Author Topic: History of 32 ACP Ammo  (Read 545 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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History of 32 ACP Ammo
« on: November 23, 2020, 01:42:32 pm »
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https://ammo.com/handgun/32-acp-ammo#caliber-history

The history of the .32 Automatic Colt Pistol is a rich one, filled with ups and downs, assassinations, suicides, and even iconic heroes. Its beginnings date back to 1899, when John Browning created his first successful commercial automatic pistol, and its legacy continues through today with most American and all European ammunition companies still manufacturing rounds in .32 caliber ammunition.

The .32 Automatic Colt Pistol, more commonly referred to as the .32 ACP or .32 Auto in the United States and the 7.65mm Browning in Europe, features a lightweight lead bullet that measures between .308 and .3125 inch in a semi-rimmed, straight-walled casing that measures .680 inch in length. At .984, the whole cartridge comes in just under an inch. This low-power ammunition has a wide variety of semi-automatic handguns chambered for it due its low recoil and lightweight concealability.

Since its 100-plus years of popularity, the .32 ACP has been chambered in more handguns than any other cartridge throughout history.

Development of the .32 ACP

John Moses Browning designed the .32 ACP cartridge in for the Fabrique Nationale 1900 blowback pistol in 1899. The cartridge, which is known in Europe as the 7.65mm Browning, saw great success. In 1903, the ammunition hit the U.S. market with the release of the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Pistol. Soon after, other firearm manufacturers followed suit and released their own semi-automatic pistols chambered for .32 Auto ammunition.

In the early decades of the 20th century, the .32 ACP was one of the most popular ammunitions, and was carried by law enforcement and armed forces around the world, as well as civilians looking for a reliable and easy-to-use self-defense weapon.

The .32 Auto’s Role in History

As .32 ACP ammo and the pistols that were chambered for it became more popular, these firearms started to play a role in history. On September 6, 1901, William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot twice, point blank, in the abdomen by an anarchist from New York named Leon Czolgsz. Czolgsz was carrying a .32 Iver Johnson revolver, which he concealed with a handkerchief as he pretended to shake the President’s hand. Eight days later, McKinley died of gangrene from the bullet wounds.

In 1914, a young Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip used an FN Browning Model 1910 chambered in .32 Auto to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, taking part in the chain of events that pushed the world into World War I. Nicknamed the Gun that Shook the World, this culture-changing weapon was found in 2004, in an Austrian Jesuit community house that had inherited it from a close friend of the royal couple.

Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, used another pistol chambered for the .32 ACP to commit suicide. On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his wife of two days, Eva Braun, killed themselves in his underground bunker in Berlin – Hitler with his Walther PPK and Braun by taking cyanide. Just a few days later on May 8th, the German forces surrendered to the Allies unconditionally.

When talking about .32 Auto-toting figures from the past, British Secret Agent 007, James Bond, must be mentioned. Bond’s character reigned in the 1950s, when .32 ACP pistols would have been readily available throughout the world. Although it’s not the only pistol Bond carries in the books and movies, this fictional hero often carried a Walther PPK.

Uses for the .32 Auto

When first released, .32 ACP ammo and the pistols that were chambered for it quickly rose in popularity. And even today, this caliber remains one of the more popular ammunition cartridges worldwide. Its light recoil, low noise threshold, and easy concealability make it an option for a variety of people and helps to keep the .32 ACP ammo price affordable.

The cartridge was used by European police and military personnel until the 9mm Parabellum replaced it in the late 1980s. Even after the larger round became the standard, many officers continued to wear pistols in this cartridge as both a backup weapon and badge of station.

The .32 Auto is a little too weak for hunting most game, but is still effective for small animals and varmint. Remember, although the round is strong enough, most modern pistols chambered for .32 caliber ACP ammo are designed for self-defense and close-range shooting, making them less accurate than other options for small-game handguns.

Another common function of the .32 ACP is for humane kills. From both the veterinary and the farm point of view, this cartridge provides more than enough impact to quickly and effectively kill an animal for butchering or when it’s injured, without causing unnecessary pain or discomfort. When the muzzle is placed on contact, .32 ACP bullets can even humanely dispatch large farm animals like horses and cows.

More: https://ammo.com/handgun/32-acp-ammo#caliber-history

Offline rustynail

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Re: History of 32 ACP Ammo
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2020, 02:08:16 pm »
Interesting.  Thanks.

Offline Elderberry

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Re: History of 32 ACP Ammo
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2020, 03:07:59 pm »
I have a Kel-Tec P32 and a CZ-70, and I continually kick myself for not picking up a CZ-83 in 32 that I thought was too pricey, not realizing how scarce they are.