.32 cal pardini

Buddy wants a 32 pardini, I have seen threads on this issue but could not find them. 

.32 S&W or .32 ACP


Remember reading that one is difficult to load and attain the required accuracy and that the other one is easier.  

He shot my Pardini 22 yesterday and is ready to place a order for two of them.  

Regards, 
Crankster

Ask Alex from Pardini he will tell the truth!

Hensler, myself, and others are having good results with the 32acp.  It does take reasonable care in loading but nothing extreme in my opinion.  I do not shoot 32SWL, but it is my belief that there are no commercially available 32 wadcutter bullets of match quality currently imported into this country.  I'm talking 50yds accuracy.  So that's a problem with the 32SWL unless you want to stick to the shortline.  fc60, whom I respect a lot, favors the 32SWL; but Dave swages his own bullets.

Another consideration could be the potential resale value. Seems that 32SWL's are not easy to sell on and do not command the same price as a 32ACP. I guess that, in itself, tells a story.

Another issue is barrel length. Jim Hensler swears by his 6" 32ACP. I am now inclined to agree with him. The 6" seems to handle the snappy recoil of factory 32ACP rounds better than the 5", particularly in TF/RF.

On the other hand - particularly if "friend of Cranky" intends to only use the 32 as a CF gun indoors or at 25 yards/meters outdoors, the availability of accurate factory ammo is an issue. Lapua, Fiocchi (and others?) sell pretty good 32SWL target ammo and it is currently still readily available (I think!). 

For outdoor 50 yards with the 32ACP, only Hornady (very expensive) and Fiocchi (currently hard to find) factory ammo using XTP60 bullets seem to work well in the 32ACP.

If intending to reload - as mentioned above - accurate 32SWL bullets are difficult to find. For 32ACP, currently, only XTP85's are being sold by Hornady, just rumour and speculation that Pardini USA will be able to supply XTP60's in the future. A few folks have found that some lead bullets work OK in the Pardini 32ACP, but that is not my experience so far.

My Pardini .22 has both 5" and 6" barrels.  Based upon that experience, I ordered the 6" .32 acp conversion.  I prefer the feel of the longer setup.

bpettet wrote:My Pardini .22 has both 5" and 6" barrels.  Based upon that experience, I ordered the 6" .32 acp conversion.  I prefer the feel of the longer setup.

I tested both for a long time! 
In 22lr I saw very little improvement with the 6 inch over the 5 inch. Now 32 ACP it made a ( for me ) I very big improvement over the 5 inch. Recoil can be tuned and yes I don’t use all of the weights with the 32. I only use 4. I think the added inch helps to steady the bullet somewhat at 50 yards.

I found this video on tuning the weights to be helpful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltm0DW8RPRQ&t=525s