Well, if you can stand the color - Heck of a bargain

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I recall rounding a corner looking for a bad guy one day and looking into the barrel of a 22. It was HUMONGOUS! I'm sure a 32 or 380 would be worse. I'm not volunteering to stand down range and play catcher for anyone shooting any of these "weak" cartridges! ;)

Perfectly rational from my perspective. I have a serious aversion to being shot, and the ballistic effectiveness of whatever someone is/would be shooting at me with would not be high on my list of thought-process priorities at that instant. I recognize that being shot with a 22, 32, 380 (draw the line where you will) might present a statistical advantage in still getting enough oxygen to my brain to facilitate reciprocity (shooting back), but it doesn't mean I'm not going to die or be messed up forever. In other words, I'm not going to be any braver if I know someone is shooting a "weak cartridge" at me and I'm no less concerned when someone is carelessly swinging the muzzle about if it's not a 44 or 45.

Just a note on a completely irrational perspective in the case of the 32s:
People have told me that shooting an auto well is "easier" than shooting a revolver well. I've not found that to be intrinsically correct, but I've still always found shooting autos well more challenging personally because I have this hangup about where the brass is going. I've always wanted to mess with the 32 ACP and have read numerous articles from days of yore which speak highly of its applications afield. I'd be too obsessed with grubbing through the weeds to recover 100% of those precious (and tiny) cases to enjoy it. I know that's irrational and I should get over it after so many years of shooting, but it would impair the practice, practice, practice aspect of responsible selection/application of a defensive tool.

All the same, if that particular "pocket full o' fun" were a 32,..... I'd be even more tempted. I just have to keep reminding myself that "my 35s are my 32s, my 35s are my 32s, my 35s....

And, now I can't get that old Jim Croce song about Leroy Brown out of my head.:cool:
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Jeff,
Yes worring about picking up your bass does take a lot of fun out of shooting hard to find brass calibers! Some of my 32 auto put them in a nice pile.
Others ( Like the French MAB and the 1914 Mauser) throw them where ever and far! You do loose a lot of them especially if the pistol range is busy.
Jim
 

Gary

SE Kansas
I have a LCP; and a Glock 42 they both shoot equally good. Wifey likes the LCP I prefer my LCR.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
' 32 gun in his pocket for fun' Jeff. Yeah.
I have .32 Savage, a really interesting little gun. Not a first choice but you can bet nobody not high
on something weird will be unimpressed with looking at it pointed at them. Way prettier than the
DeWalt Ruger, too.

I have an LC9S Pro and it runs just fine. The trigger has too much hook in it, though, I will eventually
either make a new one or modify that one. Hurts my finger to shoot more than one mag through
it. The tip just seems like it is sharp and jabbing me. If were just straighter, it would be great.

Bill
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Bill the little Savages were pretty popular where I grew up. Seems every old maiden aunt had one and they got passed down to nephews and so on. Nice old guns.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Ten shots and the cute "hammer" which was just a cocking lever for the striker/cocking
indicator. Nicely made, runs fine.

Bill
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I had to look the Savage up. 1907?
Those are stout-looking little guns! I've seen them but never bothered to look them over to see what they were.

JW, I had it bad with the brass thing. At one time I used to hang a tarp, like a curtain, in the garage to keep my brass from going all over and so I shot 1911s from there. It was a bit limiting. I had a Ruger P90 that would have put every empty in a drywall bucket to the right/rear of my shooting position. There were two short-lived 45s that had a propensity for pelting me square in the center of my forehead randomly - Colt LW Commander and a really neat CZ-something clone. Never had a problem finding those cases.:mad:
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
32 ACP brass isn't scarce. MidwayUSA and Graf's show it in stock, and Starline is making it.

I had a chance 35 years ago to fire a Savage 1907 x 32 ACP. 50 rounds later, I was in love. What a smooth little pistol! I like the Colt/Browning 1903, but the Savage really stole my heart. That sole example is the only one I have seen or handled, and I look for them at every gun show that I infest. Kind of a "Grail Gun" for me, like a Model 16 S&W x 6".
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I found this one at the LGS (BH, Jeff), nearly mint, for $300, jumped on it with both feet.

Fun little gun. Would not be a serious choice for self defense, but if by some wierd situation,
it was the only one I had when I needed it, I would know it would work well and that I could
hit with it. Not a lot of oomph there, but with good shot placement, you could take someone
down, for certain.

Bill
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
If memory serves, and who knows if I'm even close these days!, there were 2 editions of that Savage- one with the "hammer" and one without. An earlier, larger version was a contender in the trials that gave us the 1911 as our US military sidearm. I forget what cartridge it shot, but I think it was a 45, just not the Browning ACP.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I had a savage 1917 space gun. At least that is what it looked like. The only 32acp I resold. Shot ok but had lots of jams
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I found this one at the LGS (BH, Jeff), nearly mint, for $300, jumped on it with both feet.

Fun little gun. Would not be a serious choice for self defense, but if by some wierd situation,
it was the only one I had when I needed it, I would know it would work well and that I could
hit with it. Not a lot of oomph there, but with good shot placement, you could take someone
down, for certain.

Bill

This reflects exactly the sentiments, as an aside to the general topic of the 32 ACPs field-gun applicability, expressed in an old article I think Ed Harris was responsible for me reading/re-reading. I just read it recently again and don't remember who the author was or where I read it. Ed didn't write this one but he's done his share of tempting me.

