32 cal. for competition shooting

[Tinker2]

I have enjoyed this topic

I will dig out my .32 and shoot it this next year; I have never shot it at less than 100 yards and never really shot it much. The wind always blows in the Dakotas.

I think it was in the late 80’s that I shot it last :slap: so it will be like having a new to me gun.

Yes it is sad that some of my guns get forgotten at times, I will work on that.

William Alexander

 

[FishDFly]

Back to the original question to Zonie, where is the most impact on flight incurred and at what range?

Many folks have an opinion, I want to know when and facts when a ball is most impacted?

 

[Zonie]

Here's the answer my roundball ballistics program gives for the .31 diameter roundball shot at 2074 fps with a 10 mph cross wind. The first number is the distance downrange and the second number represents the total distance off of the line of sight the ball has moved.

0 = 0
5 = 0
10 = 0.2
15 = 0.3
20 = 0.6
25 = 1.0
30 = 1.5
35 = 2.1
40 = 2.8
45 = 3.5
50 = 4.4
60 = 6.5
70 = 8.9
80 = 11.7
90 = 14.6
100 = 17.9
120 = 25.3

Notice that the further downrange the ball travels, the greater the incremental increase in the displacement of the ball is.
(Between 0 and 20 yards the ball is deflected 0.6 inches. Between 80 and 100 yards the ball is deflected 6.2 inches).

This only makes sense if one thinks about it.
The ball is constantly slowing down as it travels downrange.
Because it is going slower downrange, it takes more time to cover any fixed distance distance.
Because it takes more time to cover the distance the cross wind has more time to blow the ball to the side.

A further bit of data to mull over: TOF (Time Of Flight).

Leaving the muzzle at 2072 fps by the time the ball has traveled 20 yards downrange the velocity has dropped to 1656 fps and it took 0.032 seconds to get there.

At 80 yards the velocity has dropped to 981 fps which drops further to 892 fps at 100 yards.
To cover this 20 yard distance (80 to 100 yards) it takes the ball .064 seconds worth of time.

Although this is only twice as much time as it took for the ball to cover the first 20 yards, the ball now has developed a sideways velocity.
The sideways velocity plus the effect of the wind during this .064 seconds blows it further off course than it did during the first 20 yards of its flight.

All of this sort of calculating is done with calculus and I for one am glad it's built into the program. Without it, it would take me hours to figure all of this stuff out.

 

[FishDFly]

Thank you.

Seems everyone has an opinion whether it be correct or not. A lot of line shooters will tell you the wind at 25 yards has the most impact on the ball and where it's going.

Lot's of things I do not understand, just like how do bumble bees manage to fly.

"All of this sort of calculating is done with calculus"...... after 3 days in calculus, I was told I was wasting my time and tutition.

 

[Captjoel]

Wasn't Calculus that nasty Roman emperor who liked feeding his lions.....oh never mind, they're those darn awful hard skin eruptions I get on my finger tips and soles of my feet when I work too hard or walk too far. You can tell that my 8th grade teacher's name was Mel Brooks! But I did get my 8th grade diploma, thank you! Getting back to target shooting with a 32 cal rifle, I have enjoyed private competitive matches with friends shooting just 32's. It made for a level playing field and true skill levels were put to the test.

 

[FishDFly]

.32s are interesting, I have one and have not spent time any time with it. Seems to me 25 and 50 yards would be the most fun.

Think I will go cast some balls and play some with it..

I forgot I had one, thanks.

 

[George]

A lot of line shooters will tell you the wind at 25 yards has the most impact on the ball and where it's going.

What your target shooters meant was probably just the geometry of deflection. If you blow the ball a little bit off course near the muzzle, then stop the wind, it will continue to get further from the line of sight all the way to the target. Doesn't mean the ball is blown more near the muzzle, just that a little deflection there has a much greater effect than the same one near the target. Near the target it doesn't have time to move off the line of sight much.

Spence

 

[Zonie]

Your right and this is probably where the idea that crosswinds close to the muzzle blow the ball off course more.

If a gust of wind close to the muzzle gets the ball moving, let's say 1 mph to the right, the ball will continue move 1 mph to the right all the way down to the target.

If the gust happened at 70 or 80 yards downrange the ball might still be accelerated to the right at 1 mph but with only 20-30 yards to travel to the target its sideways speed wouldn't have enough time to do much. :hatsoff:

The old "Kentucky Windage" and "reckening" ain't as easy as some folks think. :rotf:

 

[George]

Sideways speed is not exactly the way I would describe it. The ball has simply been redirected, its track is now aimed to the side of the target, not straight at it. The same thing is true even with a diagram on paper, nothing has to move.

Spence

 

[Zonie]

The ball cannot be redirected from its initial path without developing a sideways velocity.

Out there in the air, it is not like something redirected it and then stopped redirecting it like it would be in a bent barrel.

Put another way, if the ball was blown off of its initial path it would have to develop some sideways momentum in the process.
This sideways momentum would not go away unless a wind from the opposite direction blew just hard enough to cancel it out.

 

[George]

Can't argue with that. The principle Richard Eames is concerned about is simply that the same wind wind causes more trouble close to the muzzle than close to the target. Many ways to describe it, but thats the takeaway.

Spence

 

[Billnpatti]

The .32 is not the best bet for targets because it is so sensitive to wind. For some reason, the .40, while being small, seems to be a pretty good target caliber. Something about "inherant accuracy". I am not a real target shooter but even so, I seem to need something like a .50 or .54 to do the job for me. Don't get me wrong. my Jim Chambers .40 caliber rifle is a dandy but I just do better with my .54. But, that's just me.

 

[coloradoclyde]

It surprises me how often the .45 gets overlooked

 

[BrownBear]

It surprises me how often the .45 gets overlooked

Yeah. At one time it was the hot number for both deer hunting and target shooting. I'm a cynic about advertizing and fads, but it sure seems like the "fad" for 45 has moved on to another number, with no change in the 45's capabilities.

Not a 45 in our rack, but just because it's fallen out of favor, I'm pretty sure my next rifle is going to be a 45.

 

[Col. Batguano]

The 32 is a great wind bucker compared to a .30 or a .25 though.

 

[ZUG]

You will not regret it - the .45 is my "go to" target caliber. Load it down for short yardage or recoil sensitive people or load it up for the long range targets. It does well on dear size game if you don't try to over extend the yardage past your abilities :hatsoff: . The cost per shot is also a consideration .

 

[hankfannin]

That's very useful and helpful information. Just want I was looking for. What powder charge was used for those calculations?

Many thanks,

Greyhawk

 

[hanshi]

The .45 has always been my favorite from my first one some 50 years ago. Most of my deer have been killed with a .45 and it is a truly do-everything caliber. Recently, I've been moving toward a new .50 - O
I've also killed many deer with 3 different .50s but they showed me nothing special a .45 can't do.

 

[Zonie]

I mentioned it in the first post I made about wind deflections but to answer your question the 2072 fps velocity was based on the Lyman "BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL" 2nd Ed, showing a velocity of 2072 fps for a .310 diameter lead roundball in a .010 thick Ox Yoke patch, loaded over 40 grains of GOEX 3Fg powder.