Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The joy of .32 ACP's

The day of the .32 ACP as a defensive choice is long gone, but it doesn't change the fact that there were some really cool .32 ACP's that were made back in the day.

When my kids were small (7-10 years) and they wanted to shoot a centerfire handgun, I got a .32 ACP. I picked up a Beretta Model 70 and an Astra 3000, both in .32 ACP. It fit my kids like a full sized handgun fits me; and they both loved it.

One of my favorite .32's to shoot is the Savage 1907, which is just a super cool little pistol. And of course, there's the Colt 1903 which is even cooler.

So let's hear about your .32's.

My favorite 32 ACP pistol is a Beretta Tomcat INOX - 3032.

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'Joy' well describes it!

I have a Mauser HSC in .32, very reliable.

I have a (German?) police issue Manurhin/Walther PP in .32. It's one of the guns my daughter wants me to leave to her when I croak. Think I paid $125 for it thirty or so years ago when they imported a bunch.

Bretta Tom Cat and a German postal PPK both lots of fun.

Ernie

Iv got one of the 1907 savage 32s super little pistol 10 Quick shots!

I have an L.W. Scamp 32 that is built like a swiss watch. I ordered the gun when there was a 8 to 10 month wait to get one and within a month after I ordered it Ruger came out with their LCP in 380, so the 32 ACP never gets carried. The Ruger LCP never get carried either, my small gun is a J-Frame 38 snubnose.

Manurhin PP. Lovely little pistola. Not my 1st choice to defend myself with, but it'll do.
Bob

I inherited a Manurhin PP from my Grandfather that he bought sometime in the 70s. I always thought 32s were junk until I got this pistol. It is very accurate and fun to shoot. I think it will go to my daughter some day as well.

those manurhin's are french, made after the war when walther and germans were on the bad boy list. They are excellent little pistola's. I suppose they could have been a post war german police gun, but kind of doubt it.
on the other hand i have a belgian hipower that was a austrian police gun in the late 40's so i can't say for sure.
The manurhin i have in the box came with a test target, made early 50's in france.

Only 32 is a vz27 my grandfather brought home in the 40s. Nothing great, but I like it.

Were you a James Bond fan, too?

MM

I got This one!

1940-vintage Walther PP, GI bringback (by my uncle, 1st Inf Div-- relieved a German officer of it somewhere in Normandy, 1944). Some finish issues, but is tight, accurate, with an exceptional single-action trigger pull.

It lives in my night stand with a magazine full of Winchester 60gr. Silvertip HP's. Best for defense purposes? Oh no (the .45 next to it in the same drawer is the "go-to"). But I like it- good juju.

My cousin has Uncle John's CZ-27 he brought home at the same time. He won that one in a crap game on the troop ship on his way home. He said they never inspected his duffle bag, perhaps because he was on his way to a hospital to finish recovering from wounds.

The only .32 ACP I ever had was/is a Kel-Tec P-32. Not much to praise, other than it's being light and small. OK reliability. I had a nice old Colt, but it was in .380 ACP rather than, .32. Had it for years, but just got tired of it and sold it. Still have a revolver on the S&W I-Frame in .32 S&W Long, which is a fun little gut to shoot.

Now that is nice.

beretta 81 and a 1903 colt were my favorites

Well, according to "Q", the .32 ACP has "a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window". Sounds like a pretty powerful gun to me. Now give me that damn Beretta.

Another nice thing about the .32 PP is that it goes well with my .22 Walther PP. Great pair of autos.
Bob

My Grandfathers passed to me through my dad. 1944 manufactured Colt 1903 .32 Automatic stamped "US PROPERTY", parkerized finish.

I've had a Manurhin PP for a long time. I carried as a warm weather back up for many years. Finish is not so great anymore but is is still a very tight and sweet shooting piece. I always alternated solids and Winchester Silver Tips in the mags. Killed several groundhogs with it.
Bill

Hey Woodie, that pistol is a movie star! At the end of one of my favorite movies, "The Private Eyes" with Don Knotts and Tim Conway, the villian whips out one of those little pistols and apparently the blanks didn't work through it very good, because she had to manipulate the slide after every shot.

I always thought they were a neat looking little pistol though.

I have the Browning 1910 in 32acp. Great little pistol. It was made in 1928 or 1929 according to the sources I could find online. At some point it was professionally reblued (nice job) and fake ivory grips were installed. It's a spiffy little shooter.

When a young GI asked Humphrey Bogart, outside of a USO Club in Italy, where he could get one of those little Colts that fired 25 times without reloading, he replied with a smile "Ain't Hollywood great?!"

My little .32 Seecamp has a place in the lineup. Bought this one years ago when there was a 2 year wait for one. Bought 5 with sequenced serial numbers and kept one for myself. I basically got this one for free.

As irrelevant as the .32 ACP has become, there's no denying the utter-COOL factor of that pistol right there!!!

Oh hell yeah!!!

That has always been one of my favorite pocket pistols; what a neat design.

Yeah! But It only took one round to down Major Strosser!




Of the Third Reich.

I picked up these three at an estate sales a year or so ago. They all shoot great.

Dad got this one during World War II and he passed it on to me. I have shot it a lot for fun. My daughter enjoys shooting it also and when she got her conceal carry permit she wanted to carry it. I bought her a Kahr CW9 instead.

CZ 27