First Date with my .32 CVA Squirrel

[Semisane]

I arrived at the hunting lease late Saturday afternoon with the objective of a first shoot with my recently acquired .32 caliber CVA Squirrel.



It was a humid 84 degrees with an overcast sky and no wind. After putting a target out at the 25 yard mark on our rifle range, I loaded up with 25 grains of GOEX FFFg. Shooting from the bench with the gun sitting in a Caldwell Rock Jr. rest up front and rabbit ear bags under the buttstock, I took five shots and got this.



I didn't think that was too bad. It's not the holy grail one hole group, but certainly "head of squirrel". Whoever had the gun before me had the sights set pretty well.

I will note that the sights on this little gun do not suit my eyes at all. At a minimum, I will be filing the rear sight to a flat top with a squire notch. Even better, I will fabricate some type of peep for it.

Anyway, I got to wondering what kind of velocity that little ball was getting with a 25 grain charge. So I broke out the chronograph and set it up ten feet from the muzzle. Five shots later I had this target.



Well, that group pretty well matches the first one. Let's try five shots with a 30 grain load.



That opened the group up a bit. That high shot was most likely sighting error on my part. And WOW, the velocity really jumped up.

Let's back the charge down to 20 grains and see what happens.



Hey, hey, hey. I think we have something here. Notice the velocity drop from 25 to 20 grains pretty much mirrored the velocity increase from 25 to 30 grains.

Those were the last of my Hornady balls. So I switched to some cast Lee balls and tried a light charge of 15 grains. Here's that target.



Not so hot, huh. Also, that load just didn't feel or sound right for some reason. I can't explain it any better than that - it just didn't feel right.

By now the sun was nearly down and it was getting a bit difficult to see the sights. But I really wanted to try one target at 50 yards. Going back to the 25 grain load I took five shots with a fuzzy sight picture.

This is what I got with a combination of bad eyes and bad light.

(The distance on this target is incorrectly marked. It was 50 yards.)

:haha: :haha: :haha:

 

[mooman76]

Looks like you'll have a pretty good shooter when you get used to it and get it dialed in. Good gun. I'd try a smaller target too. Aim small, miss small!

 

[boar]

I have one, I bought at a flea market for 115.00. Nice gun. Killed a bunch of groundhogs with it,19 straight one time. I used 20grs& 311 ball. Be one I will keep to the end. Dilly

 

[jamesthomas]

Well, it looks like 20grains is the ticket for squirrels. I wouldn't worry about the 50 yard target, you don't get many 50 yard shots at squirrels in the woods. I would take it out by 5 yard increments and see where the group starts to open up.

 

[Semisane]

Good point armakiller.

For you guys who shoot .32s - what should I expect from this caliber? What's your longest range "head of squirrel" consistent accuracy?

 

[bpd303]

Mine is 30 yards, anything longer and head shots are iffy.

 

[Semisane]

Thanks for the info bpd. I can live with 30 yards. That's probably the limit of my squirrel eyes anyway.

 

[Dandyfunk]

For this noob, I found this very helpful!! Df

 

[WMR]

Good shootin' and great documentation.
Just got the 32 barrel for my Cherokee and ready to work up the best load. Your information will be helpful. Thanks
Wes

 

[Alden]

Semi;
WELL put-together outing and review.
Thanks!
Now to go warn my squirrel friends...

 

[30coupe]

My Pedersoli Frontier .32 will shoot 2" groups at 50 yards with 25 grains of 3F Diamondback BP. I haven't had a chance to mess with other loads yet...not sure I need to! Most of my shots at squirrels seem to come in distances under 25 yards anyway. At that range it will do quarter sized groups if I do my part. My powder flask drops 25 grains, so I think I may just be happy with that.

Your CVA looks like a handy little rifle BTW.