A Quartet for Carry: Reviews of Ruger SP101, 

CZ 83, Kel-Tec P-32, and Taurus Model 731 

Ultra-Lite.

Ed Head, the operations chief at Gunsite Academy, once told me, “The first rule of gunfighting is having a gun. If you can’t carry anything larger, carry what you can.” So if you have ever considered buying a small-caliber handgun for whatever reason—be it target shooting, general fun or self-defense—you may be interested in a small sampling of what is available.

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One class of these small-caliber pocket pistols propels .32 caliber bullets from bores that are really .312 inch in diameter. Chamberings vary, but here we will include only the .32 ACP, .32 H&R Magnum and the recently introduced .327 Federal Magnum, which really can’t be described as a “mousegun.”

Thirty-twos have been around a long time and one of the oldest is the .32 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as the .32 Auto and 7.65 Browning. It was developed by John Browning in 1899 to power his first successful semi-automatic pistol. Lest one dismiss the .32 ACP round out of hand, consider that it was a widely used cartridge in Europe for police and military in such guns as the Colt Model 1903, Browning Model 1900, Spanish Ruby, Mauser HSc and Walther PPK.