Left to right: .32 Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Federal Magnum, .38 Special. The newest .32 beats them all by a country mile in velocity and energy.

So what is this cartridge for? Easy: defense. Get over your earlier assumptions of the .32. Do not think, as I heard one wag remark, "Finally, a .32 that your wife can shoot, that will actually do something." What part of "9mm+P performance" did you not hear?

This is not a cartridge to give someone who is recoil shy. It is not some sedate little number you can teach a new shooter on. This is real-deal self-defense ammo. Fortunately, Federal is smart enough make a reduced-recoil practice load, so you can shoot without having to put up with all the effort. And I'm sure some will elect to use that lesser load. (if you can call an 85-grain bullet at 1,400 fps a "lesser" load).

No, the .327 Federal Magnum is a cartridge that delivers all out of proportion to its size. And it gives you an extra shot in your SP-101. Where you might have five shots of .38 Special, you can have six shots of .327. (Hmm, perhaps a medium-size wheelgun with seven or eight shots of .327? Wouldn't that be fun?)

Some diehards will exclaim that getting six .32s instead of their usual five .38s is not a big improvement. Let's look at what you're getting in each case. With the .38 Special, out of a two- or three-inch barrel you're getting a 125-grain bullet (the closest weight) trundling along at perhaps 750 to 850 fps. Hardly the Hammer of Thor. Hardly enough to ensure expansion. If you don't get expansion, you might as well be using some of the old military load, a 130-grain FMJ at 750 to 800 fps. And you get only five rounds.

With the .327, you get six 115-grain Gold Dots, at more than 1,300 fps, with lots of speed to ensure expansion. Expansion that does not come at the cost of penetration, as the 13 to 14 inches of penetration in ballistic gel I shot demonstrates.

And as I've said, that comes with a price: noise and recoil. Now, some will still resist the allure of the .327 and point out that you can match the ballistics of the .327 by packing a .357. Yes, you can. However, you need a bigger gun to get six rounds (so you've gone from, for example, an SP-101 to a GP-100), and you also have a lot more blast and recoil.

Now, there will be some downsides with the .327, at least predictable ones. Handloaders will figure, correctly, that at 45,000 psi, the case will be work to resize. Not a lot, as it is only a .32, but more work than mild-load .38 Special, for instance.

Also, my experience with long, high-pressure revolver cases is that they tend to not have as long a life as the low-pressure ones. So instead of the 40 to 60 reloads you get from a .38 Special, you might get "only" 30 from a .327. Only experience will tell us that.

Me, I've got my reloading dies on hand and have sent letters to the revolver makers out there asking for versions of their products in .327 Federal Magnum. Until the others come through, I'll be working with the SP-101 to see what I can come up with that Federal hasn't thought of yet. The .327 is a pit bull in dachshund disguise.