Anyone care to inform me about this cartridge adn what the rifle was like that shot it? I have two rounds for it. One with headstamp and one with none. They were loaded with the bullet down in the casing (odd).

Sendaro

The S&W Revolvng Rifle was nothing more than a long barrel New Model No. 3 Revolver with an attachable shoulder stock. They are extremely rare and fetch thousands of dollars on the collectable market. I believe the ammunition is the 32-44 S&W which is a higher powered version of the 32 S&W. I believe the cartridges you have are single ball loads rather than deep seated bullets. Tell me what the headstamp says and how long the case is. It could be one of the other 32 caliber cartridges rather than the 32-44.

I'll be sending you an e-mail later today or tomorrow.

Ray

Ray, The bullets are deep seated conical. One has a headstamp and one does not. They are not 32-44. I have a cartridge marked 38-44 and it is much shorter. please contact me at jads@citlink.net. I have the 30 Hart cartridge you may want. I would like to trade with you.

The S&W RR case measures .405 rim dia.,.348 base dia.,.347 neck dia.,1.480 case length,1.480 loaded length with the bullet seated below the case mouth.I don't know the bullet weight or style.These measurements were supposedly taken from a loaded round.I can't guarantee that these dimensions are correct as I do not have the cartridge.

WC

Interesting. Those dimensions match the 32-44 cartridge except for case length which is .980". The New Model No 3 cylinder length was only 1.438" (1 7/16") so how would a case 1.480" fit?? It gets curiouser and curiouser.

WC, could the cartridges you described be 32-20 Win round ball loads?? Any idea what the headstamp is??

I'm thinking that maybe the RR was chambered for it's own unique cartridge so I'm asking a question on the Cartridge Collector's Forum. I'll let you know if anybody over there can shed light on this.

Ray

I have two of these cartridges. One has a head stamp of U.M.C. 32 S&W.R. and the other no head stamp. The rim is .410 dia, case base is .348 on these and the over all lgt is 1.471 on each.The bullet is lead and it conical. In both cases they are seated below the mouth of the casing. These two cartridges were collected over twenty years apart in different places in New York State. I also have a 32-44 cartridge and that is much shorter.

Cheechako, The NM Mod #3 cylinder you state was 1.438", were they counter bored to cover the rim of the cartridge? If not this could explain the difference in the cartridge lgt and the cylinder lgt. Without being counter bored for the rim there is room between the back of the cylinder and the standing breech. Thai may explain the difference.

Sendaro,that is a good thought about the rim counterbore.That would sure explain the difference in length.If the cylinder was bored the same diameter through,it would accept a cartridge of that length.Sush a chamber would also fit the 9mm CF shotshell,although I believe the 9mm CF shot shell is a bit shorter.

If the cylinder was bored straight through on the rifle ,a 32-44 cartridge being shorter would leave quite a distance for the ball to bounce around before entering the bore.It would also allow a lot of gas escape.

The questions are, was the rifle cylinder bored straght through?Was the rifle also designed to fire a shotshell?

The little bit of information I have does not include a headstamp.

WC

I've been doing some web surfing,found no.3 S&W revolving rifles listed in both 32-44 and .320 S&W revolving rifle.

Information ,I have found indicates less than 1000 were produced in all calibers.

WC

WC, so far the cartridge is a mistory to me!!!!!!!!!!!

Sendaro, WC, and anybody else interested

I think we've narrowed this down. At least in my mind.

The cylinder probably was bored straight thru and was not recessed (something that i failed to think of). This would allow the longer cartridges to fit and would explain the long case and flush seated bullet. It was probably intended to be also used with shot cartridges.

I got a response from another collector who said the same thing that WC said, that the RR was also chambered for the 32-44 cartridge but one that was longer than the usual 32-44 cartridge (1.465") Here's what he said:

"...the basic .320 R OAL 1.465" is essentially the same as the .32/44 S&W Target, but with a 100 grain bullet and using 17 grains of BP instead of 10 grains.

The .32/20 can be altered to use in the S&W RR but will have a short case (1.312")

3 lengths of .32/44 S&W Target 1.024", 1.300" & 1.465"

The extra long .32/44 comes in as the same OAL as the .32 RR

The 2 .32 RR rds I have come in at 1.467..."

So, Sendaro, my guess at this point is that the cartridges you have are indeed 320 S&W RR. A great addition to anybody's collection BTW. Since none of us are likely to have a chance to actually handle one of those expensive firearms we can only guess at some of this but I'm confident of my guesses.

What do you guys think. Ain't the Internet wonderful? 5 years ago all of this would have still been a mystery. Thank you Al Gore for inventing it!

Ray

Cheechako, I buy that!!!! It all sounds right, and very probable.