CVA .32 cal Squirrel Rifle

[smokepolehall]

Thank you. It was a great day of hunting for sure.

You might be correct with the typical, thinner Bore Butter. Not arguing that one bit and I'm not to the mind set that Bore Butter is the best. However, the Bore Butter I am using is old, fairly dried out and very stiff. So much so that its difficult to get it out of the two containers. I am sure its at least 20 years old. It used to belong to my late dad and I got some of his ML stuff when he passed. Its simply the only patch lube I had on hand so I have been using it with good results, so far anyway.

What I have found by being able to reload 9 times (after 10 shots total) is considering the ball still seated easily, I might be able to go to .018" patches instead of .015" patches.

I have some of the old T/C lube in round plastic containers 4-6 oz. it was called Maxi-lube. Used it for patch lube n maxi-ball lube. It was never creamy but always has small lil clumps in it. I still have 2 tubs i use to lube my conicals with. Its messy need a hand wiping rag with you at all times

 

[LAUDY1962]

*** Update -- had a tub of TOW mink oil and reduced my Load to 15 grns of 3f swiss. .310 PRB with .10 Mink Oil patch, was able to shoot 6 times before I had to swab it out. I think that is my load fella's. My first .32 cal Funny how 15 grns can zip that little ball out to 50 yrds pretty accurately. Gonna be a fun little plinker. Grandson is 8 and he cannot wait to shoot with grandpa now., Thanks for the input.

 

[pacanis]

That's what I have for my .32. Eastern Maine or something.
The prelubed patches say they are good up to .39, which is great if you have a .36, but I wonder if the extra material would contribute to how easy or hard a .32 loads... or contribute to fouling from the extra lube.

I'd rather have ticking in .010, but I don't think I've seen it offered or talked about. Those thin prelubed patches can be hard to separate I noticed.

 

[bobkat131]

I think the best thing to do is sell it to me PLEASE consider

 

[Speckchaser]

For close to 25 years, I've shot a CVA Gray Squirrel .32 with bore butter-lubed .015 patch and .310 ball. I have only used 15 - 20 grains of Pyrodex P for both range time and squirrel hunting. Similar to my other calibers using bore butter, I don't have to swab the barrel very often. I can easily shoot 20 rounds without cleaning. Personally, I don't understand what is the difference that shooting real BP or a replica powder would make. Both should work very similar. I'd stay away from 777, though. The crud ring is terrible. As long as it is FFF or Pyrodex P, you shouldn't have an issue. As a side note, shooting a small bore muzzleloader is the most fun you'll ever have with your clothes on, especially when squirrel or varmint hunting.

 

[Ron Huff]

I buy Dry patches from Eastern Maine Shooting Supplies. I Buy the .010 .015 and .018 by the bag of 1000. Have never found a small bore that these sizes didn't work for, but I do have some thicker. The .018 patches are pillow ticking the other sizes are tightly woven cotton.

 

[bronko220002]

I had a Crockett rifle in .32 and I played with it for a while and couldn't get the accuracy I wanted so I sold it. If memory serves me right I used Oxyoke patches lubed with what I think was that Natural Lube 1000 and settled on 20 gr of FFFg Goex which gave me 2" groups at 50 yards - the best I could muster. Not good enough for squirrels. But I could shoot a bunch of shots without swabbing if I wanted to.
I regret selling it though and I just might buy me another some day.

 

[John0313]

Mine might be an “outlier”, but it prefers 2F to 3F. With the small bores, don’t scrimp on powder quality either. It seems to really show up in terms of fouling with the smaller the bullets.

Keep at it, these are accurate little rifles once you get them sorted out!!

 

[ETipp]

I buy Dry patches from Eastern Maine Shooting Supplies. I Buy the .010 .015 and .018 by the bag of 1000. Have never found a small bore that these sizes didn't work for, but I do have some thicker. The .018 patches are pillow ticking the other sizes are tightly woven cotton.

Pretty sure that's where my cotton shooting patches came from. They are suppose to be .015" in .32 caliber. So far they hold together well with old and firm Bore Butter. Tried with Crisco and real bear grease and they blow to pieces, even with only 20 grains of 3F black powder.

Accuracy.............I have not fired my Crockett Squirrel Rifle all that much. Time will tell I reckon.

 

[BP Addict]

In my experience, small-bore rifles tend to foul more, especially those with long barrels. If there are any chatter marks or pitting, it's worse.

Yours is basically brand-new so maybe the barrel just needs to get broken in a bit. I have the same rifle. I use 20 grains of 3F BP. I use October Country's Bumbling Bear Grease (bear grease & beeswax) for a lube. I also wipe the bore every five shots.

I know wet patches keep things cleaner but for me, grease seals better.

Happy Shooting!

Walt

 

[LAUDY1962]

I think the best thing to do is sell it to me PLEASE consider

I think my grandson would bleed me If I did that. HAHA

 

[LAUDY1962]

Updare. Went and did some testing on loads and fouling. After watching Idaho Lewis I thought. Hhmmm what if I tried an over powder wad. Sure enough I added a 32 cal lubed felt wad over my powder and then patched a round ball. Fouling was no longer an issue with 20 grns of 3f swiss. Groups sub at 50 yards Perfect for a squirrel hunt thanks to all of you for the wanted input. Stay safe shoot often.

 

[ETipp]

Updare. Went and did some testing on loads and fouling. After watching Idaho Lewis I thought. Hhmmm what if I tried an over powder wad. Sure enough I added a 32 cal lubed felt wad over my powder and then patched a round ball. Fouling was no longer an issue with 20 grns of 3f swiss. Groups sub at 50 yards Perfect for a squirrel hunt thanks to all of you for the wanted input. Stay safe shoot often.

Where did you find some .32 caliber felt wads?

 

[LAUDY1962]

Track of the wolf has some. These fit a tad loose but work fine at assisting with fouling.

OX-WAD-31-W

.30/.31 caliber revolver Ox-Yoke Wonder Wad , bag of 100 lubricated felt wads

 

[LAUDY1962]

before running them down the muzzle over the powder. I pinch them which makes them fit fine.

 

[ETipp]

Thank you.

 

[ETipp]

Like others said 15 to 20 grains and the fouling will be a lot less I can shoot mine at least 5 shots before cleaning

Anything less than 20 grains of FFF black powder and my accuracy falls off. Still have to test mine to see how it does with 25 to 30 grains. I know I liked being able to shoot and reload 10 times without having to run a patch down the bore and I certainly do not want to give that option up. At this time, the only way I would trade that off would be if the accuracy increased with a different powder charge.