H&R Revolvers

I'm in the market for a revolver. I'm not committed to any specific model or caliber but i'm leaning toward something in 32. What's the market rate on a revolver in decent condition? Does anyone have any insights on availability locally? Any feedback is appreciated.

You might want to narrow it down from " revolver in decent condition " .

Thats a good point. I'm looking for a good shooter in solid mechanical condition. Finish is not so important. I'm not opposed to a nice finish on a well kept gun but i know there are more than a few with surface rust or flaking nickel finishes. I don't mind a project gun so long as its safe to fire.

Revolvers in anything but .38/.357 are very hard to find down here. Its mostly very high end s&w's.

troy_mclure said:

Revolvers in anything but .38/.357 are very hard to find down here. Its mostly very high end s&w's.

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That's what I'm starting to see so I came to the forum. I may get some responses with a WTB but I thought I'd see what I could find out here first.

The only 32 H&R I have seen are Ruger and not cheap but are well kept

You can find snubby .32 Long H&R revolvers around for $100 - 250 in good shape. I had two, neither one was a good shooter. One put the bullets sideways through the target paper. The grips are tiny. There's a reason they are cheap.

$100 is definitely in budget. I'm planning to work loads up with cast bullets to find something that works. I've been scoping out the pawn shops around Lafayette but nothing is turning up.

My reply was aimed at the H R 32 cartridge not the guns made by H R them self. That cartridge must have a good following still by some. And appears to be accurate in good revolvers. Looks like most get Ruger revolvers and Starline brass. As well as cast bullets for them. I was looking at a Bisley Type Ruger at one point. As I have a 4 cavity brass hollow point mould in 32 made Wanted to use it for more than 7.62x25. And the 32HR was on my short list

But if anyone scores a nice condition revolver at 100 buck's. Brass and bullets are not much

I caught what you were saying. I'm looking for an inexpensive toy. I have seen the Ruger's and they're pretty nice. I saw the Bisley too but sticker shock was around $600. But it doesn't much sound like there are many around locally. 22lr and 22 mag would be good too. My first wheel gun was an H&R 22mag with a slab sided barrel. I don't remember the model but it was fun to shoot.

I had an old crack over a few years ago, Think it was H&R or a Smith? Sold it to a member here for 100.00, Maw-n-law has a 32, I'll check if its for sale?

Thanks Gator. I've seen the break actions like the old Schofield design but never fired one. I think that style was pretty popular with the old Ivers. Atleast thsts mostly what I've seen.

tallguy606 said:

You can find snubby .32 Long H&R revolvers around for $100 - 250 in good shape. I had two, neither one was a good shooter. One put the bullets sideways through the target paper. The grips are tiny. There's a reason they are cheap.

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ive been looking for months, where have you seen them?

Redd508 said:

$100 is definitely in budget. I'm planning to work loads up with cast bullets to find something that works. I've been scoping out the pawn shops around Lafayette but nothing is turning up.

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ive been looking for several months, unless you get lucky youll see mostly mechanically unsound guns or high dollar s&w's.

troy_mclure said:

ive been looking for several months, unless you get lucky youll see mostly mechanically unsound guns or high dollar s&w's.

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That's what I'm finding so far. The search will continue.

Gator 45/70 said:

I had an old crack over a few years ago, Think it was H&R or a Smith? Sold it to a member here for 100.00, Maw-n-law has a 32, I'll check if its for sale?

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I have a crack over H&R .22 that my daddy bought used when I was a little kid. And I'm 65

The "crack" revolvers that are being referred to are, I believe, the "top break" revolvers that rose in the 1880's, and that had steadily declined in popularity by the 1920's. Smith & Wesson technically produced them in the early 1940's, but the "hand ejector" design (where the cylinder swivels out to the side) was universally hailed as a better design, which explains why the top breaks went out of vogue so quickly.

I own many top breaks and shoot several of them occasionally, but it's not something I'd rely on for anything more than occasionally putting holes in paper at the local range. And even then, I use the lightest of loads in these guns, given that most of them are now 100+ years old. Many of them (especially from Smith & Wesson) were state-of-the-art in their day, but like many things from 100 years ago, state-of-the-art then is a far cry from state-of-the-art now.

It's also worth adding that many of the pre-1900 guns were built specifically for the old black powder rounds, which had considerably different (and gentler) ballistics than modern smokeless rounds. There's a never-ending debate about whether light loads (with smokeless powder) can be safely shot out of these guns, and my general answer to this is "no." Why risk one's personal safety, not to mention the historic integrity of an antique revolver? I've seen a few antique guns with split cylinders and barrels, becomes someone thought modern ammunition in a 100+ year old gun was a good idea.

That said ... is there a particular reason you're looking for a revolver in the .32 chambering? I ask not because .32 is a bad round (the .32 S&W long cartridge is one of the finest target shooting rounds, in my opinion), but rather because they're something of a rarity. Smith produced J frame revolvers in .32 chambering for many years (look up the "Model 30"), but they're a bit tough to find these days. The .38 Special round became the de-facto revolver round somewhere around the 1960's, which makes reloading components and tools for this caliber (and .357 magnum) laughably easy to find.

Smith and Ruger both make inexpensive new revolvers chambered in .38 Special, you can probably find one for under $400 if you do some scratching around (I picked up a brand new Airweight S&W at a local gun show last December for under $400 including tax). With this you get the benefits of modern metallurgy and a chambering that is boringly common, since you won't have to go dredge up .32 brass.

Mike

Thanks for the feedback Mike. The short answer is that 32 is between 22 and 38. Those bases are covered pretty well. I'm looking for something novel ( atleast to me) and i know the HR's are pretty well made. That said, as a reloader and caster i can work with a wide variety of components including black powder. I think the 32 would be fun and relatively inexpensive to dink around with.

Gratuitous .32 porn

Can't have a thread without gratuitous photos. First is a S&W .32 Hand Ejector that I inherited from a relative in the 70's, was in pretty bad shape so sent it back to S&W for a full refinish. Second is a Dreyse .32 auto that my dad brought back from WWII as a war trophy Still have the bring-back paperwork on it.

While these are not always the first to go to the range, they'll always be there for me, wouldn't get rid of either.