I like the idea - but very expensive ammo, and very little variety in firearm choice to get what, a round or two capacity over 9mm? Not seeing the argument in favor.
Another orphan round is the .327 Federal. A .32 with decent power, that can increase capacity in a small frame revolver. In that revolver, you can also chamber .32 H&R and .32 S&W.
I like it, but I’ve never seen one for sale.
I've owned two guns chambered in 327 Magnum-the first a Ruger SP101 that I stupidly sold, and the second a Ruger Single 7 that I plan to never sell.
The Single 7 was a special-order through one of the distributors several years back. As soon as I heard of them, I called every gun store in town and one was able to get one for me. Initially they were limited to 1000 in each barrel length(mine is 5 3/4")-I feel like I might have heard there was enough demand that they made a second batch, but I don't know that for sure.
It's a fun caliber, but then I have a "thing" for high velocity 32 caliber handguns. I love the 32-20 also. I've never been brave enough to load 32-20 "Rifle" ammunition to shoot in one of my 32-20 S&W revolvers(which some CLAIM are strong enough handle loads meant for Winchester 92s) but it's still fun even at smokeless handgun loads. Of course loading it is also a pain-I haven't looked at the scene recently but Remington use to be the only company that made brass in the proper length, but the neck was thin and I managed to crush at least one every round of 50. Winchester and Starline brass is thicker walled, but also shorter than Remington(which is techincally spec length). That means too you have to be particular about sorting headstamps and adjusting dies, especially as the Remington is not only longer but the thinner walls make it crimp differently.
327 Magnum is a different beast, though. It's more like reloading 357 Magnum, but just in a smaller cartridge. Even though the bullets are light, the relatively high velocity translates into as much if not more muzzle energy than a typical 357 Mag(whether 125gr or 158gr) but with less recoil. The smaller 32 caliber(or rather 317 caliber IIRC) bullets have somewhat more favorable ballistics so it's both flatter shooting and at distance can deliver more KE. It may well be the loudest handgun caliber I've ever shot, too, although my Single 7 with its longer barrel is a bit tamer than my SP101 was.
Unfortunately reloading never really was a great proposition for it. IIRC I bought a set of 32 H&R Magnum dies that were long enough to handle a 327 Mag cartridge, but those are not the easiest dies to find in the first place and I seem to remember that not all brands are long enough. Funny enough, I think I ended up with Lee dies, which were(although I love Lee dies in general). Even with brass, dies, and bullets in hand, load data was scarce. I seem to remember that Federal was the only company to have ever made factory ammo, and I think Starline might have made a limited run of brass but most out there in circulation is Federal.
