New pistol

[Navneet0099]

I got new arm license
Major thing which bore i preffres .32 or.380
In.32 taurus and .380 maybe imported pistol..
Its good idea actuualy i want imported pistol
Wht is tha approx price in punjab llaama .380 or mauser..
Taurus is around 2 lac

[GVS]

I got new arm license
Major thing which bore i preffres .32 or.380
In.32 taurus and .380 maybe imported pistol..
Its good idea actuualy i want imported pistol
Wht is tha approx price in punjab llaama .380 or mauser..
Taurus is around 2 lac

HI Navneet,

The .38 is a prohibited bore for Indian civilians, unless you have special exemption to purchase the same, it's not allowed on a normal license.

You can look at .32 or .45 caliber.

Cheers
GVS

[Vineet]

.380 acp is non prohibited.

Go for .32. 380 acp ammo is too much expensive plus difficult to get. Merely owning a firearm is not enough. You need regular practice with it.

With .32, you can altleast fire 20-25 rounds a year. You will think hundred times before firing .380 acp rounds which is Rs. 800 a pop.

[Navneet0099]

.380 is rare..imported price os .380

[GVS]

.380 acp is non prohibited.

Go for .32. 380 acp ammo is too much expensive plus difficult to get. Merely owning a firearm is not enough. You need regular practice with it.

With .32, you can altleast fire 20-25 rounds a year. You will think hundred times before firing .380 acp rounds which is Rs. 800 a pop.

I thought .38 caliber is a prohibited bore.

Didnt know civilians could own it.

[GVS]

Just went thru some old threads where this was discussed. Realised that .38 revolvers are PB and pistols are not. Doesn't make sense. Why restrict one type of firearm and allow the other?

[timmy]

Just went thru some old threads where this was discussed. Realised that .38 revolvers are PB and pistols are not. Doesn't make sense. Why restrict one type of firearm and allow the other?

There are several responses to your question, and I'll present two to you:

1. The desire to prevent firearms from being used by people who the government does not want to use firearms, or have ready access to them. This was a common policy in the British Empire, and weapons using the same cartridges as used by British military forces were prohibited, both in India and in Africa. Weapons makers got around some of this by making new cartridges for sporting arms, but the purpose of the regulation was to keep the majority of weapons, such as those stored in military installations, from being accessed and supplied with ammunition from such sources.

The British were far from the only nation to implement such laws; there are other examples of this.

India preserved this principle upon independence.

2. A very large problem arises, when trying to understand this, by the imprecise nature of referring to cartridges and chamberings of those cartridges in ammunition. For instance, saying "The 38 is prohibited bore" is very misleading. The "bore" of the gun is not what is prohibited, it is a particular cartridge that is prohibited. For instance, the 380 Automatic cartridge used in pistols has a groove diameter of 0.355 inches, whereas the 38/200 revolver cartridge used in British military revolvers has a groove diameter of 0.361 inches -- and the "bore" speaking exactly is not the same, either.

This leads to all sorts of confusion about guns and must be understood. There are two diameters to a gun barrel, the "land" diameter, which is the distance between the raised areas of the rifling, and the diameter beetween the grooves of the rifliing.

The diameter between the lands of the rifling is correctly termed the "bore" diameter. It is obvious that the groove and bore diameters are different, and thus the 30-06 cartridge, which name refers to the bore diameter, uses the same barrel and bullet as the 308 Winchester. 0.300" inches is the bore diameter of both cartridges and 0.308 inches is the groove diameter of both cartridges.

This is confusing, isn't it? The British had the tendency to name cartridges after the bore diameter, so some of their old sporting cartridges called "275" are actually 7 mm, or 0.284 inches groove diameter.

The 38/200 British military revolver cartridge is actually a 38 Smith & Wesson cartridge loaded with a 200 grain bullet, thus the name. Any gun chambered in 38 Smith & Wesson would be able to shoot the 38/200 ammunition, and would thus probably be liable to the restriction, even though the gun was stamped "38 Smith & Wesson."

Similarly, the 380 Automatic pistols use a 0.355 inch diameter, or 9 mm groove diameter, the same as 9 mm Parabellum, often called 9 mm Luger or 9 x 19 mm, or just 9 mm.They use the same diameter bullets, and even though the 380 Automatic usually uses lighter bullets than 9 mm, theoretically, a reloader could load either bullet in either cartridge.

This gets even more confusing when one considers that the 38 Special and the 357 Magnum both use a 0.357 inch diameter bullet, and the 38 Special can be fired in a 357 Magnum revolver (but never the other way around). This is because the old cartridges that the newer ones were based on used outside lubricated heeled bullets, and the bullet was the same diameter as the cartridge case. 22 short, long, and long rifle cartridges are the only outside lubricated heeled bullets used today, but when 38 Long Colt, using an outside lubricated heeled bullet, was modified to become the 38 Special by lengthening the case, the bullet was reduced to the diamiter of the inside of the cartridge case, or 0.357 inches, and the guns were given a smaller barrel accordingly. The cartridge name said "38," but the actual groove size of the barrel was 0.357 inches. And still, the same process took place with the 38 Smith & Wesson cartridge, except that the barrel groove diameter was made 0.361 inches when the outside lubricated bullets were done away with. The crazy part of this is that these were all -- 38 Long Colt, 38 Special, and 38 Smith & Wesson, are all "38 bore," but use different size bullets and have different size barrels. You can see that "bore" is a pretty meaningless term in thse cases. The term "caliber" used elsewhere isn't much better in this regard.

