Hello

I had a customer come in with a Colt Police Positive. On the barrel is stamped "32 Police CTG." He wanted to know if I had any ammunition for it. As a retailer I have to err on the side of caution so I told him I would do some research on the subject and let him know.

So, what modern ammunition works for the "32 Police CTG." I am pretty sure it is one-in-the-same as .32 S&W Long but I wanted to see if anyone more knowledgeable than me would share their expertise.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I'm pretty sure that the "CTG" stands for Cartridge, so it is a 32 Colt police Cartridge which is pretty much the same thing as a 32 S&W Long other than in the original loadings which had some bullet profile differences.

I have a similar gun labeled the same that I got from a relative so also being confused I searched around and found the above information.

I have not shot the pistol though, so at this point it's just paper knowledge.

As Mudbug mentioned, it is simply the 32 S&W Long with a different headstamp.

Around the turn of the century, Colt was transitioning from their, inferior, outside lubed heeled bullet cartridges to modern inside lubed designs.  But, the direct logical design/step had already been taken by S&W.

As a direct competitor, Colt didn't like marking their guns with S&W's name.  So, they cheated, the 32 S&W Long became the 32 Colt New Police, the 38 S&W became the 38 Colt New Police and the 38 S&W Special became the 38 Special (sometimes seen as 38 Colt Special).

Conversely, at the time, S&W didn't chamber their guns in any Colt cartridge.

As to the alleged difference, at the time, S&W only loaded a round nose bullet and Colt decided to only load a flat point.  Other than that, the exact same cartridge, same general specs, same performance.

As far as shootable ammo, 32 S&W Long (and 32 S&W)(it shoots both) are readily available at any of the larger chains or on line.  Boxes and ammo marked Colt New Police are kind of rare and are collector's items.

MLG

Gentlemen, thank you very much for taking the time to respond with the requested info. I really appreciate that.

We have .32 S&W Long (and .32 S&W) in stock in my store so I will pass on the information to my customer.

Thanks again.