Low velocity .32 RB shooting.

[redheart]

 Have any of you experimented with tiny charges in your .32's and attained decent accuracy and power for small critters out to 50 yds. or so.
I need to clean out some destructive varmints without endangering neighbors or alarming them with loud noise.
I'm considering buying a .32 squirrel rifle and I guess I'm seeking a .22 CB cap effect in the .32 with decent accuracy.
I realize that a percussion cap is pretty loud in itself and so I'm considering a flintlock , but I'm also wondering if in a tiny charge too much of the pressure might escape out the vent hole.
Any info on this topic would be much appreciated.

[bob in the woods]

My friend has a .32 rifle that he loads with only 10 gr at times. I think that the question I would have , especially at 50 yds, is this enough power for what you want it to do. We always used the " will it penetrate a tin can" rule to measure what distance a plinking load was good for hunting small stuff.  Define varmints.....a ground hog can take a pretty good hit if not head shot. I body shot a large raccoon in a tree over looking my chicken house with my .32 and 20 gr 3F  and he hit the ground in a real bad mood . With all the leaves, what I thought was his neck..wasn't     A quick reload settled things.

[redheart]

Bob,

Thanks for the input.
I like the tin can standard of measurement, it's something I can easily understand and experiment with.
The varmints I refer to almost exclusively are ground squirrels and they can be very tough to dispatch sometimes without a heart or head shot with a .22 lr.
My problem is, I'm not the worlds greatest shot.
I might have to cut my distance to 30 yds. max.

[Old Bob]

I load mine with 18 grs. of fffg and it'll easily kill a gray squirrel out at 50 yards... when I can see well enough to see my sights. Just remember that at 50 yards and farther, the least bit of wind will push the ball over enough to miss a small target so aim accordingly.

[David R. Pennington]

Old Bob, I haven't had any experience with these pea shooters yet, but I couldn't pass up that pretty little Ed Rayl .32 barrel at the sale the other day. Now I just have to come up with the inspiration for what style rifle to put her in.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

My 32 shoots very nicely  at 25 and 50 yards with a 15 grain charge of fffg. It is a caplock with a 13/16", 40" Douglas barrel.

Best I can guess it's about 1350 fps at that charge level, I still get a "crack". What's a 319 ball weigh? 42 grains?  Gray's beware!  Lon

[redheart]

Old Bob & Lon,

Thanks for the great input.
It looks like if I want to be quiet I'm going to have to cut down to 10 grs or less and maybe cut my distance down to 50 ft. or so.

[Old Bob]

Hey, 18 grains is not loud. It won't scare the squirrel you missed away so you'll be able to reload. At least unless you knocked bark or dirt in it's face.

[Old Bob]

Old Bob, I haven't had any experience with these pea shooters yet, but I couldn't pass up that pretty little Ed Rayl .32 barrel at the sale the other day. Now I just have to come up with the inspiration for what style rifle to put her in.

You've seen my .32. When I bought those parts from Fred L., I picked up 2 McCoy half stock pre-carves for like $25 apiece. I was stuck with using Manton Waterproofs since they were mortised for that lock, but I just happened to have some. And the curl in those pieces of wood was gorgeous, so I couldn't pass them up. I had bought a 42" .32 GM from Jim Cullers a while before. I cut the barrel back to 38" and made me a squirrel gun. Last week I inletted the .40 Bill Large I bought at the sale into the other stock. I'm building this one for the wife. If I could ever get the buttplate lined up right. One of the drawbacks to using a pre-carve, especially when you have to move it. And of course I had to set the barrel back so that the touch hole would line up with the pan. Another problem is that they removed way too much wood from the lock mortise.

I haven't forgotten your pm. I need to go through those Siler parts and see how many cocks were in there. I pretty much have enough parts for about 3 locks except I'm short a couple of plates. I'd like to have another plate and if there's 3 cocks we could do some trading. I'll sort through what I have today.

[Mike R]

My 32 shoots very nicely  at 25 and 50 yards with a 15 grain charge of fffg. It is a caplock with a 13/16", 40" Douglas barrel.

Best I can guess it's about 1350 fps at that charge level, I still get a "crack". What's a 319 ball weigh? 42 grains?  Gray's beware!  Lon

Given that 15 gr produces .22HV velocities [and a 319 ball ~ .22LR weight] I would not hesitate to use 10 gr loads in your .32.  I base this on my experience with various .22 rimfire loads that produce 700 to 750 fps velocities.  With these I have killed too many gray and red squirrels to count. Most didn't know what hit them, but a poor shot might let a few escape into the treetops.  Of course my coonhound catches them before most get too far if on the ground...I use an empty .38Spec case as powder measure for my .32 Tenn Rifle [~24 gr] which produces .22Mag ballistics and is overkill on squirrels...been meaning to work on a 10-11 gr load myself...

[redheart]

Mike,

I guess I start out with a 10 gr. load.
I'm still wondering about the flintlock and if too much of the power goes out the vent hole with such a tiny load.

[Old Bob]

You'll lose a little. That's why I use 18 grs. Probably equal to 12 to 15 grs. in a percussion gun. It reaches 50 yds. with little drop and it's still quieter than a .22.

[WElliott]

I have a .25 caliber flintlock Soddy-style rifle that I usually load with 20 grains. This discussion makes me want to experiment with even lighter charges.  For plunking, it is more fun than my .50 with less noise and powder.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

I have a .36 that like 20 grains of 3f. But it's still pretty loud. Not enough to scare game out of the county but nearby neighbors will hear it. I tried it with 15 grains and the pattern broke up bad. Maybe 10 grains? I'll have to give it a try.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

FWIW, when I first started with my 32 as a new rifle many years ago I loaded with a 22 LR case as a measure and progressed through slightly larger cases . Just to know.  I forget what the charge of fffg in the LR case was but it was enough to spit out the RB with energy.

