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The most challenging to load for is the 7.62x38R.

I still kind of kick myself for selling the Nagant. The better half went to grad school, so I sold off some guns I didn't use much to free up some capital. It would have been fun to thread and run suppressed.

If I was really hip and cool and had lots of money (none of which is true, by the way), I'd like to custom make a "pistol" 1903 Springfield, and fit a Pederson Device to it. That would a pretty cool but completely impractical and useless handgun. I have a couple of original .30 Pederson rounds in my meager collection, but otherwise have absolutely no idea where one would find ammo.

That would be a neat-o project.
 
I had a 45 Win Mag years ago by IMT (?). It was a stainless oversized 1911 that shot great. The first 3 rounds at a 50 foot pistol range went into one hole. Can't trmember why I sold it but it was an incredible caliber. Some M1 carbines were converted to it. A rimless lengthened 45ACP case loaded to Magnum levels. Would buy another if I ever see one.......I think I traded it for a M29 because there were no light loads (like 44 special/Magnum) available for it.
 
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Wasn't there an outfit called Le Mag, or something like that, that did the conversions? I remember they did some in .50AE too.
It was Irwindale Machine or something like that. Had some relation to Automag but instead of being ugly and gas's opperated was a 1911 design with a longer barrel and extended mag well.
 
Most of their conversions for the M1 Carbine were for the 10mm Automatic Pistol Cartridge.
This predated the 10mm by at least a decade. It was similar to an LAR Grizzley only made in Irwindale California. Irwindale machine and tool.....made auto mag, AMT, and smaller automatics in 22 Magnum and 30 carbine. I can't bring up the name of the guys (from my mind) that specialized in converting carbines to 45 Win Mag. They advertised in shotgun news.
 
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While reading some other threads here dealing with dead cartridges, I started to wonder "what are some really hipster handgun cartridges I can get in to?"

I'm already a faithful devotee of the 10mm Auto, but this isn't hipster enough to qualify. Why? It's useful, it fills a niche that other cartridges don't. In this case it's a semiauto intended cartridge with some serious power.

A real hipster cartridge needs to be the following: obscure, no factory loads available, "used to be cool", and kind of pointless.

By kind of pointless I mean it shouldn't have any significant advantage over other commercially available rounds. For example .41AE. Barely better ballistics than 40 and eclipsed by 10mm.

So I'll start. 9mm Largo I think borders on hipster cartridge. No specific brass for it, but you can use 38 super brass so maybe it's not hipster enough.

What are your guilty pleasure hipster rounds? Which hipster calibers should I stuff magazines full of into my skinny jeans that are 2 inches too short?
When the crusty gents at the local gunshop lose my attention it is after spitting out a long string of calibers they enjoy and they all have a dash in them. I suggest going with 2.7mm Kolibri, not going to see much of that anywhere.
 
So much potential subject matter to cover here. First of all, perhaps "hipster" isn't quite the right word for obsolete and or impractical cartridges. Maybe some people feel adopting such things make them hip as if they've recently discovered them, whatever.

Okay, agree that the .32 French Long is a weird one, I've owned one of the 1935A's made for the Germans during WW2. Most important aspect of this weapon, it was the basis for the Swiss P210, one of the finest military pistols ever made. How's that for rummaging around in the compost pile of firearm history and pulling out a gem?

.41 Long Colt comes to mind. Colt made tens of thousands of SAA and Official Police (etc) in this caliber, rarely seen today. Impractical to hand load, it takes a heeled bullet (like a .22 LR).

The strange 9mm's, like 9x18mm Ultra and the 9x21mm (designed to get around European weapons laws).

After languishing for a couple of decades, 10mm Auto is ascendant, many manufacturers are selling all kinds of guns for this now.

