I have been thinking about some of the same things with a pair of "58s that i have...
couldn't you replace the barrel on the pocket remington with a new one from a .32 acp? it seems like all you would have to do is turn it down, carve a forcing cone into it and thread it into place... it may take a few trys to get the headspace right but wouldn't that make it a tad more accurate?
and as far as getting .32S&W loaded to .32 acp spec... wouldn't it be easier to ream out the chambers to fit the acp? I know that it is not an ideal solution, but it would make it a heck of a lot easier to get amo for it. I'm living in hawaii and the S&W short is VERY hard to come by!
Chambering for .32 ACP will not work Because of chambering/headspace issues.
The easiest way is reloading NO Matter how you try and juggle it! also the least expensive and you can load for everything else you shoot ...... ultimatly paying for it self!
Putting a new Barrel on is realetively easy...most of the steps you described but we are talking about 8 hours of work plus parts
Old School (read OLD) gunsmiths who long ago paid off thier houses are still charging $45 dollars an hour. Those of us who are still young ::)and have to bills pay are charging $65 and up depending on where they are. so best case is $360 for the install + $5 an inch for the barrel and then you still need to buy an converter. And you will need to buy 2 extra inches of barrel
We get asked regularly about whether or not the .32 would work with their pet cartridge.......We have thought about this a LOT and lost a LOT of sleep over it .....The only inexpensive solution is to reload. Or a bunch of you gang up on the cartridge companies and get them to load for it.
And while your at it get them to load .41 Colt healed base so we can shoot all those guns chambered for it....a by product would be that the .38 Kirst Conversions would be HIGHLY accurate.
Raven