.31/32 Caliber Penetration

[94045]

I know just enough to be dangerous but had a buddy came over today and brought a .32 Caliber Squirrel Rifle Replica and a .31 Caliber 1849 Colt Pocket Replica. Lot of fun shooting them.

The fact that the .32 Rifle takes .310 Balls and the .31 Revolver takes.320 Balls seemed a little strange.

He forgot his powder measure for the rifle but he had a 22 Hornet Case he used for the pistol and just used two (He said that was basically a target load) for the rifle and the revolver got one (He said that was close to Max). I'm thinking he said the case held 14 gr. I think the powder was fffg but I'm not positive.

He noticed I had a bunch of milk jugs and we.got to talking and decided to run and impromptu penetration test.

A .380 will usually go through two water jugs and once in while into the third so to be safe we set up four jugs.... The test was a complete failure, if someone finds that ball let us know. Complete pass through on all four jugs!

I only had 6 jugs left so we decided to set them all up.... Rifle this time. When you find that pistol ball look around and see if you can find the rifle ball too. Complete pass through on all six jugs!

Sure gives me a new appreciation for what those little bitty smoke poles and pocket caliber cap and ball revolvers could do.

 

[Catman42]

i have never done a penetration test with my .32 squirrel rifle but i know this when i put 70 grains behind the ball it snaps out their good. dont do it often but i do use 50 in it on a regular bases. i go by the sound of the report. i want a certain snap out of my round ball rifles. the accuracy stays right on with all these charges. the .32 rifle is a very good reliable little rifle. with 50 or 70 grains behind the ball it will penetrate. their is no unburned powder in the snow.

 

[Fyrstyk]

I have four .32 rifles, and my most accurate loads are between 25-30 grains. Out of a 42" barrel, with 30 grains I get over 2000 fps. I use the .32's mostly for target shooting and squirrel hunting. 22 grains of 3f gives me a velocity pretty much equal to a high spped .22 Rim fire. Plenty for squirrels, any more powder is a waste.

 

[Gordon]

I have four .32 rifles, and my most accurate loads are between 25-30 grains. Out of a 42" barrel, with 30 grains I get over 2000 fps. I use the .32's mostly for target shooting and squirrel hunting. 22 grains of 3f gives me a velocity pretty much equal to a high spped .22 Rim fire. Plenty for squirrels, any more powder is a waste.

What I use , and although a max of 35 grains of fffg in my Seneca .32 gets to almost Mach 2 it seems a little much and accuracy stinks. I use 30 grains and it certainly seems supersonic at 100 yards and I really don't care about damage to the pest squirrels I shoot at . Now my .31 pistol s a whole nother ball game. It just won't take more than 15 grains +- and all tho barrel is 4" it seems puny to me even with that load. It does go thru 2" of redwood but not 4" . As to 70 grains of powder in a .32, holy cow ! That barrel length must be a foot of powder ! I use 70 grains in my .50 s as a full hunting load. I had a .58 zouave which would take more but not much and my 10 gauge SxS maxs out at 90 grains.

 

[desidog]

I had a .58 zouave which would take more but not much

Yeah, my Zoli Zouave is most accurate with 44 grains and a mini.

 

[Catman42]

i use a magspark nipple that holds a shot gun primer and 209 black horn powder. accuracy never suffers and the load i use is 50 grains by volume. no squirrels on our place bigger stuff, up to mountain lions. the rifle is always loaded in a corner so if i see something in the yard that has big teeth and is big my 32 is ready and it will handle it. my neighbor 1 and 1/2 miles from me not long ago was sitting in his living room with a big picture window also in front of him. a mountainlion crossed the gravel road and walked into his yard and next to his house. thats only 1 and 1/2 miles from me. let it do it in my yard during the day and i am ready. it did come one night and left a huge pile of black crap on top of a coyote my son shot and laid in front of the deck. its been making its rounds from place to place. looks for cats that havent found a safe place to sleep under a building. my other friend has goats but he locks them up at night. found cat scat on his place also. we called the game warden but he never came out. the .32 is ready.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Personally I would want something a tad bigger for toothy type critters but I won't underestimate the smaller caliber either. You push that small pill fast enough and it's amazing what it will destroy.

 

[Catman42]

boy, you got that right. i love my .32. years ago locally their was a guy who got his deer ten years in a succession until he was told that he was hunting with a side lock that wasnt legal. it was a .32. long rifle. then he switched to a .45. it will do the job. it is called shot placement.