.40 S&W may start fading away; the FBI is ditching it to go back to 9mm. They are the very reason it was developed. In the interests of political correctness, many law enforcement agencies are doing away with qualifications that center on physical prowess or abilities. Therefore, they have to dumb down their pistols to the lowest common denominator. Meaning, they've found that one of two sexes of FBI agents in training can't handle the big, bad, overly powerful .40 S&W.

.38-40 Win., old name .38 WCF, which isn't a .38 at all but a .40/10mm. This one would be long dead except for CAS. I don't do that sport, but along the way have acquired a Ruger Vaquero convertible with two cylinders, one .40 S&W, the other .38-40 Win. Funny thing, I never owned one of these previously, always thought the profile of the case was pretty ugly (does that count for anything?). But in shooting it, I've found it to be very accurate and controllable. I've only fired my own cast bullets in it so far, jacketed are hard to find and expensive when found. Maybe I'll get a cannelure tool and make some of my own out of 10mm bullets.

It's not a handgun cartridge, but how about this for an odd duck. 8x56Rmm Austrian. I've got over 900 rounds of this to fire off, dug up from somebody's back yard survival stash. He died before the SHTF. Doubt if I can use that much up in what remains of my lifetime; after I've fired 20 rounds or so, I'm done.
 
The .32 French Long has been mentioned a couple times, and I mentioned the Pederson Device and .30 Pederson ammunition. Little known fact: the two cartridges are one in the same. The French copied the WWI Pederson ammo to use in their own SMGs and pistols.
 
The .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal Magnum cartridges are slowly seeing a resurgence. Thier parent cartridges (.32 S&W and .32 S&W Long) are still quite viable in their own spheres.

  1. The .32 S&W is a great "garden" cartridge the 85-grain Round Nose Lead bullet traveling at 705 fps and 93.8 foot-pounds of energy aren't "big boomers" but they'll dispatch skinks, rabbits, rats, nutria, mean dogs and other vermin without drawing much attention.
  2. The .32 S&W Long has had a great history of being carried by numerous detectives, policewomen, corrections officers and policemen from 1896-1950's. Many preferred carrying it to the heavier .38 Specials and the "I"-frame was lighter and carried six rounds where the .38 S&W Special required the larger "J" frame and held but five rounds (the .38 S&W carried five rounds in the "I" frame but was less popular than the .32 S&W Long/.32 Colt "New Police"). With the 98-grain lead leaving a revolver barrel at 718 fps and 112 foot-pounds of energy was superbly accurate and brought modern swing-out cylinder handguns into the NYC Police service by Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt.
  3. In 1984 The .32 H&R Magnum came into existence and rejuvenated the .32 revolver scene. The heavier loads for the H&R Magnum 100-grain JHP at 1208 fps and 324 foot-pounds of energy makes these arms great for small game and personal defense. (Six rounds of this from a 4" "K" frame S&W or 4.2" Ruger SP101 is, without question, going to kill a human being. In a rifle, you can use this to handily take game weighing up to 100 pounds with a well-placed shot.
  4. The .327 Federal Magnum (from a 3 1/16" barrel) launches a 115grain .312" bullet at 1300 fps churning up 431 foot-pounds of energy. Killing humans with one of these short-barreled revolvers is a given and larger game is in definite jeopardy. From a 5 1/2" Blackhawk barrel, it cranks out 1587 fps, generating 620 foot-pounds of energy. If you can't hunt medium sized game at 25 yards you're doing something wrong. From either a 16" or 18" barreled, lever-action rifle, the cartridge becomes a light-recoiling hunting platform. From an 18" barrel the 115-grain JHP leaves the muzzle at 1880 fps, generating 902.7 foot-pounds of energy. (Hint: this dog will "hunt").

Yes, the .32 family isn't popular. It is quirky and off-beat. but a "hipster" cartridge? Well..
 
The .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal Magnum cartridges are slowly seeing a resurgence. Thier parent cartridges (.32 S&W and .32 S&W Long) are still quite viable in their own spheres.

