[Jim Hauff]

H&R did produce (or at least catalogued it in 1979) a SPORTSMAN variant in 6 x .32 S&W Long and called it the "AUTO EJECTOR REVOLVER". No existing examples are known by the H&R Collecting community and (as with a couple other catalogued firearms) may never have reached production. This center fire variant was only shown in the H&R literature in 1979.

As to the Bobby - "common knowledge" is that around 23,000 were ordered and shipped - with the majority of the pieces chambered for .38 S&W. As you can see from the commercial pieces I pictured, both .32 and .38 versions are known to have been made. The Metro. Police marked piece falls within the serial number range, which was apparently separate from the commercial models. I have only seen the one that I have and that came to me by mischance. I won an on-line auction for what I thought was a very late variation of the AUTO EJECTING series and when it arrived, I found the other markings indicating British usage. The two commercial models came to me later on - and I've not seen any other examples of those, either. So, I'm thinking all in all, both series are somewhat rare. As to the .32 cal chambering, apparently .32 ACP or 7.65mm Browning was fairly well accepted and used by English and European police forces back between 1900 and the end of WW2 and even later. The Europeans (police and civilians) never seemed to develop the taste for the large caliber boomers popular in the US AFTER the development of smokeless powders and higher velocity projectiles.