.32 cal....?

Hey all, it's time to start another build. I completed a Tennessee .40 cal. It's great for deer. I want to build a similar Bean gun but am considering a .32 cal. I have heard of firing problems, loading problems, etc.... Can any one give there two cents. Talk me into it or talk me out of it. NOT interested in a .36 since I have the .40... Thanks

.32 in percussion.Ash stock, GM barrel.

Not sure what you've heard, but it loads and shoots fine with a .318 ball and drill patch (.018").

Cleaning jags, rods, etc. are available from the usual vendors.

Mostly it just that it's smaller and make it slightly more difficult at times loading and that is very slightly. Certainly not enough to prevent someone from getting and shooting one. Mine fouls a little easier than my others and because it is so small the patch kind of grabs around the starter when loading it but I just pull the starter back out and put it in again to get it past. Some people don't have any of these issues though. I use a .310 ball on two of mine 32s and a .319 on the other. It's basically as cheap as shooting a 22 and now adays with the price of 22s, it's really cheaper than 22s.

I like my under hammer 32, fun to shoot. Nothing to complain about at all.

rde

I've been shooting a .30 for many years and have no problems with it. It's a slow twist barrel with deep grooves. I guess it fouls a little quicker than larger bores, but it's no big deal in a hunting gun. For my situation I've always considered it the perfect squirrel gun.

Spence

I've been shooting a tc .32 since the 80's and I love it. Some of the most fun I've ever had hunting small game. Probably my favorite ml, very accurate and cheap to shoot

cant remember ever having to wipe the barrel during a hunt and once shot an entire event(over 25 shots)with out wiping the barrel,did'nt have a problem. .310 ball,.10 patch,lubed with either mink oil or Hoppes #9+ over 25gr's of 3f Goex.i think it's all in the lube.

Yep, what they said. Had my .32 about a year, only thing I hate is that I'm on the road working and it is at home Oh and that photo of the brushy tails ain't helping my home sickniss much. :surrender:
Have not smelled gunsmoke in over 2 months. Took to sleeping with my tomahawk just to remember :rotf: I have a life back home with hunts, n' dogs, n' guns, n' camping ... I think I'm gona cry :rotf:

Went from a 36 to a 32 to a 30. What's next for me, a 25? :rotf:

If I'd had trouble anywhere along the line of course I wouldn't have gone smaller. Any time I've come across friends having fouling problems with small calibers, it has alwaysturned out to be problems with the load combo chosen by the shooter rather than any condemnation of small calibers. Just guys complaining and blaming the small hole rather than confronting their own shortcomings.

A little messing with lubes, patch thickness and ball diameter and all was resolved. I swab the bore after every 6 shots as a matter of course, but heck. I do the same with my bigger bores, too. It's habit rather than real need, though.

Go small and you will not be sorry. :grin: I shoot an original Perry E. Hall 30 caliber (.289 ball)with Swiss powder and it is not a problem to run 25 shots through her at the local matches...no swabbing, no cleaning and absolutely 100% pure fun, as the gun really does not move when fired! :thumbsup: Like Brown Bear I have thought of going to a smaller caliber, but I can not bear the thought of shooting Perry's gun less than I do now! :shake:

I have 4 in .32 cal now. no regrets on any of them. but each likes a bit different load. I use balls in .311 or .315 with different patch thickness for each. most all seem to like abt a 25 gr charge, but the TC with a 1-30 twist I can go down to about a 12 grn charge with. all the others want at least 22 grn +. No worse with fouling really than any of the larger bores. Just as fun to shoot, and WAY cheaper to feed. :wink:

I have a 15/16", GM 32" straight octagon barrel mounted on an old Investarms stock. It is a hoot to shoot, she likes 25 to 30 grns of Goex fffg. I shoot spit patches cut at the muzzle and don't have any problems loading or cleaning the rifle. Some guys shoot Swiss powder and say it's hotter and burns cleaner. I have some Swiss but haven't used any yet so I can't say for sure. The only issue I have with the gun is it's kinda heavy with the straight octagon barrel.

Don't have a custom gun but do have a 32 cal TC Cherokee.Never had ANY problems you decribed.Great squirrel caliber! :thumbsup:

Guys, thanks for all the inputs! Sounds like I will be calling Rice and ordering a .32 ASAP! Again, thanks so much... Tennessee squirrels beware this fall! Now to decide on barrel length... 42 or 44"...? I'm going to be copying a tennessee Bean Iron gun but don't have the barrel length on the gun so it's my choice.