Later I finalized by measuring  the best accuracy I found at 25 or 50 yards on a bench set up.  I settled on 15 or 30 grains as the best charges as the first was a slight bit more accurate at  shorter squirrel  shooting ranges (25 yards or so) and the 30 grain charge hit about 1/2" higher at 50 yards and was good out to 60. My chronograph indicated the 30 grain charge provided about 1650 fps with a 42 grain ball.   Lon

[Daryl]

I started at 20gr. 3F and a patched .311" ball in my .32 Tenn. rifle with a cut rifled barrel- .008" rifling, very narrow grooves - opposite what I prefer.
At 25 yards, it would, of a bench, put 5 consecutive shots into a .45" hole. That grouping would measure .139" on centre to centre measurement.

At 50 yards, that 20gr. charge shot those .311" balls with .020" patch, into 2 1/2"- in other words, to obtain accuracy at 50 yards or further, I needed MORE powder.

When I hit 35gr. 3f GOEX, same ball and patch, the rifle gave me consistent 1" groups, on centres - ie: all into a 1.311" group.

When I sent up in ball size to .320", same patch and maintained the 35gr. 3F load, the ground enlarged to 1 1/2".  As I increased the powder charge to 40gr., the group then decreased in size to just under 1".  The increased accuracy and velocity will now make the right slightly better for woods walks, locally & at Hefley, as ranges run up to 110yards, or so.

With the loads listed above, I used the rifle's hickory rod without any trouble loading. I also used a short starter with a 6" main shaft to get the patched ball well down into the bore before using the rifle's rod. The 'purchase' of the rod in the bore helps protect the rod from damage.

As no time did the rifle need wiping while shooting - as only one shot's fouling was in the bore at any one time and that, being damp from the lube, was easily pushed down with the next patched ball when loading.

IF your .32 'fouls and needs wiping' YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

Even at 40gr load, my .32 is my easiest loading rifle.

in my most humble opinion, of course.

Of course, this is for high velocity shooting for trail walk and "accuracy" shooting - as in bunny or squirrel heads at 50 or 60 yards.  It also hits the bunny target at 100yards with regularity.  My rifle will not shoot accurately with light loads, past about 30yards. It just goes to pot.

[David R. Pennington]

All this talk is making me anxious to get that .32 barrel in some wood!

[WadePatton]

All this talk is making me anxious to get that .32 barrel in some wood!

my build after next will feature a 30. (nxt is 40)

[hanshi]

Daryl, you are dead on with the .32 fouling issue.  In my experiences that's what I found, at least.

[Daryl]

Yes - non-fouling .32's.  For one test, I used Track's mink oil. At that time, I was shooting .311" balls from a lee DC mould with the 35gr. 3F charge. The patches were the Red/While/light Blue, dark Blue ticking, we called railroad mattress ticking.

Using my calipers(3 sets) with the jaws crushed between forefinger and thumb on the material, either wet or dry, it measures .0235, .2045, .0255".  My michrometer measures it at .0215"- so - what is this material's thickness - THAT depends on what tool you are using to measure it with and the technique YOU use. Note each of my calipers gives a different measurement, using identical technique.  For instance - years ago, I bought some of OxYoke .018" patching. For me, using my best set of calipers, not my mic, it only measures .015", and did not shoot well in any of my rifles- too bloody thin. While it didn't burn up, it had brown scorch marks from flame blowby on the patches - no sealing and not good enough, although they were good enough NOT to require wiping, they still didn't shoot well enough for me.

Anyway - with Track's Mink Oil, as well as a previous test using Dphar's favourite, Neestfoot Oil, the first shot is the hardest loading(barely the slightest increase in resistance when pushing the ball down), with each shot after that getting easier. This might be due to the thin film of WD40 still in the bore as I usually forget to run a dry patch down and out.  Now-this does not mean the first shot is difficult to load, just that there is barely a bit more resistance to the patched ball going down the tube. After that first shot, it is easier due to the fouling from that shot being wet with the oil and is easily pushed down with the ball.

As far as period correct goes - to be perfectly period correct, some of you should never clean your guns - that would explain why period guns  needed 'freshing' so often. They did not get shot enough to wear them out. The bores were allowed to rot - THAT's period correct.

[redheart]

Hey Daryl,

Is this TOTW Mink Oil a lube that I can leave on top of a powder charge for 2 or 3 weeks without fouling a charge that may sit in up to 95 degree temperatures, or will I need to add beeswax. My .32 will sometimes sit for awhile waiting for the proper opportunity to eradicate a problem rodent.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

Hey Daryl,

Is this TOTW Mink Oil a lube that I can leave on top of a powder charge for 2 or 3 weeks without fouling a charge that may sit in up to 95 degree temperatures, or will I need to add beeswax. My .32 will sometimes sit for awhile waiting for the proper opportunity to eradicate a problem rodent.

I don't know if it will foul your powder but I have left a can in a hot car and it will melt. If I'm worried about fouling a powder charge with a liquid lube of any kind I use a greased felt wad over the powder. Just a little separation between the powder and patch.

[redheart]

Micah,
What kind of grease do you use that won't melt!

[HAWKEN]

I have only tried 20 grain loads of FFFg and 777, and neither is as loud as a .22 lr.  After reading these posts though, I can't wait to try 10 and 15 grain loads of 3f.  Keep yer powder dry........Robin

[redheart]

Hawken,
Let us know if you can get any decent groups out of your 10 and 15 gr. loads.