I picked up a box of 32 ga shotshells for my collection. They are Italian and 2 1/2", #8.

Anyone had any experience with a 32 ga shotgun? I've known they existed in Europe, mostly for doubles, but have never seen one. Curious how the gun and load preform and how they would do here for doves and quail.:D

You will find them mainly as English or Belgian in origin. Some cheap Belgian doubles show up from time to time but most seem to be singles. A friend has a nice single by Westley Richards. They were not made as sporting guns but as 'Collector's guns' for Naturalists and such like to shoot small bird specimens for taxidermy. The standard load was 9/16 ounce of shot (standard for and English .410 2 1/2" is 7/16th's) They will perform just a little better than a .410 firing a similar charge. You will sometimes find European ammunition marked as 14mm. rather than 32 bore. I have quite a few examples of 32 bore cartridges in my collection with quite a few made by Eley -Kynoch as well as French and Belgian examples.

Another Cartridge collector; what do you specialise in or do you collect on a general level? Lagopus.....

Still loaded in Europe (or at least it still was four years ago when I last checked) and are still some guns being produced. About that time, one importer had a small lot of 32ga. O/U's he was selling...they sold quickly. Bore should run something like .52caliber, so a nice light gun could be made...but most of the inexpensive ones are on adapted 20ga. receivers (or on full sized 12ga. receivers).

Lagopus, I collect mostly shotshells but some older rifle and pistol. I have various loose examples but like whole boxes. Some are just old, empty boxes too. I have shotgun shells back to the turn of the 20th century and some metalics from the 1880's... always on the lookout for stuff. One of my most interesting is a box of Peter's 28's in 2 9/16. A whole case was discovered in a plantation demolition project and brought to a gunshow. They lasted about 10 minutes and I was lucky to get one box! A $100 bill would not buy the wooden box they were in.

Your description of the use of the 32 ga is most interesting. I knew they existed but assumed they were bird guns for something like driven grouse or the like. I have seen hulls for the 24 on game preserve shooting grounds here and heard of several quail hunters that use them but they are even larger than the popular 28 so their use is not surprising.

I collect along very much similar lines. Here's a shot of my little 24 bore. A Belgian gun made by Bayard;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/lagopus/PictureFile1601.jpg

And one to aspire to. This one is at the Birmingham Proof House. And now if anyone asks you what is the smallest centrefire shotgun cartridge; you can tell them. This was one of a number that were made to fit a presentation pair of Purdey hammer guns made for George V and were 1/6 th. scale working replicas of his own game guns. You should be able to read the details on the card. A box of 25 is about 1 inch cubed. Lagopus.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/lagopus/PictureFile.721.jpg

Well, educate me! I considered the 9mm the smallest till now!
Don't think I'll find that at the Pickens flea market, huh?

Nope, that's about as small as they get! In rimfire there is also the 6mm. and 7mm. shotgun cartridge and there is the 7mm. Walkingstick Gun Cartridge which is entrefire.

Here's some of the rimfire clan, left to right shows a group of 6mm, then 7mm. short and long and then the 9mm. short and long with a .410 for scale:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/lagopus/PictureFile.2826.jpg

That tin of 6mm. rim fires on the left holds 100. There are also some pretty small stuff in the Rook rifle group with some being offered as shot rounds as well as bulleted. I have a full box of 297/230 in shot version. Barnes Cartridges of the World is helpful but there are many gaps. Lagopus......

I've got a couple of 32 gauge shells. One is just headstamped 14 mm over 14 mm and the other is headstamped 32 FIOCCHI 32 over ITALY. The 24 gauge is another small one and my example is headstamped 24 FIOCCHI 24 over ITALY. The 14 gauge is bigger but rarer and my example is headstamped LEON BEAUX over 14 MILANO 14. While .44-40 shot cartridges are common, I though they were just used in rifles until I saw a neat little .44-40 double-barreled hammer shotgun a few years ago.

Bye
Jack

I have quite a few old Eley and Kynoch 14 bore cartridges. They had quite a following in the U.K. around the end of the 1800's. I would love to come across a 44 - 40 shotgun. I suspect that that was made also for securing small specimens for taxidermy taking advantage of the 44 - 40 round used by trick shooters. The .410 had its origins with the 12mm. Walkingstick gun and some of the older .410's are marked as 12mm. as well. Lagopus......