buckshot for round balls?????????

[morgan47]

a short time ago i saw a article about using buckshot in a rb barrel........i just purchased a 32 cal rifle and was thinking of trying this........being that most shot is chilled wouldnt that make the shot to hard?? if not what size would you use for a 32 cal and a 36 cal?

[oomcurt]

I dunno about a .32. For a .36 one would use #000 buckshot. As for the "chilled" part, I doubt if that would bother it. Reason being some folks use wheel weight lead for shooting...that is somewhat harder than pure lead...to each their druthers on this, imo. I do know that when I replenish my .350 balls for my .36 I will either pour my own or buy that 000 buck in bulk. Even there though, for what they are getting for it in a five pound bag...I can pour my own a heck of a lot cheaper...only thing is with that small a ball...and a single cavity mold...it will be like watching paint dry.....

Hope this helps,
Curt

[Three Hawks]

I made a .30 drop in barrel for my T-C Hawken. ( Yes, it is a muzzleloading barrel.)   I use both .285" 34.4 gr. balls I cast in a Lyman mold and #2 Hornady 30.3 gr. buckshot that measure .275",  Both work very nicely with no apparent difference in the excellent accuracy.   The buckshot comes in a 5# box working out to about 1155 balls for about $15.  Comes to about a penny and a third apiece.  

I paid $30 for the Lyman mold and like Oomcurt says, casting up those itty bitty pills is almost as exciting as watching mud dry. I'll be 115 before I get close to 1100 of those itsy bitsy bastiges.   I'll go for the buckshot any day.

As far as being too hard, not to worry, use a tight patch, I use .018" pillow ticking lubed with lard and get about 1-1 1/2" groups at 50 yards.  

To make my patches, I washed the cloth first, then tore off several strips as close to 3/4" wide as I could, then sopped up as much lard melted in a skillet as they'd take, then pressed 'em between a couple layers of newspaper to soak up the excess.  I patch my RB's and cut with a patch knife.  I keep my patching strips in a ziplok freezer bag so's to keep my shooting box less messy. Same-o same-o my 1" strips for my .50's.

Garrulous ol'

Three Hawks

[Plumbob]

Some rookie questions if you don't mind. Where do you get the pillow ticking......how many grains you all shooting?

I just picked up a .32 Crockett, I've wanted a 32 for a long time. It's a niffty little thing.

 I have a couple of .54's and have always bought precut patches.

[Two Steps]

Where do you get the pillow ticking......how many grains you all shooting?

Howdy there Mr. Plumb Bob..Welcome  
Al

[Plumbob]

Nuther question if I may.

You say at Walmart. Do you mean in the hunting section or are you just buying material? If you are buying just material surley they don't sell it .010, .015 etc. Do they?

[Plumbob]

Nuther while I am at it.

I have always shot 2f goex out of my .54.

Why 3f?

What about 4f?

[Uncle Russ]

Plumbob, it is sold by the yard, and a yard of "piller tickin" will last you a loooong time in that .32....other calibers too, for that matter.
I don't recall what it costs, but it is only a couple of bucks per square yard.

Quite often you will find the material with red stripes and / or blue stripes...color shouldn't  make much difference, although I have do have some red stripe that mic'ed an honest .018 after washing.....I haven't found ticking this thick since, even though I do look about every time I see the red stripes.

Don't be afraid to feel of it, or even measure the thickness if you have a micrometer or a caliper. If they should  have two different bolts or different kinds, don't be afraid to compare 'em.
If you don't see pillow ticking, look for a good heavy, close knit, denim....it works just fine.

Stay away from 4Fg!....its primary use is priming for flintlocks...

Uncle Russ...

[MedicineSoldier]

Hornady lists their buckshot in the following sizes.

000 BUCKSHOT .350 DIAMETER

#1 BUCKSHOT .300 DIAMETER

I have used both the 000 in my .36 and the #1 in a .32 I used to have.  

Pillow ticking can be a bit confusing unless you know just what it is you want.  I can't vouch for what Walmart sells as "pillow ticking" (but I do know you can get it there) but in some fabric stores you will not get the same material that is being recommended.

