small-caliber round ball shooter?

[jjohnwm]

Does anyone have any experience with .32 or .36 round-ball muzzleloaders? I have a couple of big-bores, and I'm toying with the idea of a small-caliber, traditional-style BP gun, mostly for plinking and fun shooting. I doubt I'll hunt with it, maybe squirrels at most. I'm leaning toward .32, but really can't say for sure. Are there issues with cleaning such a small bore? Accuracy? Even availability of supplies?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

John

 

[GrantR]

I've got a Thompson Center .36 caliber percussion "Seneca", and a couple of friends have .32's. They are actually a lot of fun to shoot - and very economical too - but as you say are pretty much limited to plinking and small varmints.

Mind you, that little pill is moving at pretty high velocity if you use a decent powder charge - I can say from personal experience that it will quite literally turn a gopher-sized animal inside out! (That's our prairie version of squirrels y'know - not enough trees, so they live in the ground. ) Without looking it up, I seem to recall that the .350 round ball for my .36 weighs about 50% more than a .22 Long Rifle bullet, and can be made to travel at significantly higher velocity.

You may have read of the practice of "barking squirrels", back in the days when they were regulalry hunted for food - even a small caliber like .32 produces too much meat damage with a body shot ... and you gotta be mighty good to consistently hit squirrels in the head, as you can imagine. So hunters would fire into the top of the tree branch just below the squirrel (or the trunk bark next to him if he was vertical on the trunk.) Done correctly, the resulting "explosion" of bark and wood chunks would usually knock the animal to the ground, and stun it if it didn't kill it. Another squirrel for the bag, without meat damage!

Accuracy depends on the gun, and load, of course - but they can be deadly. One of my friends with a .32 (a custom flinter) swears that it even does better in a strong crosswind than his larger caliber round ball rifles - attributes that to the higher velocity, and the smaller surface area of the projectile on which the sidewind can act ... which certainly sounds plausible.

Cleaning is no more difficult than with a larger caliber. Not sure about the .32, but both Hornady and Speer offer swaged .350 round ball for .36 caliber rifles. Other supplies are much the same as any other muzzle loader. You might have to use 3F powder for consistent ignition in a .32, but I've never experienced any noticeable problems using 2F in my .36 ......

 

[Turkeyslayer 1300]

I'm sure you could use buckshot that has been swaged down for a ball if you wanted to. It would be uber cheap to boot.

 

[John in B.C.]

I have a .32 and it is a lot of fun to shoot. The only problem I found was patches. I normally use pre fab/prelubed patches but the only ones I can find are too big and won't go down the barrel. I have been cutting them down but that is much too time consuming. Next time out I will be using cloth soaked in lube and a patch knife. Should be much easier.

 

[Hotwheels81]

hmmmm there was a page online about a fellow who built a .22cal muzzle stuffer.... think it was smokeless and used a pan primer to charge it.... i would love to get a mini flinter some day.

 

[Alonzo]

hmmmm there was a page online about a fellow who built a .22cal muzzle stuffer.... think it was smokeless and used a pan primer to charge it.... i would love to get a mini flinter some day.

Quite a number of years ago I had a rock/lock custom bulit in a 40 caliber. With 40" barrel, following the lines of a poor boy kentucky rifle. It was very accurate and has a lightning fast lock...I remeber it was a Siler lock custom tuned by the "smith who built the gun. I used a 45 acp case for a powder measure when hunting gophers. It was fun to watch my buddies jumping around and cussing after I fired a shot..they were standing to my right, and got a spray of hot residue from the ignition.
Cheers

 

[nessy357]

I have a 32 cal percussion, I use IIRC a 7/16" hole punch to cut the patches. I'm having trouble finding .310 ball, just came back from 2 Rondys in the States and couldn't find any there also.
I've ordered a 40 cal Late Lancaster from Pecatonica River long rifle, the owner of P R L R ,recommends 40 cal over the other small cals, and I'm told the 40 cal is flatter shooting.
Cheers nessy.

 

[tiriaq]

First ml rifle I made was a .36 caplock. It was a good shooting little rifle. If you want a smallbore, go ahead with it.

 

[Alonzo]

I have a 32 cal percussion, I use IIRC a 7/16" hole punch to cut the patches. I'm having trouble finding .310 ball, just came back from 2 Rondys in the States and couldn't find any there also.
I've ordered a 40 cal Late Lancaster from Pecatonica River long rifle, the owner of P R L R ,recommends 40 cal over the other small cals, and I'm told the 40 cal is flatter shooting.
Cheers nessy.

Isn't 00 bucksot .31 diameter? My brother had a 32 and if I remember that was what he used. The problem is finding buckshot.
BTW...I sold my 40 years ago but I think I may still have the round ball mold somewhere.
Would you be interested in it?
I will check to be sure though.
Cheers

 

[John in B.C.]

I buy balls from DGW.