.32 Long Colt ,Need Help

[dusty texian]

ndnchf, The bore on the 1892 Marlin .32 slugged @ bore of .302 and a groove of .309.I noticed that the bore was at it's tightest ,near and at the muzzel. Not much difference in the dim. on our rifles ,,,,,Dusty measured the slug again and came up with this .302 bore and groove of .309

[ndnchf]

So are you sizing your 299153s down from .315" or shooting them as cast?  I see BACO has a .310" Lyman sizing die available.  I don't see any reason why a heeled bullet cannot be sized down.  Whether it is necessary is the question.  I also wonder if the lube grooves will dissappear if sized down that much.

I'm playing hooky from work today and going to the range

[w44wcf]

ndnchf,
If the bullet is lubed prior to the reduction in size, the lube grooves will be affected little.  If the bullet is not lubed, then the lube groove capacity could be noticeably reduced.

In checking the chamber in my rifle, it appears to be .320" dia. from the front of the .91" case to the rifling....a distance of .20". So it could be that the bigger the bullet, the more guidance it has in that transitional distance. Perhaps that would be even more important in the longer .33" gap with the .78" case.

Your rifle shoots very well with the .315-.316" bullets. It would be interesting to see if presizing them to .310/.311 would have an affect on accuracy.

Neat idea  using the sealant to hold the bullet in the unsized case. Hope it works well.

w44wcf

[w44wcf]

Chev. William,
Welcome to the forum.  Your projects sound really interesting.

w44wcf

[dusty texian]

ndnchf", I am not sizeing down the bullet's. I am shooting as cast . I think I need the .316 dia. for a good seal. I pushed one of the 299153 bullet's lubed with oil through my barrel , and found the Land's engraved the outer bullet band's very good and the barrel groove wiped a seal around the other portion of the band's . So far I am not having a leading problem. I do use my own lube, made for BP. Enjoy your range trip. Today I am painting the bathroom,Fun Fun Fun,,,,Dusty

[w44wcf]

You fellas probably already know this but for folks who might be following this thread, Pyrodex is highly erosive and barrels should be cleaned very very soon after firing or oxidation will begin to form.  That is because there is chlorate in Pyrodex, the same stuff used in corrosive priming of yesteryear.

By comparison, B.P. is not very erosive at all in a low humidity environment.  I have cleaned guns a week after firing with b.p. and they cleaned up fine. No rusting at all.  Don't try that with Pyrodex........

w44wcf

[Adirondacker]

You fellas probably already know this but for folks who might be following this thread, Pyrodex is highly erosive and barrels should be cleaned very very soon after firing or oxidation will begin to form.  That is because there is chlorate in Pyrodex, the same stuff used in corrosive priming of yesteryear.

By comparison, B.P. is not very erosive at all in a low humidity environment.  I have cleaned guns a week after firing with b.p. and they cleaned up fine. No rusting at all.  Don't try that with Pyrodex........

w44wcf

Learned this lesson the hard way years ago; my first & last bottle was given away as soon as I found someone to take it.  Similar problem with Goex's Clear Shot, which I also gave away.

[Chev. William]

You fellas probably already know this but for folks who might be following this thread, Pyrodex is highly erosive and barrels should be cleaned very very soon after firing or oxidation will begin to form.  That is because there is chlorate in Pyrodex, the same stuff used in corrosive priming of yesteryear.

By comparison, B.P. is not very erosive at all in a low humidity environment.  I have cleaned guns a week after firing with b.p. and they cleaned up fine. No rusting at all.  Don't try that with Pyrodex........

w44wcf

Thanks for the reminder, I guess the can of Pyrodex "CTG" will stay on my shelf until I find a 'taker' for it.
I had used it in some Round ball 44-40 loads for an Iver Johnson Cattleman Single action and an 1873 Winchester,  Got interesting with the pistol at the indoor range late one evening near closing when I touched off a cylinder full.  The Range Master and the other shooters still there all asked to fire some rounds, used up the 50 I brought along.  the Rifle did not like them quite as well, I guess .433" balls out of a .434 Groove barrel just weren't sealing well,  Would not go all the way to the 100 yard target with out bouncing first.

Chev. William
Chev William.

