I’ve been thinking about attempting this, but I’m not quite sure yet.

I got my LCP Custom back from a friend who I sold it to a couple years ago. Considering that the recoil on these pocket rocket .380s is horrendous for most people including myself, I would think a .32 ACP LCP would be neat and still effectively a pocket pistol.

The .380 magazine could probably be made to work; I know other models of pistols have caliber conversions that allow you to switch from .380 to .32 with just a barrel swap. The breech face may be more challenging. Or it may work with just a little tweaking.

A .32 barrel liner in the .380 barrel seems the logical way to go. One could be made by turning down the OD of a different pistol barrel, or a .410-to-32 chamber adapter.

Assuming the 32 has enough ass behind it to cycle the LCP’s locked-breech action, I think it would make a cool pistol that would be much easier to shoot and practice with. Plus you could fit an extra round or two into the mag. I’d think.

Anyway, I’m basically brainstorming out loud. Any thoughts on these potential shenanigans?

https://www.keltecweapons.com/firearms/pistols/p32/

You'd be ahead to do this, or to at least buy the parts and adapt them for the Ruger.

I had a P32 and when you shot it, it felt exactly like the LCP, just a little less recoily.

I didn't think the LCP was that bad, actually.

Numrich lists the barrels for the P32 (old style and new style), although both are out of stock.

They look identical to the Ruger.

You've got me intrigued, OP.

The lcp, Taurus tcp, and keltec are very similar designs. I know certain parts will exchange between the kel tec and tcp.

Don't know about converting an LCP, but the Kel-Tec P32 is a cool little pistol. It's the perfect thing to carry when you can't or don't want to carry a gun . . .

Seriously, it's a gun. It's easy to carry. Could be just the thing to take care of a vicious dog or for times when all that is necessary is to have a gun.

I sure wouldn't want to be shot with one.

And yes, in a LCP/PT-A3 size mouse gun size package, the .32 ACP makes much more sense. Honestly, out of that length barrel, the .32 and .380 are likely not that much different in effectiveness. Better to hit with a lighter bullet than miss with a heavier one.

I felt the same way for years and carried a P32. Recently, I traded up to a LCP, and I didn't think it was all that different from the P32. I could hit as well with it, and it is basically the same size.

Back to the OP's topic...look at this:



.32 in the LCP magazine.



Yes, it chambered and extracted. It was a little rough going closed, but I think that's probably minor rim engagement with the round beneath it in the magazine. Point is, it DID chamber, every time I worked the slide.

IOW, possibly all you'd have to do is replace the barrel, and maybe the recoil spring if the .32 didn't have enough power to cycle the slide.

Of course, keep in mind that the gun could explode at any point, because you're doing something it's not designed to do.

Beyond that, good luck OP! If it works, I may order a .32 barrel and slide for mine!

So the 32 cartridges fit in the 380 mag alright? At some point I was going to buy a box of 32 and try that myself.

Encouraging.

Wish someone would make a 32 drop in barrel!

You can always try the factory P32 barrel.

Kind of a big risk at almost $100, though.

My dad has a P32. I might "borrow" his to see if it will work.

A hogue tames recoil very well. Still carries just fine

As a fan of the 32acp, I am now very interested in this! That would be amazing if the barrel just dropped in.

Please do this!!

For science!

While there’s virtually no difference in performance between the 32 and 380 in pocket pistols the US market buys the 380.

I've thought the same thing. The lcp 380 barrel is really thin and a 32 liner turned to the 380 bore size would also be really thin.
If some one were to make a 32 barrel for the lcp I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

Not quite what you wanted but Innovative Arms was making a 32NAA conversion barrel; pricey little bugger though.  https://shop.innovativearms.com/product/32naa-conversion-barrel/  If he's not swamped with silencer orders you might be able to talk him into chambering one in .32ACP.

Still looking for an update if there is any........

Put some sand surface grip tape on the LCP.  It stops squirming.  Especially if you use the LCP extended 7 round mag.  Same front length as 6 round, extended floor plate squares it for a 7th round.  If you can contemplate re-lining a barrel, you can cut the Gator tape to fit.  Carefully fitting is done by pencil edging the frame segment and then pressing the white backing against the pencil marks. Sissors cut the marks.







