• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Sight In For .32 Crockett

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Quicksand

32 Cal.
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
I have been using 25 yard line for sighting
in my squirrel rifle. Its a Traditions .32
Crockett. Is this a good average distance for
squirrel hunting? Getting good groups just need
more shooting time to sync in with the rifle.
Its a toss up on using black powder or my
Marline 25n/BSA 3x9 on opening day. I love fried
squirrel.
 
It would be rare to take a shot at a squirrel as far as 25 yds with an open sighted gun, so a 25 yd sight-in is fine.
Definitely hunt with the ML. It's a whole lot more fun than a supository type and it'll make you a better hunter.
I use a .31 with a .308 ball, 15 gr. 3F and take head shots only.
 
SP, I have good luck shooting 20 grains of 3Fg or the same load of 777, at 25 yards, in my Crockett. All shots in a 2" circle with a six O'clock hold. Keep yer powder dry.......robin :thumbsup:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've done my best to wear out my Crockett over the years, but shooting snowshoe hare rather than squirrels. Because of the more open shots in some cases, I've always been intent on what it would do beyond 25 yards, as well as closer. My "hunting" range limit is more like 35 yards, even if I range test it all the way out to 50.

The day the Crockett arrived I load tested with 20 grains of 3f Goex, but verified against the same amount of Pyrodex P since I shoot that too. Next step was to sight it in, and I did that at 25 yards, putting the load about 1-2" low at 50 and not even an inch low at 35, while so little above the sights inside 25 that I couldn't measure it.

But game shooting experience has led to changes. I quickly discovered that 20 grains was waaaay too much in terms of impact damage. Fine on heads, but if you dropped down even a little it practically blew the rabbits in half. Worse than a 22 Mag hollow point, if you can imagine.

Started cutting charges lower and lower, seeking terminal performance on the order of 22LR. I'm down to 10 grains now, and without chronographing I'm still pretty sure I'm at or below 22LR velocities. Still have to be really careful about ball placement simply due to the larger size of the ball. It's kind of like hitting them with an already fully-expanded 22HP.

But through all that, I've never touched the sights again. It's still right on at 25, but 2-3" low at 50 while about an inch low at 35, with no changes inside 25 yards.

Good enuff for me. If I spot a snowshoe out at 35 to 50 and can find a good rest, I simply adjust my hold up a little. It's plenty accurate for head shots out at that range, but I'm mostly not.
 
Man y'all are making me wish the crockett came left handed. I really want to take a muzzle-loader small game hunting, but if a .32 with 20 grains of powder behind it cuts a rabbit in half, what will a .50 do?

-GB
 
I have both my .32s sighted in at 25yds, but neither is a Crockett. As to the .50, I used to use my .50 for all my hunting when it was all I had, including rabbit and squirrel. If you want to try it, my old load was 30grs of FFFg pushing a .490" PRB, and it really wasn't bad on the meat. I mean, you still have to place it correctly, but that applies for anything. And it seems the big low velocity guns minimize or eliminate bloodshot meat.
 
Sounds like a good reason to head to the range... "Sorry, honey, can't help with the dishes today. I've got to go work up a ~30gr load for my muzzleloader."

-GB (who is thinking Sunday Afternoon sounds like a FINE time to head to the range and do a bit of 25yard plinking with low-velocity roundballs)
 
Just do me a favor, and I should have included this before, but just because 30grs seems low powered and doesn't recoil, doesn't make it a safe load to do dangerous things with. Still use all your standard caution, cause these things will go further than you'd expect and do more than you'd initially expect when they get there, and can still ricochet and so anything any other bullet can do.
 
Kansas Jake said:
I've found that 10 grs. seems to work well in my traditions .32 Deerhunter too.

Kansas Jake and Brown Bear, thank you both for reminding me. I have played with 10gr loads a bit, and didn't get the accuracy I wanted, but didn't actually try to work up a load, so need to revisit that project.
 
Lonegun1894 said:
...didn't actually try to work up a load....

Making the assumption that our Crockett will behave similarly, mine likes a fairly tight patch and a grease lube for best accuracy. With factory Hornady .310" balls it's mighty fine with standard .018 pillow ticking. But when I started casting my own with a LEE mold (reputedly .311"), it was just too tight with the ticking. Never bothered to mike the balls, but the change in loading effort kinda makes me wonder if they aren't actually .312" or so.

Dunno, and never chased it down, but with my home cast it definitely prefers a little thinner ticking. I have some that mikes right around .016" and that's great, but also with the grease lube.

I specify grease lube for practicality more than accuracy. It helps keep the fouling soft enough that I don't have to swab the bore so often. We get a lot of shooting some years on our local snowshoe hare, and bore swabbing is a nuisance. With grease I can easily go over 6 shots without swabbing, compared to swabbing after every shot when shooting patches lubed with spit and other such "wet" lubes.

Hope that's insightful and useful with your own Crockett.
 
Brown Bear,
Thank you very much for the great advice! Mine aren't Crocketts, but a CVA Squirrel caplock (25" barrel IIRC?)and a TVM-built Late Lancaster flint lock with 42" barrel, but both shoot great. So I'm thinking I need to work up a lighter load for them since they get used mostly for rabbit and squirrel and my current 20gr load, while very accurate, is just too much of a good thing at times.
 
I sighted my Crockett, and other squirrel rifles, at 25 yards. In my Crockett I shot squirrels with 30 grains of 3F and never had any damage as long as I didn't hit the shoulder.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top