A snub-nosed revolver makes for a handy little gun that can be carried year-round and is easy to operate. For years, plain-clothes police officers have carried these and considered themselves well-armed. Today, this type of gun appeals to people who are not gun people but who want to be armed. My wife is in that category. She carries a .38 Special LadySmith revolver in her purse.
If I was going to carry a small revolver as my primary defensive firearm, it wouldn’t be a .38. It would have to be a Magnum. A .357 Magnum is an obvious choice, but most .357 magnum snubbies only hold five rounds, and that little sidearm packs a hell of a kick. Enter into this picture the .327 Federal Magnum. Taurus makes a small revolver in this caliber and so does Ruger.
Taurus .327 Federal Magnum
I personally acquired a Taurus .327 Magnum revolver I have tried in multiple roles. I can carry it in a pocket holster with no discomfort whatsoever. It fits in my wife’s purse or the center console of either of our cars quite handily. It weighs 24 ounces.
I also have a Ruger .327 Federal Magnum SP101 with a 4-inch barrel. Either of these revolvers is handy as a pocket gun for a quick trip to the store or while taking our little dog for an adventure around our yard that is visited often by coyotes and bobcats. Ruger’s SP101 is one of the seven models of Ruger revolvers chambered in .327 Federal Magnum.
In addition to the Taurus and the SP101, I have a Ruger Single Seven in .327 Federal Magnum and a Ruger Single Six in .32 H&R Magnum. The two .32 Magnums are very pleasant shooters when using .32 S&W Long. They can also be used for harvesting squirrels or rabbits for a nice winter stew.
For a while, I thought I was alone in understanding the value of these cartridges. But now, Ruger is chambering seven different models in the caliber, Charter Arms has three models, and Smith & Wesson has two. And that’s not all.
Many of us have been waiting for a .327 Magnum rifle. The old Winchesters were chambered in .32-20 and the .327 Magnum is a similar, but more powerful, cartridge that is just asking for a rifle. Henry is the first rifle company (I know of) to build .327 Federal Magnum lever-action rifles. However, build them it did, and what a gorgeous rifle. There are four models of the Henry rifle available in .327 Federal Magnum.
Ammo makers are on board with the .327 round, and the author has found it in stock throughout the shortages of other calibers.
To understand where .327 Federal Magnum fits in the scheme of things, I worked up some charts comparing various calibers. The primary comparison point was muzzle energy. Muzzle energy, or kinetic energy, is a value derived from a formula many of us learned in high school physics and promptly forgot after the exam. Fortunately, these days, all you need to do is ask Google for the formula. I did.
Kinetic energy equals one-half the mass of an object times the square of its velocity. There are calculators all over the Internet, so that’s where I got my numbers. Plus, you can find them on the box of most ammunition.
Looking at one very popular brand of defensive ammunition as an example, I compared the published muzzle energy for Speer Gold Dot in the most popular JHP grain for the various calibers and got the following values:
- .327 Federal Magnum – 568 ft/lbs.
- .38 Special – 222 ft/lbs.
- 9mm Luger – 376 ft/lbs.
- .357 Magnum – 535 ft/lbs.
- .40 S&W – 484 ft/lbs.
- .45 ACP – 404 ft/lbs.
There are those who deny these numbers have anything to do with stopping bad guys. To me, the logic is sound. It’s a measure of how hard you get hit when one of those little bullets strikes you. It’s easy for us to understand that in the boxing ring it’s the hard punches rather than the jabs that knock a guy out. Same principle.
Ruger SP101 in .327 Federal Magnum
I’ve watched hanging paper targets get hit by .327 Federal Magnum rounds that went swishing up in the air behind where they were hung. Then, I watched a 9mm round hit the same target with no resulting motion in the paper.
Ammo makers are on board with the .327 round, and I have found it in stock throughout the shortages of other calibers.
32s for Defense?
Serious shooters tend to not think of anything in the .32 family as being suitable anti-personnel rounds. But looking back, New York City police were armed with .32 caliber revolvers when Teddy Roosevelt was Chief of Police. Historically, the .32 ACP (also known as 7.65mm Browning) was a common caliber for European police and military forces, especially in the mid-20th century. Pistols like the Walther PP and PPK, chambered in .32 ACP, were widely used.
Federal’s 104-grain JHP cartridge in .327 Federal Magnum had been added to its HST line of defensive ammo.
The .327 Federal Magnum is a powerful little cartridge. Yes, it’s small. However, because of the velocity with which it is flung from the .327 Magnum case, it packs a wallop! Especially, if you choose a cartridge such as the Speer Gold Dot with 568 ft/lbs. of energy on target.
Another cool thing about revolvers chambered for the .327 Federal Magnum round is they allow you to shoot .32 S&W Short, .32 S&W Long, .32 H&R Magnum or .327 Federal Magnum cartridges. Some of these are pretty soft shooting for practice, whereas the H&R Magnum or Federal Magnum cartridges are serious self-defense rounds.
Before doing all of the muzzle energy calculations, one of the reasons I turned to the .327 Magnum when looking for a good self-defense revolver is that most of the guns built for that particular round hold six rounds of ammo, whereas the small .357 Magnums only hold five.
Accuracy and Handling
The little Taurus revolver and Ruger SP101 are a bit snappy when shooting the .327 Magnum rounds, but they are primarily point-and-shoot defensive guns. In either gun, the double-action trigger pull maxes out my 12-pound trigger-pull gauge, but it doesn’t feel hard, and it is a smooth pull back to the break.
The single-action pull averages just over 6 pounds. There are holsters and off-body carry options galore for small revolvers. With the .327 Magnum round, you’re carrying something that will get the attention of any threat against you. Even the sound of the .327 Magnum is intimidating. It’s very loud, and it’s more of a boom than a crack.
I find practicing double-action shots with S&W Long cartridges helps me develop the trigger feel without being all over the place. Like many double-action handguns, the Ruger SP101 and Taurus both stack when you’re pulling the trigger. You reach a breakpoint where it’s easy to stop and realign your sights before pulling the last bit through the break. I do that when practicing, but if I’m fighting for my life, I doubt I’ll take time for that last alignment.
I’ve practiced without it. I can keep all six rounds in a 5-inch spread with some of them on target. With that .327 Magnum, there’s a good chance only that first one must be on target, but let’s not take any chances with our practicing.
The left target was fired all single-action and the right one all double-action with the author’s .327 Federal Magnum SP101 offhand at 10 yards.
Ammo Availability
Ammo for the .327 Federal Magnum seems to be in stock at most places you’d buy ammo online. Also, as I scan across the various manufacturers, I see a lot of the .327 revolver models marked “In Stock.” That means your gun store should be able to get one for you. It’s an excellent choice for self-defense if you want to carry a revolver.