Mags all same body with a different Ruger floorplate.  The right most one holds 7 rounds, one below the counter holes.

I just bought a used Kel-Tec .32 off GunBroker instead.  I want to say the original Ruger and Taurus are copies of the Kel-Tec .380, to the extent that major parts will interchange - I don't know if the new Ruger & Taurus have maintained any compatibility.  The Kel-Tec .32 is noticeably smaller than the .380, IIRC, so I wouldn't expect the Kel-Tec .32 bbl to drop in.

I just bought a .32 Jennings-Bryco bbl for Fatalwishes' .380 that doesn't run, on the grounds that maybe it'll work in .32.  That is a drop in conversion, no difference in extractor, slide, or magazine.

Know how I know you didn't read the whole thread?  

LOL, it's all good.  

I forgot about that- so glancing at their website it's a .22 version?  Oh boy; late to the party again Glock.    

Try an LCP II. The grip is wider and there is a better texture too.

I heard that there was a rumor going around SHOT that there might be a .32 Ruger in the works. I assume now that it was a misunderstood/misheard reference to the new .22 Ruger LCP II, since Ruger hasn't shown anything suggesting a possible .32 to my knowledge.

I got my hopes up and everything...

The little KelTecs aren’t expensive on Gunbroker.

I run a 32 acp barrel and recoil spring from my beretta 81 on my 85 frame. Use the single stack 380 mags for the 32. About 10% failure rate on the mags where the round would stand straight up instead going going into the slide.

If someone did make a 32 barrel for the Lcp I’d have suggest modifying the mag feel lips to hold the smaller 32 bullet a bit tighter

What I'm trying to wrap my head around.  Is how is this a better option than buying a P32?  Maybe if you live in a place like NYS and you only have so many pistols on your permit or somewhere else that has xxx amount of pistols per month.

But other than that, I'm not spending close to 300 on a barrel for a 200 $ gun

Agreed, love the concept but at that price I’m out. I paid less than that for my surplus Beretta 81. Although an NAA Guardian is around $500 so maybe they’ve sold more barrels than I think.
Love my P-32, just hard to beat 7 rounds of .32 in a package as small as a derringer and much lighter.
If the LCP ever comes out in a .32 I’ll buy one. Beretta has been teasing a .32 Pico for too long, and if anyone came out with a modern .32, you think It’d be Beretta.

For me, 32acp only has two drawbacks. The semi rimmed case can rimlock with short rounds like hollowpoints in my p32, so I stick to fmj.
And expensive domestic .32acp fmj never seems to be loaded as hot as any European .32acp fmj.

Gonna try to convert a jammatic Bryco/Jennings .380 to .32, got two bbls, 2 springs & an extra slide.  Wish me luck!

I completely forgot about this thread!!

Any updates for us @backbencher ?

No, started a full time job and haven't cleaned out my workshop yet.  Parts are here, but it's fairly down the priority list.

Science called, I answered.

TLDR: shoots, don’t cycle gud.

This thread tickled my “lessee if I can do that” bone.

Started with my recently purchased LCP.
I ebayed a p32 parts kit (barrel, slide and springs and bits) for $78.
Compared the two barrels- p32 was shorter by about .25 in, outside diameter was smaller. Geometry of the feed ramps were slightly different. The angles of chamfering around the base of the barrel were different but the shape of the lugs and the relative position of the lugs to the breech face were the same.

P32 slide would not mate with the LCP frame. Rail geometry too dissimilar.

P32 barrel dropped into Lcp slide easily and spring went in without issue. Lcp reassembled no problem.

The first issue then cropped up. If not racked forcefully enough, it wouldn’t go into battery completely. I suspect this is due to the slight chamfer difference on the barrel block. On my next wecsog bench day I’ll try to suss that out with the micrometer and some chalk (and dremel...). For today’s purposes it wasn’t an issue. A solid tap would send it into battery or just rack it like a man.

