.327

[Ron J]

Sounds like a good thing.  Hope it doesn't go the route of the .41 Mag.  Good caliber but overshawdowed by .44 Mag.

Solid analogy.  The 41 is such a great round.  This 327 Fed has some real potential in a small wheelgun.  We will have to see how this plays out. 

[wqbang]

Saw a 3" SP101 in .327 at Northwest Pawn and Collector Arms in Spokane, WA this weekend.  Don't remember the price as I am not in the market for one.

Hope this helps someone!

[tumblebug]

Local shop had one last week, only had it 12 Hr's till it sold.

[BillCA]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people look down their nose at anything in .32 caliber.  It's some sort of bias that, I'm sure, comes from the years of neglect and lack of development we've seen in the .32.

The new .327 Federal Magnum is quite a pocket rocket.  Published specs for the three Federal loads are very promising and the ballistics make this cartridge a modern version of the .32-20 Hi-Speed cartridge.  The specs are from a 3-1/16" barrelled Ruger SP101 thus:
85g Hydrashok JHP - 1330 fps / 334 ft-lbs
100g American Eagle JSP - 1400 fps / 435 ft-lbs
115g Speer Gold Dot JHP - 1330 fps / 452 ft-lbs

This is more energy than most 9mm cartridges and on a par with some .40 S&W loads. That puts the .327 FM squarely between the .38 Special +P and .357 Magnum as far as horsepower goes.  Some people like graphs or charts so here's one showing the relative power of the .327 Magnum.



The much vaunted .357 Magnum 125g JHP generates 585 ft-lbs of thumping power at the muzzle, but that usually requires a 4 to 6-inch barrel to get there and is usually accompanied by a flash-bulb flash, roaring 175db blast and stout recoil.  The .327 Mag was engineered for a "short barrelled" gun like the SP101 and delivers almost 80% of the .357's energy from half the barrel length. From films shown of the gun firing, the recoil is not severe, muzzle flash no worse than a .38+P and noise about the same. 

Some early tests done by converting a Ruger Single Six to .327 and pushing factory ammo out of a 6.5" barrel show velocities around 1600fps which would put energy around 568 ft-lbs.  This exceeds some of the older .32-20 loads by a considerable margin!  And the .32-20 was well thought of as an excellent coyote killer.

Putting aside prejudice against the cartridge for being new and still hard to come by, what do we get for our money with a .327 revolver? 
- about 80% of the energy of the .357 Magnum in a shorter barrel
- An extra round of capacity in a "5-shot" sized revolver
- Lower recoil
- Faster follow-up shots
- Sufficient velocity to sustain reliable JHP/JSP expansion
- Better ballistics than the .32-20 cartridge (which uses 21 more inches of barrel)

The only fault I can find is that Ruger is once again behind the curve in making the guns available. There's been considerable hype on the new round, but Ruger's timing in getting guns to market, well, sucks.  Charter Arms wasted no time in chambering one of their guns for the new round. 

One area of interest is that Federal reports the new cartridge is a high-pressure load, in the area of 40,000 psi.  That's 5,000 psi hotter than most of the larger magnums (357, 41 and 44).  This, as far as I'm concerned, makes chambering the .327 in an airweight S&W J-frame a bit problematic.

What this cartridge begs for is modifying some lever guns to take .327 Magnum.  With a 20" barrel this would be a hot varmint gun.  Recoil would be negligible and probably no muzzle flash at all.  Handloading with slower powders for the rifle would be a fun exercise as well. The question would be if the pistol bullets would stay together after being pushed over 2,000 fps.

[ellis4538]

BillCA, don't fault Ruger on timing.  They are still trying to catch up on the SR9 thing and the LCP.  Too much of a good thing(s).  None done exactly right.

Richard

[Sponsor]

[jaybet]

Anybody have one of these things yet? I wonder what firing it feels like... magnum-like, or just a little hotter than a .38? Does it feel like a .40?  How's the recoil in a snubby? Should I start to obsess over acquiring a .327 yet?

[mudman]

  Uh JB the.327 is only made by you know who start's with a R &  end's with a r. 

[jaybet]

  Uh JB the.327 is only made by you know who start's with a R &  end's with a r. 

So you're telling me that somehow I"m already obsessed, and that, eh...not so much.

I stand better informed, mudman. Thank you.

[Hazcat]

  Uh JB the.327 is only made by you know who start's with a R &  end's with a r. 

Sorry, but you're wrong.

http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/Charter_Patriot_73270.html

and

http://www.charterfirearms.com/products/Charter_Patriot_73274.html

[jaybet]

Let the Obsessing BEGIN!!!!