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        The .32 S&W Long is a straight walled centerfire, rimmed handgun cartridge based on the earlier .32 S&W cartridge.  It was introduced in 1896 for Smith and Wesson's first-model Hand Ejector revolver.  Colt called it the .32 Colt New Police in revolvers it made chambered for the cartridge.

        When he was the New York City Police Commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt standardized the department's use of the Colt New Police Revolver.  The cartridge was then adopted by several other northeastern US police departments.  The .32 Long has long been known as an unusually accurate cartridge. It was this reputation that led Police Commissioner Roosevelt to select it, as an expedient way to increase officers' accuracy with their revolvers in New York City.

        Although generally seen primarily just in older revolvers in the United States, the .32 S&W Long is also popular among international competitors using high-end target pistols from makers such as Hammerli, Bernelli8 and Walther among others, but chambered for wadcutter type bullets.

        The .32 S&W Long headspaces on the rim and shares the rim dimensions and case and bullet diameters of the shorter .32 S&W cartridge and the longer .32 H&R Magnum cartridge. The shorter .32 S&W cartridges may be fired in arms chambered for the .32 S&W Long; and the .32 S&W Long cartridges may be fired in arms chambered for the longer .32 H&R Magnum cartridge. 

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