.32 ACP
pistol cartridge designed by John Moses Browning
.32 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol, also known as the .32 Auto, .32 Automatic, 7.65mm Browning, or 7.65×17mmSR) is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pistol. It was introduced in 1899 by Fabrique Nationale.
History
John Browning engineered several modern semi-automatic pistol mechanisms and cartridges. As his first pistol cartridge, the .32 ACP needed a straight wall for reliable blowback operation as well as a small rim for reliable feeding from a box magazine. The cartridge headspaces on the rim. The cartridge was a success and was adopted by dozens of countries and many governmental agencies.
When the .32 ACP cartridge was introduced, it was immediately popular and was adopted by several blowback automatic pistols, including the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, the Savage Model 1907 automatic pistol, the Ruby pistol and the Browning Model 1910 automatic pistol. Between 1899 and 1909, Fabrique Nationale produced 500,000 guns chambered for .32 ACP.
Its popularity rose further after firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd convinced author Ian Fleming that James Bond's sidearm should be a Walther PPK chambered in .32 ACP. A significant factor in Boothroyd recommending this round was its wide availability throughout the world in the 1950s.
The first handgun by Heckler & Koch, the HK 4, was made available in .32 ACP from 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “.32 ACP” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.