Henry Rifle Forums

My son just bought a new Springfield Hellcat and wanted to get some shots down range. We headed out on a 25 degree but sunny morning and both had other commitments so didn’t spend as much time shooting as we would have liked.

He shot his Hellcat and was consistently low and right. (He’s left handed so that makes sense as most of us righty’s miss low left) No adjustable sights on the Hellcat so no correction for elevation but we can drift the sight for windage. This was shooting some cheap 115 ball ammo he found online. He did a little bit better with my 115 XTP reloads. He also shot his Shield 9mm and did better with it. Funny, he bought the Hellcat to upgrade from the Shield with greater capacity. Sometimes when we try to improve our set up we go backwards.

For me, I was excited for first shots from this little MAB French made 32 acp that belonged to my dad for decades. As a kid I remember it being in his nightstand but of course it was off limits to us kids and we respected that. When he passed my brother had the pistol and in January of 2020 he gave it to me. Well it only took me 15 months to shoot the dam thing. I have picked up a couple of boxes of ammo in the last year plus the mixed box of Remington and Winchester that came with the gun. When I got it there was quite a bit of surface rust (it was stored in a leather holster ) but it cleaned up pretty good with just Breakfree. The bore was in great shape. I have to admit that today’s first shot was a little bit un-nerving. A pistol that hadn’t been shot in 50+ years shooting 50+ year old ammo. The first shot went bang and the gun held tother. My son and I probably ran 30-40 shots thru it today without a hiccup. Probably the worst trigger I have ever encountered and no last shot slide lock. Other than those two negatives it was a very fun pistol to shoot and despite the ridiculous sights it shot pretty well at 10 yards.

Then I shot my 327 Federal Magnum Ruger LCRX shooting the Federal 85 grain 327 and some 32 H&R Magnum. To date I had only shot the Federal 100 grain hand bangers and the Federal Hydor-Shok carry ammo I use. The 85 grain were still a little snappy but much more tolerable than the 100’s and the H&R mags were down right pleasant to shoot. I also brought along some 32 S&W Long that I picked up but didn’t shoot them. Maybe next time.

I brought more handguns along but we didn’t shoot them as we needed to leave for other reasons. Fun to shoot handguns even tho it was a quickie trip, I’ve been focused on rifles and haven’t shot handguns in a couple of years. Next weekend my son’s in-laws are coming up from Arizona and want to go shooting. We’ll probably take them out to the state land and do some extended shooting, both long and handguns.

Link to write up.

https://www.spokaneguntrader.com/viewto ... 7&t=138566




Here’s a few pics of that MAB 32 acp I shot today and a link to a write up I did on it when I first brought it home. Enjoy.....

Great report. Thank-you.

I've been a fan of 32 for a long, long time. Don't have one, now, but I did a lot of shooting with the 327 in various guns, but my favorite has always been the 32 H&R. I've been on a hunt for an original Ruger Single Six Bisley in 32 H&R, 80s vintage when Ruger first introduced the Bisley. We still have our first year Bisley Single Six in 22 LR. It's one of the guns we kept during the sell off of much of our collection. Yeah, not exactly easy to find and it sure won't be cheap, but I really, really miss shooting the 32 H&R. I'll spend the money to do it.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:13 pm

Great report. Thank-you.

I've been a fan of 32 for a long, long time. Don't have one, now, but I did a lot of shooting with the 327 in various guns, but my favorite has always been the 32 H&R. I've been on a hunt for an original Ruger Single Six Bisley in 32 H&R, 80s vintage when Ruger first introduced the Bisley. We still have our first year Bisley Single Six in 22 LR. It's one of the guns we kept during the sell off of much of our collection. Yeah, not exactly easy to find and it sure won't be cheap, but I really, really miss shooting the 32 H&R. I'll spend the money to do it.

I’m a bit of a 32 fan myself. In addition to the Ruger LCR I also have a Henry in 327. Some years ago I had a Ruger SP101 in 327 but foolish sold it. Wish I would have kept it. For a long time I looked hard for a Ruger GP100 in the .327 figuring the heavier revolver would help tame the recoil and make shooting it more pleasant. They were a Unicorn for a time but I see now that Ruger has reintroduced the GP100 in .327. Someday when the craziness goes away I’ll look for one.

Good luck to you on your Bisley 32 search, it sure will pair nicely with your Single Six.

The results that your son had with his Springfield is the same results I have when shooting a Smith M&P vs any Springfield I have ever shot. The bore axis on the Springfields is high and for me it just doesnt work. I have owned and shot several Spingfields. I just dont care for them myself.

That looks like the type pistol used in a lot of the old spy movies from the 60's!