Max load for .32 Traditions Crockett

Traditions says it is 35gr of 3F, but I gotta ask. How much would/have you really load in it to up the muzzle energy?

My old CVA .32 is listed to a max of 50 grn. Only did that enough to find out that at that load I’d be lucky to hit the ground if I aimed at it. Generally 20 to 30 grn is about going to be your best range. Any more then your cleaning the bore after every shot. Besides, even at those loads you’ll be surprised at the amount of destruction that little ball can do.

TC max loads listed back in the day were 50 grains of fff behind a 32 caliber RB. I have tried up to 60 grains. Little velocity increase over 50 grains. Most accurate 25 yard or less squirrel type loads were around 15 grains. 40 - 50 grain loads opened groups up - maybe 2” at 25 yards and nearly 5” at 50. You will need to test your gun. All are different.

SDSmlf said:

I have tried up to 60 grains. Little velocity increase over 50 grains. Most accurate 25 yard or less squirrel type loads were around 15 grains.

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Much the same for me on the low end. I've never pushed it past 30 grains cuzz for me it's a meat gun shot inside about 35-40 yards. I settled on 15 grains for a while, but it was still waaaaay too destructive on table fare. Worse than shooting them with a 22 mag hollowpoint. Dropped it to 10 grains and found complete happiness with performance somewhere between 22LR HPs and 22Mag HPs. Still tears things up enough you want to take only head shots and avoid even the neck. Balls are from a LEE mold (.311" as I recall), pillow ticking and TOW mink tallow. Groups +/- 1/2" at 25 yards. Supreme meat getter.

I’ve never measured, but I think the Crockett barrel might be 3/4” where the T/C Cherokee is 13/16”. Maybe that’s why there is a difference in max loads?
I’ve never gone past 20 grains in either of them.

I'll chime in with Brown Bear. I find 10 grains of 3f out of my 42" barrel gives me close to 1750fps which is hotter than a 22LR and pushing to 22mag. I use a 315 ball and patch and find it is deadly out to 50yds on small game like squirrels and rabbits. Head shots are necessary if you don't want to destroy the good eating parts. At 25yds I am sighted dead on, and only about 1" low at 50yds.(which is as far as I could see a squirrel head in my open sights with my eyes) I get 3shot groups at 25yds (off the bench) that can be covered by a quarter. I tried going to 30 grains as a coyote load, but found groups at 50 yards to be around 4-5". Not good enough for me. I think the balls are driven too fast at that charge and they are skipping over the rifling resulting in the poor accuracy.

QuinnTheEskimo said:

I’ve never measured, but I think the Crockett barrel might be 3/4” where the T/C Cherokee is 13/16”. Maybe that’s why there is a difference in max loads?
I’ve never gone past 20 grains in either of them.

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My understanding is that the Traditions is also 13/16” across. I don’t recall if I got that information from them directly, but I think I did.

Grimord said:

I'll chime in with Brown Bear. I find 10 grains of 3f out of my 42" barrel gives me close to 1750fps which is hotter than a 22LR and pushing to 22mag. I use a 315 ball and patch and find it is deadly out to 50yds on small game like squirrels and rabbits. Head shots are necessary if you don't want to destroy the good eating parts. At 25yds I am sighted dead on, and only about 1" low at 50yds.(which is as far as I could see a squirrel head in my open sights with my eyes) I get 3shot groups at 25yds (off the bench) that can be covered by a quarter. I tried going to 30 grains as a coyote load, but found groups at 50 yards to be around 4-5". Not good enough for me. I think the balls are driven too fast at that charge and they are skipping over the rifling resulting in the poor accuracy.

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That's interesting, I have an original .40" long rifle, along with it's original powder horn, and antler tip powder measure. It is a very small charge, like maybe 20 grains. The rifle was used both for hunting, and in battle. Now it makes more sense to me, that it was used with such a light charge. That always used to puzzle me, as I am not experienced with the small-bores.

rodwha said:

My understanding is that the Traditions is also 13/16” across. I don’t recall if I got that information from them directly, but I think I did.

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That could be, I was just thinking it seemed smaller. If I had a bit more ambition this afternoon I’d go measure mine.

if you need more muzzle energy than the .32 will produce with posted max loads, you need a larger gun! A .36 or .40 will get you where you need to go.
There is a legitimate point of diminishing returns in trying to get a small bore to do a big bore's job.

mahkagari said:

Traditions says it is 35gr of 3F, but I gotta ask. How much would/have you really load in it to up the muzzle energy?