[dusty texian]

w44wcf" I agree with you the Pyrodex is very corrosive,when useing this type of powder I clean the bore after every ten shot's or so. I keep a drinking water bottle on the bench with water and Dawn dishwashing detergent in it . And the fired cases go into this after fireing. I use the same soapy water and plenty of rag's on the bore before leaving the range and the rifles, and cases get another going over ,back at home before going back into the safe. I do the same routine when shooting Swiss or Goex. The two latter do clean-up quicker. I find Pyrodex to be harder on brass than reg. BP. And it stink,s more. But it shoot's fairly well ,and is safe in the gun ,a big + to me. It has another use, If It start's getting crowded at the range ,on the bench's next to me ,well that's when I pull out the Pyrodex Load's for testing. Then I get some elbow- room. Work's every time,,,,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

w44wcf" I agree with you the Pyrodex is very corrosive,when useing this type of powder I clean the bore after every ten shot's or so. I keep a drinking water bottle on the bench with water and Dawn dishwashing detergent in it . And the fired cases go into this after fireing. I use the same soapy water and plenty of rag's on the bore before leaving the range and the rifles, and cases get another going over ,back at home before going back into the safe. ,,,,,,,,Dusty

i just got back from the range and did the exact same routine as Dusty mentioned.  For a single shot, its pretty easy to clean at the range.  Its been a long time since I've used Pyrodex, I still have some from the 1980s.  I never had a problem with corrosion, but I always clean and oil my guns right after shooting and recheck them again a day or two later and re-oil. 

I'll post my range results shortly.

[ndnchf]

Range Report

I took the little #4 RRB to the range this morning and fired 3 loads, all with the Ideal 299153 bullet, size - .315" lubed with my home made lube:  .32 Short Colt with 3.65 gr. wt. of Pyrodex P, .32 Long Colt (trimmed to .775", referred to as .32 LCR) with 6.5 gr. wt. of Pyrodex P and .32 LCR loaded with 8.2 gr. wt of Goex FFFG.  It's a drizzly day here in Virginia, temp about 70 degrees, no wind.

I made a mistake in my range report from a few days ago.  Those targets and today's were fired at 10 yards (30ft), not 20 yards as reported earlier.  So my previous shooting was not as impressive as it seemed 

First off is the .32 SC rounds, I fired two five shot groups from the bench, this was the best:



Next was the .32 LCR rounds loaded with Pyrodex P.  I fired two 5 shot groups, this was the best:


Last was the .32 LCR with Goex FFFG. I only had 5 rounds of this:


I'm pretty pleased with the little rifle, but need to do more work with it.  Next time out I'll back out to 25 yards.  The liquid bearing sealer used to chemically crimp the bullet into the case worked great.  I think it is a simple solution to a nagging problem with heeled bullets. 

[dusty texian]

Very nice ndnchf" ,Glad to hear the load's are doing well for you. That sealant worked like you thought. Wonder if you could use fingernail polish in a pinch? I use it on screw's I dont want to come loose. I will try the fffGoex load again in my 32. ,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

Yes, the sealant worked perfectly.  I checked the fired cases afterwards and there is no residue remaining friom the sealer either. It seems to burn off cleanly.  You could try fingernail polish, it would probably work so long as its not too thin.  You wouldn't want it running down into the powder.  Try it on some dummy rounds and see how it does.

[Adirondacker]

Very nice ndnchf" ,Glad to hear the load's are doing well for you. That sealant worked like you thought. Wonder if you could use fingernail polish in a pinch? I use it on screw's I dont want to come loose. I will try the fffGoex load again in my 32. ,,,,,Dusty

I think most fingernail polish is lacquer, but the universal 19th C. equivalent of Locktite was ordinary varnish, which I've used countless times for the same purpose.

[w44wcf]

ndnchf,
Nice targets.    Thank you for posting.

I was plinking with the .22 & .32 a bit last week.  What fun.......





w44wcf

[dusty texian]

And a Fine pair of plinker's they are !w44wcf" have you ever seen another 92 with the threaded muzzle? ,,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

That's a fine set of rifles w44wcf ! I'd be proud to have those in my collection 

[Adirondacker]

And a Fine pair of plinker's they are !w44wcf" have you ever seen another 92 with the threaded muzzle? ,,,,,,Dusty

For a several hundred clams, and a LOT of aggravation, w44wcf could obtain the nifty gizmo that was once attached to those threads.

[dusty texian]

Wonder if the old Catalog has a pic. of one . And did they work well. My 32 has such a soft report ,I think with a muffler or supressor, it would sound like KLINK,,,,,,Dusty

[ndnchf]

A suppressor? Wow. 

Could be nice accessory if you want to do some plinkin' in the basement without disturbing the missus upstairs