Many readily available .32-caliber bullets are suitable for handloading in the .327 Federal Magnum, current Lyman and RCBS .32 die sets will accommodate the new round, and load data is now available from Hodgdon.

Looking back at my recent columns, I noticed I hadn’t written much about reloading handgun cartridges. That’s probably because the market bias has been toward new rifle products. However, the new .327 Federal Magnum presents the opportunity to share reloading information for an effective personal-defense round and an excellent hunting round for small game and varmints.

First of all, I confess that I like revolvers, especially single-actions. As I’ve gotten older, shooting big-bore, magnum firearms has become less interesting to me as it used to be. Actually, I became a fan of .32-caliber revolvers soon after Federal introduced the H&R Magnum almost 20 years ago. Back then, I bought an early-production Ruger Single-Six Magnum and, at my wife’s request, mounted a 2.5X Bushnell scope on it. Shooting five-shot, 25-yard groups under an inch from the bench soon became the norm. I eventually added several S&W and Dan Wesson double-actions and .32-20 single-actions to my repertoire.

Of course, other projects took precedent, so I hadn’t fired any of them for quite a while. I visited CCI-Speer last year and learned about the new .32-caliber magnum handgun cartridge they and Federal were co-developing. As the moniker suggests, the earlier .32 H&R Magnum’s performance specs were tailored for Harrington & Richardson’s less-than-robust small-frame revolvers. That’s why the .32 H&R’s maximum operating pressure (MAP) of about 22,000 psi is substantially lower than typical .357, .41, and .44 Magnum levels at approximately 35,000 psi.

The new .327 Federal round is a stretched version of the .32 H&R round, having a case about 1/8 inch longer. It has a thicker web at the base of the case, and heat-treatment is different. It has different metallurgy to accommodate the significantly increased operating pressures. At a whopping 45,000 psi, the .327 Federal’s MAP is nearly 30 percent greater than the aforementioned magnums and double that of the H&R Magnum. Ruger’s rugged SP101 compact revolver was selected as the development platform for the new round. As you can see in the accompanying charts, ballistic performance of the three available factory loads is impressive. In fact, the .327 Fed. Mag. nudges .357 Mag. energy levels with approximately 20 percent less recoil.

Soon after Federal officially announced the new round, I ordered an SP101. I also had Hamilton Bowen make a .327 Fed. Mag. cylinder for an old model Ruger .357 Blackhawk that he had converted to .32-20 several years ago. What a deal: a custom, .32-caliber, single-action convertible! When I received the retrofitted revolver, I only hoped I could match Bowen’s excellent workmanship with comparable performance at the range.

But first, there was just one little problem: There was no .327 Fed. Mag. loading data. And there wasn’t anything closely comparable from which I could safely extrapolate suitable recipes. I had several different bullets to load, including a roundnose, flatpoint Magnus cast bullet. Federal and Speer sent factory ammo, a double handful of primed brass, and even samples of three factory bullets. I shot up most of the factory ammo in the SP101, but there was just enough left to shoot a few five-shot groups in the custom Ruger Blackhawk.

To get started, I rationalized that the .32-20 case had about the same volume, so I checked out earlier editions of Lyman’s reloading manuals for .32 WCF, high-velocity data. Generous charges of 2400 or Unique and lighter bullets seemed most appropriate. Fortunately, before I could get into too much trouble, Chris Hodgdon sent out an announcement that Hodgdon’s online Reloading Data Center (RDC) had new information for the .327 Fed. Mag. A quick look suggested other promising candidates like Hodgdon Lil’Gun, IMR SR4756, and Winchester 231.

Lane used a factory-original SP101 and an old model Blackhawk customized by Hamilton Bowen for test-firing his .327 Federal Magnum handloads.

A week or so later, I called reloading guru Bob Forker. While we were chatting, I discovered he was working on a similar project. He had a 6-inch pressure barrel and was waiting for a Ruger SP101. I sent him some samples of the factory bullets, and he offered to share the pressure test results. Sure enough, a week or so later, he e-mailed a chart of .327 Fed. Mag. recipes he had developed using an Oehler Model 43 PBL ballistic-testing system. The limited load data situation had improved significantly.

I eventually assembled, fired, cleaned, trimmed, reloaded, fired, cleaned, etc., more than 500 .327 Fed. Mag. handloads. I initially shot both guns off bags at big targets mounted 25 yards from the bench. Then I mounted the SP101 in a Caldwell HAMMR machine rest to avoid the aging-eyes factor, and I chronographed every shot. I e-mailed the data to Forker before calling him to discuss the preliminary results. However, instead of talking about reloading, the conversation immediately segued into politics.

Forker lives in California, and it seems that the responsible government agency hasn’t yet performed the mandatory safety assessment of this “new” Ruger revolver. Only after the state approves the SP101 in .327 Fed. Mag. can Forker provide said certificate of approval to Ruger so the company can ship a T&E gun to him. The logic that this model is only slightly different from the half-dozen other SP101 variations Ruger may have shipped to California during the past 20 years doesn’t wash.

Our collaboration on the .327 Fed. Mag. loading projects seemed to be in order.

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The range sessions proved successful–eventually. The first time I mounted the SP101 in the HAMMR rest, I forgot to pack my tools to adjust the rest. When it loosened up from the recoil, the groups did likewise, so I just recorded velocity data. When I finished with the SP101, I discovered I didn’t have the right grip insert for the custom Blackhawk, so I had to shoot it the old-fashioned way–hand held on sandbags. Despite these minor hurdles, I developed several excellent loads for the two Ruger handguns.

One of the most impressive is Speer’s 60-grain Gold Dot HP atop 10 grains of Unique. I rolled a cannelure on the bullets so I could lightly roll crimp them after seating. Load density is essentially 100 percent, and the muzzle velocities reflect the full case and light bullet combination. Later mounted in a properly adjusted HAMMR rest, the SP101 put 10 shots into 1.1 inches at 25 yards.

Accurate #9 and Speer’s 115-grain Gold Dot HP proved to be a winning combination also. Federal’s American Eagle 100-grain JSP factory ammo consistently delivered excellent performance.

The chart also lists several handloads that worked well in the custom Ruger single-action. Velocities ran from 100 to 250 fps faster in the Blackhawk’s 71/2-inch barrel compared to the 31/16-inch-barreled SP101. I also tested a half-dozen or so cast-bullet loads in the Blackhawk using Hodgdon’s RDC recommended recipes. As the chart shows, several of those performed quite well. In fact, while measuring them, I noticed that a single shot doubled the group size on several occasions. I’d like to think that Bowen misaligned one chamber, but it’s more likely these old eyes.

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