As you see, all this gets somewhat confusing, and referring to guns by the size of the barrel -- "bore" -- rather than the actual cartridge used in a particular gun, often only adds to the confusion rather than being helpful. Even if you ignore this fact and refer to the chamberings of guns as "bore," you still have to understand the individual cartridges for which a particular gun is chambered.

[Rajesh_MD]

I wonder why no one is considering .22 pistols?
Actually who are the makers in India manufacturing or selling .22 pistols?

[timmy]

I wonder why no one is considering .22 pistols?

Are you referring to the use of a 22 pistol for self defense? If so, as a newcomer here, you obviously have not reviewed the many threads concerning a 22 pistol or revolver for this use.

Also, you will note that the OP specifically asked about 32 vs 380 pistols. That is the topic he raised in this thread. If you wish to discuss 22 pistols, why not start a new thread on that subject, if previous threads on it have not met your expectations?

[GVS]

Just went thru some old threads where this was discussed. Realised that .38 revolvers are PB and pistols are not. Doesn't make sense. Why restrict one type of firearm and allow the other?

There are several responses to your question, and I'll present two to you:

1. The desire to prevent firearms from being used by people who the government does not want to use firearms, or have ready access to them. This was a common policy in the British Empire, and weapons using the same cartridges as used by British military forces were prohibited, both in India and in Africa. Weapons makers got around some of this by making new cartridges for sporting arms, but the purpose of the regulation was to keep the majority of weapons, such as those stored in military installations, from being accessed and supplied with ammunition from such sources.

The British were far from the only nation to implement such laws; there are other examples of this.

India preserved this principle upon independence.

2. A very large problem arises, when trying to understand this, by the imprecise nature of referring to cartridges and chamberings of those cartridges in ammunition. For instance, saying "The 38 is prohibited bore" is very misleading. The "bore" of the gun is not what is prohibited, it is a particular cartridge that is prohibited. For instance, the 380 Automatic cartridge used in pistols has a groove diameter of 0.355 inches, whereas the 38/200 revolver cartridge used in British military revolvers has a groove diameter of 0.361 inches -- and the "bore" speaking exactly is not the same, either.

This leads to all sorts of confusion about guns and must be understood. There are two diameters to a gun barrel, the "land" diameter, which is the distance between the raised areas of the rifling, and the diameter beetween the grooves of the rifliing.

The diameter between the lands of the rifling is correctly termed the "bore" diameter. It is obvious that the groove and bore diameters are different, and thus the 30-06 cartridge, which name refers to the bore diameter, uses the same barrel and bullet as the 308 Winchester. 0.300" inches is the bore diameter of both cartridges and 0.308 inches is the groove diameter of both cartridges.

This is confusing, isn't it? The British had the tendency to name cartridges after the bore diameter, so some of their old sporting cartridges called "275" are actually 7 mm, or 0.284 inches groove diameter.

The 38/200 British military revolver cartridge is actually a 38 Smith & Wesson cartridge loaded with a 200 grain bullet, thus the name. Any gun chambered in 38 Smith & Wesson would be able to shoot the 38/200 ammunition, and would thus probably be liable to the restriction, even though the gun was stamped "38 Smith & Wesson."

Similarly, the 380 Automatic pistols use a 0.355 inch diameter, or 9 mm groove diameter, the same as 9 mm Parabellum, often called 9 mm Luger or 9 x 19 mm, or just 9 mm.They use the same diameter bullets, and even though the 380 Automatic usually uses lighter bullets than 9 mm, theoretically, a reloader could load either bullet in either cartridge.

This gets even more confusing when one considers that the 38 Special and the 357 Magnum both use a 0.357 inch diameter bullet, and the 38 Special can be fired in a 357 Magnum revolver (but never the other way around). This is because the old cartridges that the newer ones were based on used outside lubricated heeled bullets, and the bullet was the same diameter as the cartridge case. 22 short, long, and long rifle cartridges are the only outside lubricated heeled bullets used today, but when 38 Long Colt, using an outside lubricated heeled bullet, was modified to become the 38 Special by lengthening the case, the bullet was reduced to the diamiter of the inside of the cartridge case, or 0.357 inches, and the guns were given a smaller barrel accordingly. The cartridge name said "38," but the actual groove size of the barrel was 0.357 inches. And still, the same process took place with the 38 Smith & Wesson cartridge, except that the barrel groove diameter was made 0.361 inches when the outside lubricated bullets were done away with. The crazy part of this is that these were all -- 38 Long Colt, 38 Special, and 38 Smith & Wesson, are all "38 bore," but use different size bullets and have different size barrels. You can see that "bore" is a pretty meaningless term in thse cases. The term "caliber" used elsewhere isn't much better in this regard.

As you see, all this gets somewhat confusing, and referring to guns by the size of the barrel -- "bore" -- rather than the actual cartridge used in a particular gun, often only adds to the confusion rather than being helpful. Even if you ignore this fact and refer to the chamberings of guns as "bore," you still have to understand the individual cartridges for which a particular gun is chambered.

Very good explanation Timmy.
That clears up my confusuion and has added to my knowledge.

Cheers
GVS