs loaded properly would be a very good house/desk gun, especially if you happen to have an elderly person with weakened hands that needs some home protection.

Plan is for my wife, 5 foot nothing with small hands to use it. But I do like the looks of it too! Bet it goes to the range a time or two with me. Thanks again for your help. It is sincerely appreciated.

It will shoot well, and she will like it. The recoil is very light and they are generally quite accurate (even with a 2" barrel).

The Sierra 90 grain JHP is a good bullet for the .32 Long, as would be the 60 grain Speer GoldDots.

Buffalo Bore makes some hot ammo for it.

back in the early eighties, I gave a G/F a Smith .32 pistol. She used it to dispatch a serial rapist that targeted gals in the Parking lot of the State Farm office in Jax. Yeah, they can be effective. Killed that fellow graveyard dead.

I've got one too, except mine is so old it's called a Hand Ejector Model.



Fun to shoot.

Nice!

Thanks. These are cool old guns. Mine was made on the I-Frame, but the later models were made on the J-Frame so they could handle the much more powerful .38 Special.

I have a 31-1 with a 4" barrel. The difference between the 30 and 31 is the butt. 30 is round, 31 is square.


The 32 S&W long (Colt Police Positive) is what Charles Bronson used in Death Wish.....

She is gonna love it, my wife made my regulation Police, the 30's predecessor, HERS!

I think she will love it too. If she can get it away from me! :-)

Those are very nice little handguns; this is my 30-1, 3" barrel wearing Badger walnut grips. Also have the matching original grips; believe it dates to 1969 if I remember correctly.

I got one too...I would NOT shoot any hot Buffalo Bore ammo in it though

Wow.

This is the one I just bought on the 'Fire. Think I'll find a 2" round butt model next.

They was a good buy Steelhead, I almost went for it and would certainly have done so if I did not already have the one above.

Took it out and shot it this weekend and it is an accurate little gun. Hitting coke cans from 7 yards, which I consider quite good with old eyes, shaky hands and a short barrel. Action was a little too stiff for my wife. She struggled to get it cocked and/or shot double action. Will have to look into getting that fixed.

My tiny little Colt New Police 32 S&W Long has got 1417 fps over the chrono with 85 gr HNDY JHP 1.3" OAL and LIL GUN.
But the groups were 5 shots 2.2" at 50 feet with a scope.

For better groups 32 S&W Long 98 gr HBWC 1.7 gr Bullseye, 0.974".

I had a 31 4" back in the 80's and foolishly swapped it for a Ruger SingleSix .32 Magnum. Swapped that for an Orvis split bamboo fly rod, and stumbled onto a Colt Police Positive Special .32 4" which I still have. I can't honestly say which I like better- the Smith or the Colt.

I made the best game shot I ever pulled off with a pistol, with the Colt. Left handed, 50 feet or so off to my left, squirrel shot through the head. I'll never pull that off again!

I'd almost rather have a .32 revolver as about anything else, pistol-wise, for general plinking/target/what-the-heck shooting. With a bullet mold and a pound of Bullseye, it's cheaper than shooting .22s in a lot of instances. Primers become the most expensive component for each shot.

That would be my concern. My grandmother had a 4" .32 S&W L ... I thought the trigger was too stiff for her very weak hands. My aunt has a similar 5 shot .38 S&W .. same situation. Neither had/has the hands strength to operate the gun double action and neither had the dexterity to hold the gun and cock the hammer with one hand. They were so slow any determined attacker would have taken the gun away from them long before a shot was fired.

Tom

"Hot" is a relative matter when it comes to a .32 Long. The hottest available load is likely no challenge for the frame/cylinder of an all-steel Smith & Wesson J or I Frame, i.e., it's an inherently weak chambering.

Common. Folks immediately think a lady needs a J-Frame because it fits the hand, but in actual point of fact, the action of a J-Frame is always going to be more challenging for relatively weak hands than will that of a K-Frame. The internal mechanics of the smaller design are the reason. Less leverage advantage for the trigger finger.

What holster would you gentlemen suggest for this gun?

Anything designed for a J-Frame. After that, it depends on how you want to carry it. IWB, you just cannot beat the Milt Sparks offerings.