The .32 S&W is a straight-walled, centerfire, rimmed handgun cartridge (also known as the .32 S&W Short), and was originally designed as a black powder cartridge. It was introduced in 1878 for Smith & Wesson pocket revolvers. The .32 S&W was offered to the public as a light defense cartridge for "card table" distances.

The .32 S&W Short was the basis for several other .32-caliber handgun cartridges. The .32 S&W Short can safely be fired in guns chambered for .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal Magnum.

Design

Designed by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company (UMC) as a black powder cartridge using nine grains of black powder, the round has been loaded with smokeless powder exclusively since 1940. It is low-powered and perfect for use in small frame concealable revolvers and derringers. The round remained popular in the United States and Europe long after the firearms chambered for it were out of production.

Use in assassinations

Guns chambered in .32 S&W have been used in at least three notable assassinations:

  • Gaetano Bresci used an Iver Johnson revolver chambered in .32 S&W to assassinate King Umberto I of Italy on July 29, 1900. Bresci hit his victim with four shots.
  • Leon Czolgosz used an Iver Johnson revolver chambered in .32 S&W to assassinate United States President William McKinley at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901. McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at close range, and although he did not die immediately, he eventually succumbed to gangrene on September 14, 1901.
  • Giuseppe Zangara used a United States Revolver Company (a subsidiary of Iver Johnson) revolver chambered in .32 S&W to assassinate Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago, on February 15, 1933, in what may have been an attempt to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Cermak was shot in the lung and died on March 6, 1933.

<gallery class=center>

File:32caliberhandguncartridgecomparison.png|From left to right: .32 S&W, .32 ACP, .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal Magnum.

File:Ndwik.jpg|Smith & Wesson Lemon Squeezer example, chambered in .32 S&W

File:Pistola de Czolgosz.JPG|Revolver and cartridges used in the assassination of William McKinley

</gallery>

Chambered weapons

Notable guns chambered in .32 S&W include:

<!--Notable=has its own Wikipedia page. List alphabetically-->

  • Colt Police Positive
  • Smith & Wesson Lemon Squeezer
  • Smith & Wesson Model 1 1/2
  • Smith & Wesson Model 3
  • Smith & Wesson Model 30
  • Union Automatic Revolver

&nbsp;Other gun types, or gun manufacturers, using .32 S&W include:

  • Forehand & Wadsworth
  • Garrucha
  • Iver Johnson
  • Merwin Hulbert
  • Röhm Gesellschaft
  • Series ALFA Steel

See also

  • 8 mm caliber
  • List of handgun cartridges
  • Table of handgun and rifle cartridges

References