WB
Puffy and I were once discussing perils of .32 Short Colts
Saturday, January 29, 2022, 21:19

The cartridges are almost unobtainable. These are encountered mostly in old Colt Police Positives marked ".32 Colt DA". Not to be confused with later versions marked ".32 Colt New Police", which is the same as a .32 S&W long cartridge. As Jim mentioned if you look down the cylinder chambers and they are fully straight, bored through with no "step" for the protruding bullet, it's designed for a heeled bullet type cartridge.

The .32 Short Colt is about the length of the .32 S&W and shoots the same diameter projectile .312 or so. BUT the bullet is heeled and the case is smaller than the S&W in diameter, being basically the same case diameter as the bullet. The case will usually split in a .32 S&W chamber. A minimum bulge, and give mediocre accuracy.

Myself being a bit more bold. I rechambered the old Colt to .32 S&W Long. It took a bit of metal out of the chambers as this configuration was not heeled but inside the case type seated bullet and such the case was several thousandths larger in diameter. So now the chambers have a visible step in them like most modern revolvers. The old gun was not (at that time) very collectable and more desirable in a caliber that you could actually shoot!

Similar to the old Colt .32 DA this is a Pocket Positive but chambered in .32 New Police (.32 S&W Long).

These are my "hybrid" .310 Martini/Winchesters and a 120 gr. heeled bullet. The actual .310 Martini is a more subtle taper and thinner rim. Brass is challenging to obtain compared to .32-20.