I have two .32s. My 25" CVA Squirrel is very light, almost too light, but still very accurate. My other .32 was built by TVM and has a 42" 13/16" barrel. It is a bit heavy, but well balanced so it doesn't seem heavy, if that makes sense. It doesn't swing very well, but I prefer the length and the weight because of the excellent accuracy and the way it seems to almost hang on target by itself. And I don't have any problems with mine like some people complain about. It's a great little caliber.

Mooman76 said:

It's basically as cheap as shooting a 22 and now adays with the price of 22s, it's really cheaper than 22s.

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Ain't that the truth.

I played the "how low can you go" game with powder charges and ended up at 10 grains of 3f for both my 32 cal Crockett and my 30 cal flinter. Still accurate as a snakebite and surprisingly flat shooting. I'm betting it's on the order of 22LR vels, because you sure don't want to hit a snowshoe hare anywhere but the head with it.... That is if you value the eating meat.

A 10 grain charge translates into 700 shots from a pound or around 4 cents a shot with the $25/pound I paid. Since I cast my own balls and cut my own patches, that's about it- on the order of $2 for 50 shots from my flinter, compared to the cost of 22LR ammo.

If your powder is lots cheaper it only gets better. If you're shooting the capper, even the cost of caps isn't going to break most banks.

Might be a question of outlook, but I've always been working DOWN on charges in my small bores rather than up. My starting load for the 32 was 30 grains, and I've never gone higher. I started with 20 grains in the 30 cal flinter and went down, and couldn't tell you what it will do with more. Don't care either! :rotf:

The 32 is a great little squirrel rifle. Everything you need to shoot it is easy to get. I'd go with a faster twist like a 1-30 so you can keep is shoot well with a light load. Light loads are easy on things you want to eat. I have found 20 grains of Goex is like shooting a squirrel with a 22 LR as far as damage is concerned. Now 30 grains in a 36 blows thing all to hell!

Gobbletn said:

...loading problems....

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Signing back on to address one point I missed in your original post.

I have problems loading small cal ML's in cold weather. It's pretty easy to fumble a few round balls in the grass every time you load when your fingers are greasy from the patch, as well as cold or wet. Truth be known, for me it applies to any ball smaller than about 50 cal when I'm wearing gloves. Only reason I bring it up, cold or wet weather will make you a fan of loading blocks- HC or not.

Another point worth noting, you get a whole lot more shooting most of the time when hunting small game than large. My loading blocks for large game generally hold only 2 or 3 balls, while I like blocks for 6 or even a dozen balls for small cal hunting. And I carry extra balls and patches for reloading the blocks!

Depending on the population cycles we can have a whole lot of snowshoe hares with no bag limit and no season, so it can be shoot as many as you can hit and carry. On a good (or bad?) day in a good year, I can go through over 30 shots in a morning.

I had one made by Pedersoli and when I finally found a load that it liked, it was a great little squirrel gun. It was pretty picky so it took a bit of work to discover what it wanted. I bought a .32 cal. MaxiBall mold for it and it hated those Maxis. I couldn't get it to shoot them worth a darn. Yet, my buddy had a rifle just like mine except his was a flintlock while mine was the caplock and it shot Maxis like a dream.....it loved them. Same design rifle, same maker, same barrel, same everything except his had a flintlock and mine had a caplock. It took a lot of work trying different loads, different patches, different lubes, etc. and it wouldn't group worth a darn. Then one day, I hit upon a load that it liked. I ended up with 30 grains of 3f Goex behind a .310 ball with a .010 patch lubed with Bore Butter. In retrospect, all of that sounds like a very logical choice but it just wasn't the first combination that I tried. I was all around it but had not brought all of it together. Once I had that load, the squirrels were in trouble. Still, I did find that I needed to wipe my bore between shots. I carried a pocket full of those little alcohol pads that come in sealed envelops for wiping skin before giving a shot. I also had to carry a ziplock bag to hold the used wipes rather than littering the ground with them. It was one stroke down, pause and one non-stop stroke out. Turn the pad over and repeat. Follow with a dry patch and re-load. The bore seemed to foul faster than a larger caliber but my technique solved that little problem and kept me going until I either gave up the hunt or filled my bag limit. If there is a place in your gun rack for a .32, and you like to hunt small game like squirrels, go for it. You will love it once you find what it likes. :thumbsup:

Less than 1 month till squirrel season and I can't wait to get the .32 flinter in the woods!

:hatsoff:

Wess