First shots from a soon-to-be-new .32

[frogwalking]

I have been building this ,32 generic Lancaster for over 6 months.  The only metal work remaining is the toe plate and moon cheek inlay.  Yesterday was beautiful, with low humidity and mild temperatures, so I had no excuse not to shoot it.  I like to get the sights halfway into alignment before final finish.  That way I have advance warning if something drastic remains to be done.  The rifle has a Rice barrel, I don't know which one as I bought it from someone on this site.  It has a nice sugar maple stock Chambers lock and white lightning flash hole liner, and Davis triggers.  A word of warning, I have glaucoma and cataracts, but the new merit disc on my glasses enables me to see the front sight most of the time. 

I fired one shot to be sure the oil was adequately out of the barrel before beginning this series.  No sight adjustments were made as they proved to be close enough for this iteration.  I arbitrarily selected 20grains of fffg powder and Hornady .315 balls.  The patching was .018 pillow ticking, spit patch. Distance was 25 yards.  The target below is ten shots, no wiping between, no misfires, no hang fires.  There is nothing about this target to get anyone's attention, other than there are 6 shots through the 1/2 inch hole in the middle.  That just tickled the heck out of me. 

[wattlebuster]

Tree rats beware Cant wait too see the finished gun

[crowbarforge]

Well done sir!
I have a Joe Schell .32 southern style skwerl rifle that is crying at me to take her off the wall and start huntin' this year. I only hope my results will be similar to yours.

[B Staley]

You got to love those 32 cal.....

[PPatch]

Frogwalking; The squirrels in your neck of the woods are in for a a world of hurt!

dave

[Don Adams]

Very nice shooting and a good group for someone with poor eyes!  Looks like that is going to be a squirrel killing rifle for sure!

[Daryl]

Nice 6 shot group. My little .32 flint also does this at 25 yards with a .311" Lee ball and .022" (14ounce denim) patch. I then moved back to 50 yards and found I the 20gr. charge was useless at that longer range, shooting over 2".  I tested 25gr. then 30, then 35gr. where I got 2 consecutive 1" groups of 5 each- different targets. Increasing the charge further, to 40gr. opened the groups, 2 consecutive 5 shot groups to 1 1/2", so 35gr. was it  for a water based lubed patch. 

I then experimented with Mink Oil and Neetsfoot Oil and had to use 40gr. to get the same accuracy of 1", as with the water based lubes - all the while using the 10 ounce denim patch (calling it .022").

I have not finished experimenting with the heavier mattress ticking, other than to check and see similar results, even with the .320" ball.  My barrel has very narrow grooves, exactly the opposite of what I like. I am considering putting a GM bl. on it.

[frogwalking]

Thanks Daryl.  I had a .32 percussion with a slow twist Douglas bbl. on it many years ago.  To get consistent longer range accuracy with it, I too had to go to serious loads.  The ball hit a squirrel like a ,22 mag hollow point.   Maybe it was not the slow twist after all.  My daughter now has that rifle.

[Daryl]

Mine is a 48" twist which seems to be especially good in .32's through 40's. I suspect .45 would also benefit from a 48" twist.  Above that, I do like the slower twists as they seem more flexible.
The .32's are fun guns indeed and will shoot very cleanly if fed well.