  1. The .32 S&W is a great "garden" cartridge the 85-grain Round Nose Lead bullet traveling at 705 fps and 93.8 foot-pounds of energy aren't "big boomers" but they'll dispatch skinks, rabbits, rats, nutria, mean dogs and other vermin without drawing much attention.
  2. The .32 S&W Long has had a great history of being carried by numerous detectives, policewomen, corrections officers and policemen from 1896-1950's. Many preferred carrying it to the heavier .38 Specials and the "I"-frame was lighter and carried six rounds where the .38 S&W Special required the larger "J" frame and held but five rounds (the .38 S&W carried five rounds in the "I" frame but was less popular than the .32 S&W Long/.32 Colt "New Police"). With the 98-grain lead leaving a revolver barrel at 718 fps and 112 foot-pounds of energy was superbly accurate and brought modern swing-out cylinder handguns into the NYC Police service by Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt.
  3. In 1984 The .32 H&R Magnum came into existence and rejuvenated the .32 revolver scene. The heavier loads for the H&R Magnum 100-grain JHP at 1208 fps and 324 foot-pounds of energy makes these arms great for small game and personal defense. (Six rounds of this from a 4" "K" frame S&W or 4.2" Ruger SP101 is, without question, going to kill a human being. In a rifle, you can use this to handily take game weighing up to 100 pounds with a well-placed shot.
  4. The .327 Federal Magnum (from a 3 1/16" barrel) launches a 115grain .312" bullet at 1300 fps churning up 431 foot-pounds of energy. Killing humans with one of these short-barreled revolvers is a given and larger game is in definite jeopardy. From a 5 1/2" Blackhawk barrel, it cranks out 1587 fps, generating 620 foot-pounds of energy. If you can't hunt medium sized game at 25 yards you're doing something wrong. From either a 16" or 18" barreled, lever-action rifle, the cartridge becomes a light-recoiling hunting platform. From an 18" barrel the 115-grain JHP leaves the muzzle at 1880 fps, generating 902.7 foot-pounds of energy. (Hint: this dog will "hunt").

Yes, the .32 family isn't popular. It is quirky and off-beat. but a "hipster" cartridge? Well..
The NEF R73, which was H&R's gun that shot their .32 round, can still be had on the used market for a very decent price - https://www.gunbroker.com/item/764167877


Dean
 
The NEF R73, which was H&R's gun that shot their .32 round, can still be had on the used market for a very decent price - https://www.gunbroker.com/item/764167877


Dean

Dean:

I have an S&W concealed hammer in .32 H&R Magnum and an H&R 733 (nickel plated) in .32 S&W Long. I also have an old 1903 S&W "I" frame also in .32 S&W Long. I also have a nice Zastava Arms M70 Police turn-in chambered for the 7.65 mm Browning I also have an EAA Titan in 7.65 Browning cartridge.

Yep, I love them all.
 
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My wife carries a 32hr mag, and uses the cheaper sw round for practice... ala 357/38sp.
It is making a resurgence especially for the ladies... Charter Arms makes the "Pink Lady"... Wife loves hers. Recoil she can handle even with fibromyalgia and arthritis and 3 carpel tunnel surgeries, and with the Hornady Critical Defense rd decent power and expansion. Pity the fool that has to explain how he was thwarted by a Pink .32
E57E5403-49C3-4615-984B-50E5C0935673.jpeg
 
My wife carries a 32hr mag, and uses the cheaper sw round for practice... ala 357/38sp.
It is making a resurgence especially for the ladies... Charter Arms makes the "Pink Lady"... Wife loves hers. Recoil she can handle even with fibromyalgia and arthritis and 3 carpel tunnel surgeries, and with the Hornady Critical Defense rd decent power and expansion. Pity the fool that has to explain how he was thwarted by a Pink .32
View attachment 451886



If a man got shot with that and lived, he'd be condemned to carrying a purse and would have to sit down to pee for the rest of his life. ;)
 

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