36 cal. rifles

[Bernie Schneider]

TC used to make them, GM doesn't make IBS in them, just .32 and .40 for smaller cals. So what happened that the .36 fell from grace? How is it inferior to others? The .32 seems small and looks hard to clean and the .40 seems to large for small game and to small for large game. Am I the only one who would like a .36, maybe that I could drop into a TC stock? I e-mailed TOW to see what they could do. :surrender:

 

[bob308]

any small game you would shoot with a .32 or a .36 will be just as dead. and cleaning with hot soapy water it is no harder to clean a .32 then a .72.

when i worked with bob hoyt we made .25 cal barrels. they would still cut a squirrel in half if shot in the body. so you still had to shoot for the head.

 

[tg]

Probably a lack of interest dictates production, I found my .40 to be fine for squirrels, Grouse, rabbits and also used it to take a few Deer, I use bigger bore smoothies now and will use shot for the little critters. I think a .40 is a sweet cal. to shoot, it may have just been the gun, but that was my favorite gun (old Navy arms "Kentucky") with a Gm .40 barrel for several years untill I got the smoothbore bug real bad, rear sight is getting to be less usefull every year.

 

[Canerod]

I have a .36 and love it. One of the nicest things is being able to get 5# of OOObuck (.350) for not much more than the normal cost of a box of 100 RB made for rifles.

 

[Ol Thing]

Nope your not alone! Like Canerod, I really like my .36 T/C. It's cheap to shoot and accurate to boot! :haha: . I use 40 to 60 grains of powder and there's near zero recoil. Varmints hate that gun! Try it, you'll like it too!! :thumbsup:

 

[MikeChapin]

Your not alone at all. My first build was .36 Lancaster. That rifle took a lot of flint aggregates back in the eighties. I originally built the rifle for turkey and small game but never hunted turkey with it.

My wife regularly uses her .36 Seneca for club shooting events.

I think tg is right about lack of intrest. In the eighties most match shooters started going to the .40. The .40 had light recoil and better staying power at 100 yards. It was also good for small game. It also had the advantage around here to be legal for large game though I don't know anyone who uses one for that.

I see people either going with the .32 or jumping up to the .40. Very few going for the .36.

 

[Bernie Schneider]

Just think about 7 yrs. ago I passed up a .36 Seneca because I thought it too expensive. TOW can't help me with a make-up drop in, so I most likely will go with the .40 in the TC stock.
The replies I got are pretty much about what I expected, just was curious though. Bernie

 

[Bernie Schneider]

This quest is reminding me of 50 cal Mike and his CVA Hawken breechplug.
My options are watch Auctions and try to win one, there are 2 on Gunbroker now both are going over $350.00 now.
I can buy a barrel from Track have it cut down, recrowned sights and breachplug installed , then re- inlet the new tang into a .45 Fie fullstock that I have. then end up with a lock that is questionable in a cheap wood stock. All this would run close to or over $200.00.
Or I could watch other classifieds and find another .36 in caplock.
So who still makes .36 rifle now?

 

[Walks Alone]

You're not alone on liking the 36. I recently sold both of my 32's but kept both of my 36's (a early CVA Squirrel and a TC Hawken switch barrel that includes a 36). For varmint/predator hunting anyway, the 36 are just better all-around than the 32's.

No doubt I would have liked a 40 if I had ever had one. Would have been good for both the P&V and target shooting. I have several 45's, and they were my choice for target shooting.