Revolvers seem to be cool again. Somehow, the old revolving cylinder weapon has returned to the cool kids club of carry firearms. Advancements in revolvers have helped, but there is also likely fatigue for the polymer frame, 9mm, double stack, and striker-fired automatics. What’s old is new, and we have an interesting variety of new revolvers to choose from. In that same vein, we are seeing a rise in the .32 H&R Magnum round, which looks to challenge the .38 Special for carry supremacy. 

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The .38 Special has ruled the revolver market since 1898. It’s served countless generations of police officers and armed soldiers and has remained a favorite of concealed carriers. The .38 Special cartridge has long ruled the concealed carry genre. While the .357 Magnum should have eaten its lunch, it turns out small .357 Magnums aren’t all that comfortable to shoot, and the .38 Special has remained popular. 

It’s the just right cartridge for concealed carry, right? Well, maybe, but what about the little .32 H&R Magnum? Could it be the replacement for the .38 Special? At least amongst concealed carriers. 

.38 Special is more than a Southern rock band. It’s a cartridge that’s been kicking around since 1898. S&W developed the cartridge to add some oomph to the older .38 Long Colt. The .38 Long Colt was found to be anemic, so S&W amped it up to make it a bit faster. 

The .38 Special underwent development throughout the 1920s, and various loads proved to be quite capable of being man-stoppers. The cartridge has continued to evolve and is likely the most popular revolver cartridge in the world. 

The .32 H&R Magnum is a heckuva lot younger than the .38 Special. Harrington and Richardson introduced the caliber in 1984. The idea was to take the .32 S&W Long cartridge and amp it up. The old .32 S&W Long had a history of law enforcement use but was found to be inadequate in the face of armed threats.

H&R expanded the cartridge case and added a bit of powder to create a powerful but small revolver cartridge. The round waned in popularity, but with the advent of the .327 Federal Magnum, it gained some steam. Earlier this year, S&W released the 432 and 632 UC, which chambered the .32 H&R Magnum and brought additional attention to the cartridge. 

At first glance, .38 seems a lot bigger than .32, and isn’t a bigger bullet better? If we can fit .38 Special in a gun the same size as a .32 H&R Magnum, wouldn’t it be wise to choose .38 Special? There is a bit more to it than that. 

The .38 Special is a .357-inch projectile, and the .32 H&R Magnum is a .312-inch projectile. The size difference isn’t as broad as it first sounds. It’s also important to understand how handgun bullets work. Things like stopping power don’t exist with a handgun cartridge. 

A handgun bullet only has one wounding mechanism, and that is direct impact. A bigger bullet creates a bigger hole. That’s fine, but the difference between most projectiles is minimal. What’s critical is penetration. A cartridge needs to penetrate deep enough to reach something vital. 

The benefit .38 Special gets is a heavier cartridge. It’s bigger and can be heavier. Those big 158-grain projectiles can penetrate deeper with greater ease. The .32 H&R Magnum tops out at 100-grain bullets. Both of these projectiles can penetrate deep enough to reach the vitals. Both can even expand with a proper jacketed hollow point. 

The .38 Special’s size and weight come in handy in situations where the cartridge has to penetrate deeper than normal. For example, in the 1984 Miami shooting, an FBI agent shot one of the bank robbers through the arm and into the torso. The round stopped short of the vitals because it had to go through much more flesh to reach them. 

This doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed the .38 Special will go through an arm and into a torso and reach the vitals. There are other factors to consider, but it’s more likely for the .38 Special to penetrate deeper than the .32 H&R Magnum. That’s the main benefit of choosing .38 Special over .32 H&R Magnum. 

However, it’s only one consideration. 

Revolvers don’t hold a lot of rounds. Until someone figures out how to turn a cylinder into a Tardis, the most we can hope for seems to be ten rounds, but it’s only ten if you shoot .22LR. With centerfire calibers, eight seems to be the max, with concealed carry revolvers, we get five rounds in the average gun, with some exceptions that give you six rounds. 

If we compare a J-frame .38 Special with a J-frame .32 H&R Magnum the .32 H&R Magnum gets 1 extra round. Yep, 1 whole round, but the difference between five and six is nice to have. The smaller diameter rounds give one extra round which can lead to six to seven cartridges. 

I own a 9mm snub nose and a few .38 Special snub noses, and they are a bit like pocket .380s, I don’t like shooting them. The .38 Special isn’t a harsh cartridge, but in a snubby, it’s not all that comfortable. It gets old shooting and fatigue sets in quickly while training. With the .32 H&R Mag this isn’t nearly as big as an issue. 

It’s much tamer, and even the hotter defensive loadings are easy to shoot. Going with the .32 H&R Magnum makes a huge difference if you have to shoot one-handed. I’ve fired a lot more .38 Special than .32, but no matter what, I shoot the .32 H&R Magnum better. I’m faster, more accurate, and just more capable with the .32 H&R Magnum round. 

The big issue you’ll have with the .32 H&R Magnum is that it’s a hipster round. Do you know how hipster coffees cost like 5x the normal price of coffee? Well, that’s the case with the .32 H&R Magnum rounds. You’d swear they’d be labeled ethically sourced and fair trade. 

Availability is an issue as well. Walk into any gun store, and you’ll find .38 Special. That might not be the case with .32 H&R Magnum. It tends to be a little tougher to find. You’ll most likely have to rely on online sources, which leads to shipping and an even higher price. 

Logistics matter, and if you can train with a .38 Special more often, then it’s going to matter more than the slight performance increase with the .32 H&R Magnum. 

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I do think if we want to make the best decision, we have to consider the gun being used. Concealed carry revolvers are dominated by the classic ‘snub’ nose revolver, specifically the J-frame-sized snub nose. For the J-Frame snub nose, I feel the .32 H&R Magnum works the best, especially if we get into the lighter-weight guns. The lighter recoil and higher capacity are quite nice for such a small gun. 

If we get into a gun with a three-inch barrel, even if it is still a J-Frame, the .38 Special makes more sense. The longer barrel tames recoil and concussion and helps improve velocity for even better projectile performance. A snub nose K-Frame or medium-sized revolver is likely best as a .38 Special. 

These are my thoughts. What are yours? Would you carry the hipster-approved .32 H&R Magnum or stick with the tried and true .38 Special?  Let us know below. 

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