Guns & Outdoors Forum

GrapeApe wrote: ↑Wed Apr 23, 2025 2:50 am Too bad NN isn't on here anymore.

Speaking of him, anyone heard from him lately?

That was what I was thinking too - he liked the .327

Good lord. How long does it take Bud’s to ship something? It’s been ‘processing’ since Wednesday

Counting the chickens before they hatch

Starting at the top I see

That’s my favorite bullet in my 32-20. I like the 85’s for the H&R mag.6

That should be a great combo! I’m with Sako the 100 grain for the 32-20 is where it’s at. I’m using a 71 grain cast bullet for the 32 mag.

Ordered the loading dies. Also got some .32H&R cases and the 85 grain XTPs. I have a good supply of turnout who’s seems to be a decent powder for the lil.32s.

bullsi1911 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 6:20 pm Ordered the loading dies. Also got some .32H&R cases and the 85 grain XTPs. I have a good supply of turnout who’s seems to be a decent powder for the lil.32s.

"Turnout"???
What is it??

That's what autocorrect THINKS I'm saying when i type "Titegroup"

autocorrect, your worst enema

I’m picking up the gun tomorrow, and I was going to load some test rounds tonight. Opened up the dies, and the carbide decapping/ resizing die was missing and replaced with a 9mm Luger seating die.

Goddamnit!

So I have 50rounds of American Eagle .327 jacketed soft point and 20 rounds of.32H&R Mag LRN, and that’s it.

Picked it up, fired a few rounds. Full report coming when I have a few more minutes

Alright- first impressions. The SP101 is one heck of a handy ‘little gun’. I hav experience with them from some friends owning them, and y brother having one, all in .357. I have always liked the size and ‘heft’ of the gun, d they usually have pretty decent triggers for a small gun. This one is no different. Good trigger, solid, handy little wheelgun.

I did not shoot for accuracy. Everything was offhand, mostly being a function check to see if it worked and how it handled with the mmo I was able to get.

For those that don’t know, the .327 Federal Magnum is technically a “Super Magnum”. It is based off the .32 H&R Magnum from the mid-80’s… but if you go back even further, the genesis of this is the OLD black powder .32 S&W, which was then lengthened to make the .32 S&W Long… which was hen lengthened to make the .32 H&R Magnum…. Which was lthen lengthened to make the .327 Federal Magnum. So, if you wanted to be pedanticit’s actually a super-super Magnum. Anyway, that is the long way around to say that the instruction manuals will tell you this gun can fire four different rounds: .32S&W, .32S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum, and .327 Federal Mag. BUT… it is a well known fact that most of the guns can also fire the .32ACP since it is a semi-rimmed auto pistol cartridge. So- one gun, 5 Rounds.

All I was able to source in time was .32ACP, some absolutely ancient .32H&R LRN, and a box of American Eagle 100Grain JSP. (see the lead corrosion on the .32H&R?)

The sights were bottomed out from the factory, so everything shot WAY high. Both the H&R and Federal Magnum it to around the same point of aim at 7 yards: (H&R Mag to the left, .327 to the right)

The .32H&R shot an impressive fireball and had very little recoil. The .327 had no fireball, a sharp snappy recoil… and were loud as hell. My brother was shooting 2 different .44 Magnums, and the .327 turned more heads than the .44 Magnum Desert Eagle. Closest I could compare it to was shooting a 7.2x25 which is not surprising since the ballistics are similar. The .32ACP was like shooting an air gun. Absolutely no recoil, very minimal sound, and I have no dea on accuracy. I was just giggling when I shot it.

I also grabbed a “Cal38” holster for dirt cheap. It is a handmade lined leather holster that I got for less than $30.
Website: https://www.cal38.com/collections/ruge ... -snub-nose

Now, for the downside. I experienced some sticky extraction with the .327 Federal loads. Nothing that was a game stopper, just required some force to pop them out. Now, this could be that I took it right our of the box and fired it and the chambers were dirty or had manufacturing gunk/ oil in them, could be the ammo (there are reports of these being extra hot and sticky on line), or (hopefully not) rough chambers. The Pin that holds in the adjustable rear sight also stands proud of the frame on the passenger side, and there is a sharp edge on the frame window that eels like it should have been smoothed at the factory.

All in all- I like this gun- SO FAR. I’ll give it a deep clean, source some more ammo (and a new set of dies) and get it back to the range again soon

Oh, and another thing on the holster. I ordered it off amazon, and it came with a hand written note:
I have to say that was a nice touch. I’m an old school customer service kind of guy, and I appreciated that

Finally got some time to load up some test rounds and get to the range for testing. All shots are at 7 yards fired with wrists rested on the bench in single action
Super light plinking load in 32 H&R brass. Pretty much .32ACP load levels. Like shooting an air gun. Not as accurate as I was hoping Another very light load and better accuracy. I may tinker with this some more. Bump up the speed a bit
A bump up in power, and performed pretty well. Definitely spoke with a bit more authority and showed decent accuracy.
Now THAT’S what I was looking for. Very polite to shoot and great accuracy. I’ll run this into gel and see how it performs

Now into the 327 loads.
Another jump in power. Good accuracy, still very polite recoil, but much louder
I was hoping for a tighter group on this one. I may bump it a tenth of a grain up and/or down to see if I can tighten the groups a bit. Still good accuracy, but I want better. This was still very agreeable in recoil, but loud.

It seems to like 100 grain bullets

Interesting results. I have not tried the 100gr XTP's in my .32 mag.

Good enough for social work but I agree it SHOULD be tighter at 7 yards supported. More science makes sense.

I wonder what a 115GC cast bullet would do…..
Good shooting

Elk Creek wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 4:50 pm I wonder what a 115GC cast bullet would do…..
Good shooting

That’s a good idea. It seems to like the heavier slugs… I need to see if it gets even better with even heavier ones. More science needed!

Big(ger) bullets going fast I like, that SP can take it.

I think in general I’ve always had a better result with Ruger handguns using heavy for caliber bullets. My old .45 Colt BH loved 300gr+ projectiles and would land them on top of each other with just about any load I pushed into that case.

Loaded up a few more test rounds and made it to the range. Did something I never do, and loaded to book max on one of em. Sticky extraction, flattened primers, and not great accuracy. Scratch that one
1/10th of a grain down. No pressure signs, but still not great accuracy.
Step down another 1/10th, and bingo! This is still a loud little sucker, and had mid range recoil. I think I will load up a pile of these and test velocity and performance in gel. So far, I am happy with this.

One more word on the SP101. I did a tear down on it a few days ago, and was even more disappointed in Ruger. There were metal chips and filings inside the trigger group. I cleaned them out and it now has a FANTASTIC trigger. Smooth DA with a predictable and consistent break, and a very crisp and light SA.

That was all at 7 yards off hand, BTW