.32 or .36 ???

[texcl]

I'm looking into building a small bore tennessee rifle, I'll be primarily using it on snowshoe hare and turkeys but I will also use it on coyote and fox on occasion. My dilema I like the idea of the .32 destroying less meat and hide on the turkey and furbearers, but wonder about how well it'll carry compared to a .36 towards 100 yards. How much more destructive is the .36? I've also heard the .32 is more incline to rapid fouling.

 

[Protrucker]

I'm looking into building a small bore tennessee rifle, I'll be primarily using it on snowshoe hare and turkeys but I will also use it on coyote and fox on occasion. My dilema I like the idea of the .32 destroying less meat and hide on the turkey and furbearers, but wonder about how well it'll carry compared to a .36 towards 100 yards. How much more destructive is the .36? I've also heard the .32 is more incline to rapid fouling.

You're only talking about a .040" larger hole. That's a little more than 1/32" difference. A fur buyer or taxidermist won't care about that little difference in the hole in the hide. I really don't think that the amount of meat destroyed would differ that much either. I'd go with the .36

 

[BrownBear]

I have and enjoy shooting both. If I was going to own just one, it would be the 32 because I have no ambition to shoot past 50 yards with either. Using your longer shots at fur bearers as the decider, I'd go with the 36. You can load it way down to minimize meat damage. Big difference for me would be a little extra weight and energy at high velocities for long shots on fur bearers, and especially a little better wind bucking, though not much.

Shooting snowshoe hares only, I use my 32 a lot more than the 36. But I'm doing head shots only with either gun. How big of a charge? I've been using 20 grains of 3f in both calibers, but I'm going to experiment with 15 grains. Even at 20 grains, if you drop down into the neck with either caliber, you're going to lose the front shoulders of a snowshoe due to blood shot. At the velocities I'm getting, the 32 hits about like a 22 mag solid and the 36 is like a 22 mag hollowpoint. Both kill decisively, but both are pretty nasty on eating meat, too.

 

[texcl]

I went with the .36 thanks, for the input.