Howdy, does anyone use 000Buck in their 36cal? I read that it has a lil tin in it to make it harder and was wondering how it performs. Thanks, Flintleather
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Hornady 000Buck
- Thread starter Flintleather
- Start date
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I've used Hornady 000 Buckshot (mic @ .346 +/-) in my CVA .36 cal Squirrel Rifle for well over 15 years. They shot as well as .35 round balls for me, but as always, YMMV :grin: .
I've used Hornady 00 .330 Buckshot in my .36’s. they are tight bores.
.343 shoot just as well.
.350 are harder to load in my guns and don’t shoot any better.
Hornady 000 claims to be .350
Again mine are tight bores.
William Alexander
.343 shoot just as well.
.350 are harder to load in my guns and don’t shoot any better.
Hornady 000 claims to be .350
Again mine are tight bores.
William Alexander
Auldgoat
40 Cal.
They work just fine. I use 20gr 3f wf a .015 pillow tick patch, spit lubbed or lightly oiled castor oil. Quarter sized groups at 50yds.
Will
Will
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I am also using .350 Hornady 000 in my .36 flint. I'm still working up loads etc. for it, but I find no fault with them. Now the operator of the rifle is another matter.
CrackStock
69 Cal.
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I have used Hornady buckshot in a .36 and had good results.
Thanks guys, for all the info. Flintleather
Billnpatti
Cannon
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I have been using Hornady 000 buckshot in my .36 cal. rifle for a long time. It works just fine with a .010 patch and is a good bit cheaper than buying .36 cal. (.350) balls. But, it is hard lead. Not a problem for targets or squirrels nor is it a problem loading the hard balls. Over all, if I want to shoot pre-made balls in my .36, I will use the Hornady 000 buckshot. Having said that, I still occasionally cast my own balls for the same rifle when I carelessly run out of Hornady 000 buckshot. The Lee mold is said to give .350 balls but they are subject to variation due to any fluctuations in the alloy of the lead that I am using. The Hornady 000 buckshot will not have these same variations. Their alloy seems to be pretty constant. Over all, my experience has been that I get a bit better accuracy with the Hornady 000 buckshot than I do with my own cast balls because their alloy content is more constant than mine.
I think I did a study of the variations in the Hornady 000 buckshot VS my cast balls. If I can find that data, I will post it.
I think I did a study of the variations in the Hornady 000 buckshot VS my cast balls. If I can find that data, I will post it.
Billnpatti
Cannon
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Unfortunately, I could not find the data for my cast .36 cal balls. However, I did find the data for the Hornady 000 buckshot. First, I weighed 365 balls and sorted them into piles by variations of 0.1 grains. I found that they varied from 64.2 grains to 65.8 grains. The mean was 65.0 grains. The standard deviation was 0.2 grains. 11.28% of the balls weighed more than 1 standard deviation from the mean and 9.31% weighed less than one standard deviation from the mean.
Next, I measured the diameter of each of the 365 balls. The balls were all measured tangentially to the sprue. The mean diameter for the 365 balls was 0.351. The range was from .348 to .355. The standard deviation was 0.003
So, my conclusion was that there was not enough variation in the Hornady 000 buckshot balls to be a significant accuracy factor for the average, or even better shooter. Any accuracy variations from the common "wibbles and wobbles" will far outweigh any accuracy variation from the variations in Hornady 000 buckshot. Based on this study, I am of the opinion that Hornady 000 buckshot is "good medicine" for your .36 cal. rifle.
Has any of the forum members done an equivalent study on any other "store bought" .36 cal. balls? If so, what did you find?
Next, I measured the diameter of each of the 365 balls. The balls were all measured tangentially to the sprue. The mean diameter for the 365 balls was 0.351. The range was from .348 to .355. The standard deviation was 0.003
So, my conclusion was that there was not enough variation in the Hornady 000 buckshot balls to be a significant accuracy factor for the average, or even better shooter. Any accuracy variations from the common "wibbles and wobbles" will far outweigh any accuracy variation from the variations in Hornady 000 buckshot. Based on this study, I am of the opinion that Hornady 000 buckshot is "good medicine" for your .36 cal. rifle.
Has any of the forum members done an equivalent study on any other "store bought" .36 cal. balls? If so, what did you find?
curator
45 Cal.
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I have used the Hornady 000 Buckshot when I was too lazy to cast a bunch of .350 round balls for my Cherokee rifles. I load them with .016 pillow ticking patches as Dutch taught me. Accuracy matches my hand-cast. They appear to be swaged not dropped as they are quite uniform.
Billnpatti
Cannon
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I think the bore of my rifle may be just a few thousandths smaller than yours since a .010 patch fits and works nicely with the Hornady 000 buckshot. I have tried using a material that I have that measures .012 and it is kind of tight and takes a harder smack on the short starter to get the ball started down the bore. I seriously doubt that I could get a ball even started if I used a .016 patch like you find works in your rifle. :hatsoff:
