Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Which 32acp Ammunition

I have a Sauer&Sohn Model 38H pistol here as my home defense go-to. Today there was a shooting near campus, 1 dead and 3 injured in a botched robbery attempt.

People get real uppity when school is starting, tuition, housing, books are all due, and tension sets in.

I believe hollowpoints are the way to go and was looking at these
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=153200

thanks for input. Andrew

I pack silvertips in my Kel-Tec.

Mike

that would be plain Winchester then right?

didn't know if the "personal defense" or specialty ammunition was worth a look

Andrew

One data site that I perused found the Fiocchi 73 gr. FMJ to be best in the 'penetration' dept. which is the weak area of the .32 ACP.

It also seems that much of the .32 acp. hollow point and defensive ammunition doesn't expand very much out of the short barrels.

My Beretta Tomcat 3032 likes the hardball stuff, and I'm comfortable shooting Remington UMC 71 gr. (Often buying whatever I can find locally available.)

I have tested various 32 ACP rounds into wet phone books and such. My impression is that FMJ is probably a better option than hollow points in this particular round.
In the 380 ACP however, hollow points seem pretty impressive. FWIW.

A 32 ACP with FMJs isn't going to do much damage to someone.A 32 caliber hole in and a 32 caliber hole out ain't much.

Plus,you don't need much penetration on a person.We ain't talkin deer here.

I'd go Silvertip,or whatever load I could get with the Hornady 60 grain XTP.

I'd stay as far away from an FMJ as possibly.

WB.

so the 60gr sounds good. I'll check the local wally world tomorrow for winchester 32auto in the silvertips

Andrew

Legal problems aside, where the .32 is concerned, keep shooting 'til she's empty, regardless of boolit.
t

yeah, and make sure he "falls" into the doorway, not out of <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Andrew

32acp is the next best thing to not having a gun when it comes to personal defence. Shop around and get something a little more powerful. I'd say 9mm Luger was as low as I would go, and would prefer a 40 S&W. Even a good used 45acp is way better.

Speer GoldDots, or CorBon DPXs.

The .32 is weak; it'll need all the help you can give it.

IT WILL work......

.............you just do YOUR job.

Killin'.

GTC

shootist,

I admit that I know very little when it comes to this subject, so I am curious to know why a small bore pistol like a .22 is not a very good weapon for self defence.

I fully understand that the larger caliber guns have more stopping power, but I have always felt that a few well placed .22 rounds would also be pretty effective.

I keep a Ruger Semi-Auto .22 filled with LR HP ammo around the house and carry a similarly loaded Taurus Semi-Auto .22 in my jacket or pants pocket pocket when I go into high risk areas.

Be happy to hear your (and others) thoughts on this matter..........

Thanks

.32acp doesn't penetrate well under the best conditions. Heavy clothing will slow one up severely. Hardball is best in those guns.

Most of those earlier guns were built to feed hardball, hollowpoints often won't feed reliably, and at the velocities they have, really don't expand significantly.

Try 9x19mm 119gr or 124gr Speer Gold Dot hollowpoints, or preferably 45ACP Federal Hydra-Shoks, or even 12ga #4 buckshot.

If they don't fit into your gun, get a bigger gun until they do.

If you can't buy a bigger gun, get a baseball bat. 32ACP for home defense is--pardon my French--a dumb idea. Maybe--maybe--as a last-ditch backup desperation move, where you might actually be able to stick it right into somebody's ear at contact range; but you don't ever want that to be your first line of defense. A baseball bat will put you in a much better position.

The .22 is a great killer, but the death usually occurs some time after the incident, which doesn't help much if you're shooting in self-defense. If you believe the studies, most of the time a self defense weapon won't be fired....the mere presence of the weapon deters the goblin, who prefers easy prey. So in that sense, any gun is way better than none.

The .32 ACP was the standard police caliber in Europe for many years, with FMJ, and has sent plenty of bad guys (and good guys) to their maker. But a man-stopper it is not, regardless of ammo, unless you make a lucky CNS hit.

I sometimes carry a PPK in .380 with Silvertips if I'm not wearing enough clothes to hide a .45, but I always worry that in a fight with a strung out crackhead it may take a head shot to do the job.

I'll start looking for a 12ga, but the 32 is all I have over my 22, and then after that are a 243, 308, and a couple blackpowder Civil war era stuffs.

what about the Winchester 1300 Defender? short stock and short barel?

Andrew

Remember though, the guy looking at the barrel end doesn't necessarily know or understand the limitations of the .32ACP. IF he can even tell that it's only a .32 barrel . . .

Cor-Bon is a good choice but I carry the Speer Gold Dots in my P-32 and Colt 1903 Pocket .32.