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The information in the Lyman's "BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL" says a load of 30 grains of GOEX 3Fg powder shooting a .310 diameter, 45 grain patched lead ball gave a muzzle velocity of 1940 fps. That gave a muzzle energy of 376 lb/ft.

The next higher powder load they show is for 40 grains of 3Fg powder which gave a muzzle velocity of 2072 fps and 429 lb/ft energy (which is a bit more than a .22 Mag RF).

They go on to show that 50 grains = 2203 fps, 60 grains = 2238 fps and 70 grains = 2273 fps.

This explains the rather "explosive" effect these .32 caliber rifles little ball can have on small game at close ranges.

The Lyman data only goes down to 30 grains but a long time ago I ran a linear regression calculation on their .32 caliber data.
It predicted a velocity of 2006 fps with a 35 grain 3Fg powder load.
Going down further in the size of the loads, the calculation predicted a velocity of 1874 fps for a 25 grain load and 1805 fps for a 20 grain load.

Oh. Speaking of powder loads, the original .22 long rifle cartridge was loaded with 3.5 grains of black powder so that 35 grains Traditions is talking about is 10 times larger than the original .22 longrifles blackpowder load.

With such a typical short range affair and no need for expansion I’d think you’d want the most accurate minimal powder charge.

Think about this....
the Zouave .58 musket shoots best with 45 grs. FFg. At 100 yds.
65 grs was field load.
Sometimes we use way too much powder.

I measured my Traditions Crockett barrel once and it was 3/4". The most accurate load was 30 grains of 3F. That load would shoot sub 1" at 50 yards. I fired some heavier loads but they offered no advantages. I killed squirrels with it and had no problems with damage; Not much different from a .22LR HP. So no problem there if you head or mid-body shoot and stay away from the shoulder or rear end..

hanshi said:

I measured my Traditions Crockett barrel once and it was 3/4". The most accurate load was 30 grains of 3F. That load would shoot sub 1" at 50 yards. I fired some heavier loads but they offered no advantages. I killed squirrels with it and had no problems with damage; Not much different from a .22LR HP. So no problem there if you head or mid-body shoot and stay away from the shoulder or rear end..

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I looked through and found the email response from Traditions. They stated the Crockett is 7/8”.

I’m going to have to measure one when I get home because it certainly seems to me like it’s smaller that a Cherokee which has a 13/16th barrel.

QuinnTheEskimo said:

I’m going to have to measure one when I get home because it certainly seems to me like it’s smaller that a Cherokee which has a 13/16th barrel.

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I’d be inclined to believe you and Hanshi are right. With a long barrel like that and a small bore you’d think people would often speak of how heavy it would be, which you don’t. Could well be either they are misinformed or just got things mixed up when they replied.

Imagine there is a 'safety margin' with that 25 grain max load recommendation, but something you would have to explore at your own risk. Currently only have one 32 caliber, a Pedersoli Scout, with both flint and cap lock setups. Like your Crockett, its rate of twist is 1-48", but it has the heavier 13/16" barrel, like the Seneca and Cherokee (which have 1-30" twists). Shoots very similar to what my Seneca did (no longer have possession of Seneca - gave my nephew a 45 flint TC and his sister wanted to know if I possibly had a gun for her.....). Found squirrel accuracy loads with the Scout between 10 and 15 grains of fff Swiss, with groups opening up at 30 grains unless I used a 3/8" diameter felt wad over the powder. Using 32 ACP case getting 11.5 grains after leveling the charge with a knife. Shoots about 1-1/4" high at 25 yards and dead on at 50. Loses its legs after 50 yards, probably 18" low at 100 yards and gets blown all over the place by even a 10 mph breeze. And for full disclosure, I always take premeasured loads in small diameter vials to the range or field for the 32. Find it difficult to fiddle with small charges accurately. Lose even a few grains of powder and it is a large percentage of the load.

mahkagari said:

Traditions says it is 35gr of 3F, but I gotta ask. How much would/have you really load in it to up the muzzle energy?

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I wouldnt go no more than 50 grs . I shoot 30-35 in my pedersoli flintlock .32 cal