Loading, chambering and ejecting at the bench were uneventful, with one exception. When removing a loaded magazine the top round would be sticking out vertically. This is due, I’m sure, to the fact that the 32 case is smaller than the 380 and the LCP magwell tends to push the top round forward slightly upon insertion. Probably solved with pliers or hammer to feed lips of mag. Again, not a real issue for today.

Let’s shoot this sucker. I loaded up three mags, one Italian ruger 6 round, one US 6 round and one Ruger 10 round (R14 mag). All three loaded one extra round  for a total of 25 round of Speer Lawman 70 gr fmj.

It shot but wouldn’t cycle with any reliability.
Twice it fired 3 rounds.
Six times 2.
Seven times 1.
Every stoppage was a failure to eject.
Slide would go back, strip and attempt to load next round into the back of the unejected fired case.
Each time I’d have to lock the slide back, drop mag and dowel out the fired case.
Once, I missed locking the slide back and gave myself “LCP slide finger”, a much milder version of Garand thumb.

I’m pretty sure the FTEs were due to the LCP EXTRACTOR not catching the rim of the smaller 32 case.
I will explore the modification/replacement of the ejector.

I welcome any comments or suggestions, especially if anyone knows of an easy or drop in solution for the EXTRACTOR problem.

Disclaimer #1: Despite my adherence to strict scientific method and succinct verbiage, I am NOT a professional gunsmith or researcher. I wouldn’t even rank myself as an “amateur gunsmith”, more an enthusiastic fool. So if I used the wrong term for a part, please forgive me. Fee free to correct me, just don’t expect me to learn.

Disclaimer #2: just in case any of King Andy’s trusted men are reading this, all experimentation documented in this post was theoretical only and in no case was any magazine loaded with more than ten rounds of ammunition.

ETA:Backbencher just pointed out that I was using certain terms incorrectly. I’m editing this and the next post. Sorry for any puzzlement I induced.

Well it looks like Innovative Arms list an actual .32ACP barrel in addition to the .32NAA now if anyone really wants one.

Outstanding!  I'd agree w/ you, I bet the ejector isn't always hitting the case head as it comes out of the chamber.  Will the P32 ejector fit?

Does the extractor reliably extract all the fired & unfired cases?

The p32 and LCP EXTRACTORs are significantly different. From a quick glance, I think the easiest method would be to reshape the LCPs EXTRACTOR. How? That’s the pickle. I have an extra extractor that came with a spare slide I picked up, I may monkey around with it at work tonight. Maybe shaving some material off the inboard side of the extractor so it “bites” deeper?

The LCP extractor reliably works with all the 380 Ammo I’ve put through it.
It also reliably works when manually cycling 32. It’s once the rounds fired that it sticks. Combination of EXTRACTOR  not grabbing enough meat on the rim and the discharge of the round making the case swell in chamber...?

I am confused.  Is the issue w/ the extractor or the ejector?

You’re not confused, I am.
I just realized I was using both words interchangeably.
I MEANT to say EXTRACTOR  every time either word was used in the post above. The “hook”that catches the edge of the rim and causes it to rotate as the ejector “pushes” it from the other side.
While the ejector plays a role, my suspicion is that the extractor is the culprit here.

Going back to the previous posts to correct some stuff.
Sorry.

So to actually answer this question:
I don’t know.
I don’t have a whole p32, just a slide, barrel and some extra parts. I’ll look through them when I get home tomorrow night.
But I don’t think that’s the issue.
The fired case isn’t leaving the chamber, so its not giving the ejector the chance to work or not.
Of course any insight you’d be willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

Ah.  Well, it's a locked breech action, so you really need a working extractor.  Do you weld?

To add material to the extractor? Yeah.

That's what it's sounding like.  Get a spare extractor, add material, grind away what you don't need.

Might play w/ springs 1st, see if you can fix it that way before you start welding.

Looks like these guys make one http://shop.innovativearms.com/product/32naa-conversion-barrel/

There is an option in the dropdown menu for .32 ACP. Out of stock, so it might be vaporware or something. I've never heard of the shop before.

Great shop, and they do some interesting things with the LCP.  I had them do the sight conversion on my LCP, and want them to do it on my LCP II, but they've been shut down for new orders due to THE RONA.  I don't think they've been making the .32 conversion barrels for a while.