CZ93X62,
I'm sure you recognize irrational rationalizations when you see them, especially when a fella's trying to talk himself INTO buying another gun. I may have thrown you off track because I'm trying to talk myself OUT OF buying another gun. Thank you for your kind support (poking holes in my "rare brass" rationalization) in either case.;) You know though,..... since I am on a quest to have only what I need and will use, and to plan around making what lead and primers I have now last the rest of my life, if I have to, a 32 makes a lot of sense . Add a Contender Carbine barrel and,....

Dang it! I'm doing it again!

I was so proud of myself for passing up the yellow 380 and now I'm in another argument with myself about a 32 and I don't seem to be winning.:headbang:
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
C.E. Harris has led me astray more than once. As I type this I am looking at a small USPS parcel that arrived 6 months ago+ that contains a Walther PP 380 recoil spring from Gun Parts Inc. Its intent is to support a "32 ACP +P" project in my PP x 32 that Harris' writings on the subject have inspired.

I am interested in snagging one of the new Colt 1903 repros now available in a couple ideations and at obscene MSRPs. These cannot come in to California; not one Colt product is authorized for sale in this state.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
.........not one Colt product is authorized for sale in this state.

I've started to post this more than once and changed my mind because I don't want to start anything. Or maybe I did post it and forgot, but this is sad. I spent a year in CA in the early eighties and it was really nice. Numerous gun stores in town, extremely friendly and down to earth people. Even as a newcomer to town, I was taken in by the locals as one of their own and I did a lot of shooting there with them. It seems it's a very different place now. The only place I've been where people were even friendlier was in Arizona - way down south, in the middle of nowhere.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Jeff H,

California gun owners are still "extremely friendly and down to earth". It's the others who aren't.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
What 462 said--those of us that remain here, all 173 of us :) . The majority of my cop buddies and shooting friends have moved back to the United States.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Al, I call it Free America. It is leterally mind boggling that not one Colt product is legal for sale in
California. I assume that existing examples inside the state are legal to sell and trade?

In any case, referring to Bret's comment on the .45 Savage. I have read the details of the 1911 Army trials
in detail any number of times. The Savage looked similar to the .32 I have, but was single stack, and was in
.45 ACP cartridge, required by the Army since they had Frankfort Arsenal (IIRC) make up a substantial batch
to support the testing and field trials. DWM also offered .45 ACP Lugers, which did well enough that the
Army asked for a second batch of 100 for field trials, but at that point DWM was very busy, having gotten
a backlog of 9mm Luger orders, so they never built the 100 trials guns. The original batch of .45 ACP Lugers
are ULTRA rare guns worth a LOT. At least one was destroyed, or effectively destroyed with their rusting test.

The Savages made it to the finals but had a lot of parts breakage in the 5000 round test, where the 1911
had no parts breakage at all, sealing the deal. When the Army asked JMB about the "service life" he (apparently
just taking a wild-assed guess) told them 10,000 rounds. I have several 1911s that are at around the 100,000
round count and going strong. The occasional front sight loss or extractor failure does happen, but otherwise
they seem to run nearly forever.
As to the .32 ACP Savage's cocking lever/hammer - I only know about the one I have. I was surprised to find
that it wasn't actually a hammer, but a cocking lever, or condition indicator for a striker. I wonder if a spare
magazine would cost less than the gun?

Bill
 
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CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Triple K likely has magazines for the Savage 32s. They had mags for my 7.65 MAS M1935 in stock when I ordered them a few years ago.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
My bad Bill. That's what I get for trying to remember anything. Once you wrote that out it came back clear as day. Duh!
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Bret, I 'm not sure what you are talking about as far as "my bad", all I said was that all I knew about was the one
I had, previously I never had looked into the design much at all. I remembered that it took 10 rds, but all the online
sources say 7 rds. I need to check that out. Talk about memory fade. Or maybe I have the rare hi-cap mag version. :):embarrassed:

I checked on the little Savage, Bret, and you are right. There are actually two models. The Model 1907 and the
Model 1917, very similar but the 1917 has the spur hammer-looking cocking indicator while the earlier one seems to have
a little burr hammer, but it may just be a bump on the striker. Also the grip is fatter on the 1917, they actually look
a good bit different from the side.

Online sources say that the .32 and later 380 model 1907 and 1917 were the result of the Army trials 45 design
being scaled down to a pocket pistol, same basic design. I have seen a few Savage 45 ACP models in a collection
at a big collector gun show here in KC area.

Pix help.

Savage 1907 - looks like ind of a little spur on top, not sure if it is just a bump on the striker or
what.
https://www.rockislandauction.com/html/dev_cdn/51/584.jpg

Savage 1917, bigger grip, the hammer is hinged, but connected to a striker and clearly is just there to
make it easier to thumb cock and tell if the striker is cocked, not really a hammer. It also has a
screw on the wider grip panels.

http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server5.../PR25098a__95108.1384634010.1280.1280.jpg?c=2

OH, yeah, I just remembered one of the coolest parts of the gun.

The mag release is by your pinkie finger! Cool idea, actually.

Oh, this is REALLY cool Clearly somebody spent a huge amount of time on this ghost/X-ray solid
model animation of the 1907. You can see that the 'hammer" is linked to the striker.

http://zonwar.ru/images/pistolet/Savage_1907_4.gif
 
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