000 Buckshot in a .36 Rifle

[stan57]

First hand experience? Pros/cons?

I noticed Hornady 000 is hardened w/Antimony vs pure lead in their regular lead balls.

[B.Habermehl]

It depends on the diameter of the shot. If it runs about .350 or a bit less it will load ok even if a bit hard. I use .350 cast balls myself probably not entirely pure lead. BJH

[Daryl]

The Hornady 000 is .350, not .360" as nominal for triple ought buck.
Yes, it and their other buckshot down to at least 00 buck are hardened. That stuff was .320" and hard loading in my .32, too hard. .320" pure lead balls I cast in my Lee DC mould were easy loading.  Yes, the Lee mould cast oversize, but perfectly round  except across the tangential spruce to the bottom of the ball.
Mere hand pressure against the patch ball would form the .320" ball and .021 to .0235" patch into the muzzle. Then, a choked up rod would get the ball and patch.moving down the bore. Small balls are easier to load tightly, than larger balls.

[alacran]

I bet you had a hard time loading Hornady 00 buckshot Daryl.
They swage it to .330.
It isn't hardened so much that it can't be swaged.
I shot a lot of 000 buck in my .36. it worked great for both target shooting and small game hunting. Shot my first Abert squirrel limit with a flintlock using it.

[MJBush]

My wife shoots both  Hornaday .350 and .320’ s in her pistols with great success.
Both her 36 and 32 shot .010 patching with moose milk lube.
Michael

[Daryl]

Alacran, they must have been 0 buck then as they measured .320" actual and they were too hard to load in my bore. The .320 cast were easily loaded, almost as easy as .311", my other mould for the .32 flinter I bought from Jim Chambers at Dixons. He had it on consignment and converted it to flint as it had s Dur's Egg percussion lock.
Seems to me it's the Hornady #4 buck that Taylor uses in his .25 rifle.

[Dphariss]

Almost all shotgun shot is hardened. It helps reduce deformation of the shot. I shot a lot of 00 (IIRC) through a 32 Douglas when I was a kid. In 32-36 there is not much lead to compress and its not that hard. Certainly not as hard as WW alloy. If I had a 36 I would shoot 000 if it fit easier than messing around casting.

[Robin Henderson]

I've never owned a .36 but my two .32 caliber rifles both liked "0" shot and that's mostly all I ever used. Started and loaded very easy and as can be seen from the two photos were quite accurate at 25 yards. The crow target was shot with Hornady "0" while in the other I was using Ballistic Products shot because Hornady quit making the "0". I have molds but just don't like casting those little balls. My bad...I just noticed the second target was with 1 1/2 shot with a .020 patch. I got virtually the same results with "0" and a thinner patch and couldn't really notice a difference in how they loaded.
   

[Dowrat]

I've shot a big pile of squirrels using Hornady 000 Buck in my .36 caliber flintlocks. Loads easily with the proper patch thickness and is accurate enough for head shots. One hole groups are possible at 25 yards from the bench. It's certainly more accurate than I am.

[Scota4570]

Hornady buckshot is all I ever shot in my Kibler 36 cal.