Boomsticks: I miss the thirty-two.

Actually, to say "I miss the .32" would be a little inaccurate, as back in the dying days of the .32 S&W Long cartridge I was all absorbed with whizbang super-tactical 9mm semiautomatic pistols. Revolvers, if they were acknowledged at all by me, needed to be in at least .38 caliber and weigh nothing.

As I've gotten old and cranky matured, guns no longer need to fill some "tactical niche" and can be owned and shot merely for the joy of owning and shooting, and I find that the .32 S&W Long in an all-steel I- or J-frame is an immensely pleasurable cartridge. You get just enough sturm und drang to let you know you're not shooting a .22 rimfire, enough recoil to let you know the gun went off but not enough to raise objections in even the most gun-shy novice, and the holes are enough larger than a .22 (especially when shooting wadcutters) that there's no need to pull targets every thirty seconds to see where you're hitting. Also, the round is freaky accurate, which is why it lingers on in (of all things) semiauto target pistols.

Unfortunately, once the .38 Special became available in J-frames, the .32 S&W Long entered its death spiral. Fewer guns were sold, which meant fewer rounds were loaded, which meant higher ammunition prices, as the production costs had to be amortized over fewer case lots. With the ammunition being more expensive, it didn't make sense as a centerfire plinker, and the now-cheaper-to-shoot .38 Spl took the job by default. By the early '80s, .32 S&W Long was largely relegated to cheaper revolvers from H&R or outright junk guns like the Clerke, and S&W finally dropped all its offerings in the caliber in the early '90s.

My .32 J-frame has served as an introductory centerfire revolver for more than one new shooter, and its small size combined with its four inch barrel make it easy for a novice to get comfortable and make good shots. I've never fired a .32 S&W Long K-frame, but I'll own one someday, I'm sure. It'll have to be an older one, though, and not just because I like older Smiths. In this case, they really don't make 'em like that anymore.

(Incidentally, shooting the .32ACP Colts, I've discovered I miss a whole different kind of .32, as well, but that's for a different post...)