Performance aside, the .327 Federal Magnum gives you more rounds than the same-size gun in .38 Special.

Anyone who has ever owned a "big little dog" knows what that means. Some breeds were bred to do jobs we don't need or want anymore, and so some people overlook where their dog came from. That amusing little "wiener dog" down the block? Dachshunds were bred to go down into holes, and once down there to find and kill vermin, specifically badgers. You do not survive such a job and get to pass on your genes by being the shy, retiring type.

Similarly, the .32 family of cartridges were once held in what comes close to high regard. The third-most common chambering for the first generation Colt Single Action Armys was .32-20. When Theodore Roosevelt armed the NYPD with a common sidearm, it was a Colt in .32.

Today, many see the .32 as an anachronism and a weak reed indeed on which to bet your life. That has changed. The .327 Federal Magnum is not just another warmed-up .32 cartridge; it is perhaps the hottest cartridge going.

As with other magnum cartridges, it is the same diameter, and uses the same-diameter bullets, as the earlier, non-magnum iterations of that caliber. That is, you can fire a .32 Short, Long or H&R Magnum in a firearm chambered for the .327 because it is simply longer.

It also operates at a higher pressure. The Short and Long versions ran at about a 12,000 psi level. The H&R Magnum, to keep it within the limits of the H&R revolvers, topped out at 21,000 psi. That was hardly enough to gain many converts back in the 1980s, and it died a slow death (although it is still chambered in a few guns).

The .327 Federal Magnum makes no pretense of being suitable for elderly revolvers, and thus the engineers were able to run it right up to the modern limits of chamber pressure: 45,000 psi. You read that correctly; it has a higher chamber pressure than the 9mm or .357, .41 and .44 magnums.

The result is a cartridge that--even out of a snubbie--performs like a 9mm+P round or even some 9mm+P+ rounds I've tested.

Currently available only in the Ruger SP-101 (in which it was introduced) and the brand new Smith & Wesson Model 632 Carry Comp Pro, the .327 Federal Magnum delivers the promised goods.

In a lot of instances, we find that a cartridge delivers most, but not all, of the promised velocity. It is not unusual to find, especially in short-barreled revolvers, that the "book" specs and the range specs differ--sometimes by more than a trivial amount.

Federal sent me a spec sheet with the ammo, and the velocities are eye-popping. I have fired both pre-production samples and production ammo, and I can assure you that what you read on the box is what you get.

My initial testing was in bitter cold weather, 20 degrees and snow blowing sideways. From the three-inch barrel of an SP-101 the 115-grain Gold Dot bullets clocked 1,316 fps. Later testing in warm weather produced a bit more velocity, and when I whacked ballistic gelatin with the Gold Dots, I received between 13 and 14 inches of penetration, with complete expansion.

Extraction was easy, and the brass does not appear to be over-worked at all.