.32 Caliber Experiences

[Wingshot]

Sorry, fellas. I do not share your enthusiasm for that 25 yard group from a rest position. It is not really a good offhand group either.
Now there are likely good reasons for this.
Sights, weather, powder charge, patch.
All can have a positive or negative effect on the group size.
What I see in this equation is the patch thickness being VERY poor.  With a .311" ball, it is easy to load a .018" to .022" thick denim patch. That one will put 5 shots into a quarter sized hole at 25 yards, shot from a rest. When younger, that was the size of normal offhand groups.
I am not saying this to put anyone down, but as a teaching lesson, to eliminate mediocre performance objectives nd to get guys striving to always attempt for improvement.

Absolutely correct. I was in the early stage of load development when that group was shot. After an afternoon of trying this and that I ended with a 20gr. 3f load, .311 cast ball, .015 pillow ticking and spit for lube. At that point I was able to consistently smack my 3” swinger at 50 yards offhand. I my DGW .32 used and the bore was less than perfect. I had some serious scrubbing to do just to make it satisfactory. I will continue to refine the patch/ball combination as the weather continues to improve. All in all it’s a fun rifle to plink with and with practice, I’m sure it’ll plant a few squirrels.
On page 1 Robin Henderson posted an excellent offhand target. That's what to strive for with your rest shooting. When you accomplish that, doing it offhand is the new goal.

[Daryl]

Spot-on Brian and Wingshot. To improve is the goal. After being in the sport for a while, you will learn there are "prescriptions", so to speak, that will work well in most rifles and smoothbore. The results vary, of course as all guns require slightly different combinations to achieve their best performance.
What we've found is about .018"(8oz. Denim) is the thinnest we even try. I prefer 10oz. Which I measure at .0225", however the last 10oz. Denim I bought is only .020" with the same measuring device.  I expect it will work in all.my guns except for the .69 which has always preferred 12 and 24oz. Denim (.030 & .034")