What I believe is being recommended is what I have always known as pillow ticking, (known as real pillow ticking from now on) is usually a blue striped cloth, but also comes in red and some other colors.  The stripes are part of the weave of the cloth and is the same color on both sides.  It is usually about the .018 thickness after washing as RussB mentioned.  

What I have found that is marked as pillow ticking and shown to me by sales people is a thinner cloth (about .012-.013) and it has a printed stripe pattern which you can recognize by the color in the stripes being printed on only one side of the material and it has a duller background color than the white of the real pillow ticking.  It is 100% cotton as well and works fine as patching....if you want thinner patch material.  I have actually started using it more than the real pillow ticking since I usually want a looser patch/ball combination.  I have come to really dislike short starters.  And it is about 1/2 the price of the real pillow ticking.

After just looking around by myself in the fabric store I found the real pillow ticking but it was marked as engineer cloth...I can only guess because it matches the material used on the old railroad engineers' hats.  

I would recommend that if you find both that you pick up 1/2 yard or so of each and give them both a try.  Then you can stock up on what you decide to use when it is on sale......the 1/2 yard will give you a lot of shots in a .32 caliber so you can test them with different loads, lubes, etc.  And any leftover cloth can always be sewn up into small bags, used as cleaning patches or used for some other project(s).   I would recommend that you wash and dry either/both before using it for patches.

My personal experience in the .32 I had (CVA squirrel rifle) was that using the #1 buck that was .300 diameter I needed to use a thin patch.  I could never have gotten a .018 patch with the .300 ball down the barrel.  

Good luck, and have fun with whatever way you go.

Medicine Soldier

[Plumbob]

Stay away from 4Fg!....its primary use is priming for flintlocks...

I take it the finer powder burn at a faster rate?

What if I burned 3f in my GPR?

BTW this site is a great resource, thanks for the responses, and yeas I have a TMA app on my desk.  

[Riley/MN]

What if I burned 3f in my GPR?

Well you know how it shoots with the 2f, right? If you get some 3f, drop your charge by about 15% (because yes, it burns faster) and work up a load....See how it does.

I've seen old "guidelines" that advise 3f up to .50 cal and 2f for .50 and over. I know a lot of guys do shoot 3f out of .54, though.

[Mike R]

powder granulations can get confusing--and the old "rule" of using fffg in under .50 and ffg over .50 are routinely violated these days.  What I say is figure out which one is most accurate [sometimes it is the ffg even in small calibers]. Most fellows who use fffg do so because (1) they say it fouls less, (2) you can also use it for priming a flinter, and (3) it keeps things simple--you only need one type powder around.  In any event DO NOT use ffffg in the bore. I use fffg through .50 and then go to ffg, but I am experimenting with fffg in one of my .54s .  For your .32, try a .38 spec case full of fffg [about 24 gr]--it works good in mine....

[rollingb]

[Three Hawks]

My .50 T-C Hawken does very poorly indeed with 2F  and does very well indeed with 3F.  

4F is flinchlock priming and teensy wee(under .30cal.)  pistol powder.

When I shoot my T-C with the flinchlock installed, I prime with 3F,  it works better.

You have to try it to learn which.  Patch materials and lubes come into it as well.

Rule #1:  There are no hard and fast rules.

Rule #2 through #50:  Refer to rule #1.

To add some info.  Pillow ticking is available at any fabric store.  I always carry a lil' bitty 4" dial caliper in my shirt pocket for measuring thickness.  Any 100% cotton or linen fabric makes good patch material.   Lard or salt free vegetable shortening are very good patch grease, and  to cheap as to make one laugh.  One time I ran out of super-deluxe patch lube and had to make do with Butter Flavored Crisco from the galley of my camper.  My groups tightened up.  So next chance I got, I experimented with various house brand shortenings as well as plain lard.  All worked as well or better than the fifteen bucks a jar super muzzleloader stuff.

Your mileage, as always, may vary.

Three Hawks.