doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Belgian 32 guage

Stopped at a pawn shop today and saw a very neat Peiper 32 gauge. 30" double ivory beaded barrels, rebounding hammers, 75% engraved, 50% CC, POW grip, sling swivels. Weighed about 4-1/2 pounds. It was a sweeeeeet handling little gun. The owner of the shop showed me before and after shots of it, as he had just bought it off of a seventy year old man the day before. Barrels were covered in a light rust and reciever and stock were so grimy that the engraving could not be seen and the wood looked black. He had used very fine steel wool on the barrels and no rust was present and the blueing was still nice,deep and even under the rust. The wood had alot of figure and cleaned up beautifully as well. If he had not taken the before pics I would not have believed its prior condition. The previous owner had no clue what the gun actually was as he was touting it as a 20 gauge with 32 inch barrels due to the 32 in gold on the rib. Actually had 30" barrels and a 32 gauge shell fit in perfectly. Pawn shop[ owner will not sell. Says it is going in his personal hunting collection.

Are these 32 gauge guns common across the pond? Desireable or just a novelty? I know that it was the first one I've actually had in my hands after 20 years of chasing double guns. I wanted to buy it just for that reason alone. I'm going to go back and take a couple of pics and show him my 28 guage that is similar. I'll post once I get them secured.

I'm across the pond and as far as I can see these 32g guns are quite far from common here. In fact they are rare.

With kind regards,
Jani

We shoot one and also reload for it

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=300758887

Ours is an American Arms Silver and had 2 3/4 inch chambers

The only ammo/hulls we can find are 2 1/2 inch

http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/119743/magtech-shotshell-hulls-32-gauge-2-1-2-brass-box-of-25

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/SG32-Sporting-32ga-wads-250_bag/productinfo/072SG32/

Mike

Ironman 5,
British gun makers did make 32G guns to order.Perhaps the finest pair of 32G British guns in existence are the Greeners seen on the front cover of Douglas Tates Book:-
"Birmingham Gunmakers."
I recently acquired a 32G Belgian top lever hammer gun ,marked Cambridge Arms Co,The action is correctly scaled down and lightly engraved,The laminated steel barrels are excellent,The wood is good but plain. Unfortunately the locks require a complete rebuild!!!
Just could not resist this dainty little hammer gun gun at $75!
Dose any one have info on the importer/makers/sellers of this brand?

Pretty scarce in the U.K. I have a similar Belgian hammer gun and one English one in 24 bore and am still searching for a 32 to add to my collection. As with Roy I once saw a cased pair of Greener Facile Princeps guns in 24 bore; divine! If you can buy it then it will be one to keep. Lagopus.....

In a great show of bad timing, there was a great article in the September 1933, The American Rifleman, by James Vance, M.D., F.A.C.S. on the 32-gauge, showing his beautiful new straight gripped Lancaster with 30-inch barrels as well as many patterns and many tables of pattern data.

This of course appeared three issues after F.C. Ness reviewed the new 3-inch .410-bore cartridge and the Winchester Model 42 pump gun in the June 1933 issue!!

I routinely shoot with a friend who has a 32ga. 686 Beretta; not common, but they did make them. He sourced the gun through Cole's & has another set of bbl's for it as well. I want to say he purchased it about six, possibly seven years ago. I think they special ordered it for him, but don't recall the exact details. I can ask him and post, if anyone is interested.

Also, FWIW most any hardware store in Uruguay will have both 32ga. & 24ga. ammunition on their shelves. Apparently a lot of single shots were sold there to both farmers and the locals chambered for those two rounds. One never sees the guns, but I'm told they are fairly common.

Certainly 32 guages used to be very common in the boonies in Brazil many years ago. The ones I saw were mainly old Stevens and H&R hammer singles, but some European "folding" and domestic Brazilian singles as well. Don't remember any doubles, but these were desperately poor people....enthusiastic handloaders, tho!

From the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. General Catalog No. 54, shortly before WW-I --



Remington Arms - Union Metallic Cartridge Co., pre WW-I --



Remington Arms Co., Inc., 1923 --



None of my later Remington ammunition catalogues through the 1930s and 40s offer the odd little gauges, 24- or 32-gauge, but I have a full box of loaded 2 drams (22 grs) 3/4 ounce #9 chilled shot 24-gauge Remington shells with the DuPont logo on the box --

I personally own 2, 32 ga. guns. One is a Beretta hammer gun and the other is a H & R 32 ga single shot. The H & R is super rare, but not of high quality as is just an H & R single shot.
( And of cousre 2 , 24 ga. and 1- 9mm shotguns gun)
John Boyd
Quality Arms