any bigger game with a .32

[marsh trapper]

anyone hunt or shoot anything other then squirrel or rabbits with there .32 like coons ,bobcats or cats or yotes ...just curious debatin for a next rifle getting a custom 36 but if not much difference i may opt for a 45 instead..just wondering what you guys have shot and damage wise of a 32

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Going out tomorrow to shoot my 32 :grin: IMO I would shoot it at coon, skunk, opossum. My line would be somewhere between say fox & coyotes. maybe to the 1st unlikely to the 2nd.

All of course with in the limits of range, skill,& shot placement. You are talking .36 yea? So well .......................................

Dang it man! Get the squirrel gun. they are too fun not to have. :wink:

 

[MattC]

I just bought mine from CTD. .32 cal deerhunter. Should be here by Friday; plenty of time to get dialed in before small game season starts in Oct.

tee-hee. :haha:

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Dang Matt I am spending my hunting $ out of Colorado this year :cursing: :wink: I'm only 18 miles from Utah so I got there Small Game Lic. $80 for an out of state 365 day small game & fishing Lic.

Maybe if you get over this way we could go up on the Book cliffs and miss running bunnys.

 

[MattC]

5 month season. We'll see what we can do.

that's the great thing about small game; low budget and no pressure.

 

[rodwha]

I'm curious why the .32 wouldn't be chosen for coyotes. I would think that it would be plenty for a little critter like that, though I've recently seen pics of them up in NY that were much bigger than the average ones further south, but it seems to be believed they are crossed with wolves.

Is a .32 not that powerful? Or is it a range problem?

Is a .36 cal an improvement worth consideration or only marginally so?

I've considered the Tradition's .32 Deerhunter for small game, though, ideally I'd prefer to look into a custom barrel that could use patched .31/.36 pistol balls so as to share balls with a cap n ball pistol.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I've seen TX. Yotes & our Rocky Mt. Red fox are
about the same size. :idunno: So My cut off may not be your cut off.

Don't get me wrong I'm in love with my 32. but IMO it is much like a 22mag.
Would I use it to kill a cow elk if I was snowed in & starving? Yep. Would I take it out to hunt coyotes of a purpose? No.

 

[rodwha]

I am far from knowledgeable and am learning more and more, especially from this forum, which is one of my most precious resources. I asked as I figured a .32 cal RB ought to be plenty for something weighing no more than maybe 40-50 lbs (haven't there been some recorded as being ~100 lbs in NY?) and without a tough hide or dense bone.

I have been considering, for a small game rifle, either a very small caliber that uses little lead/powder to something larger that may be more versatile, as well as using light loads in the .50 cal I have.

When I first bought my .50 cal muzzleloader I thought it necessary to use a conical or unmentionable to actual hunt anything beyond spitting distance.

After reading of so many accounts of PRB's getting complete passthroughs on deer past 100 yds blew my mind since it had such little energy, which is what I grew up believing killed. Although I've also been taught that a high sectional density was necessary for penetration. Funny that a RB has neither, yet does so well.

I've been shooting nothing but .490" RB's and plan to hunt with them exclusively unless given an opportunity to hunt elk or something else as large.

 

[bubba15301]

rodwa you would have to buy a .38 cal muzzleloader to use the same rb as a .36 cal revolver

 

[rodwha]

.39 cal, no? Especially if .380" RB's were used.

Hard to find someone who will make custom bores such as that.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Remember it's just "IMO" I've been wrong before. A 32 might well do a yote in. I think it would. Just as a 22 would.

But even if you cut off where I do that leaves; Red, kit, & gray fox, raccoon, opossum, marmot Yellow-bellied &Hoary, skunk, Nutria, Prairie Dogs, Gray, Fox, American red, Albert's Squirrels. Turkey (** Normal Colorado BS I *THINK* it says I can hunt turkey in the fall hunt** ), Armadillo,*******are you ordering that 32 yet? :grin: ***** Snowshoe hare, Jack rabbit, cotton tail rabbit, . . . .

 

[rodwha]

I have no intentions of hunting coyotes unless I found them a nuisance or to help a rancher with problems.

I do want a small game rifle though. I've yet to eat a squirrel, but I certainly enjoy rabbits! And I'm game to try anything that's edible without the need for a bunch of sauces or such to make it taste good enough.

I was just curious about a .32's ability to cleanly take something a little larger. I was also considering the max range as 50 yds.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Shot my 32 today at 50 & 100 yards :grin: with my rifle 20 grains of FFF puts me right on at 50 (just over a 1" group of 5) and about 7" low at 100yds. But 25 grains puts me back on at 100 (how ever it opens up my shots at 50 yds to about 2".
It was a wonder to me that 5 grains changed it 7" at 100yds.

Let a friend shoot it. 1st shot he had that "I Want One!!!" Grin Best convert Gun ever! he had an AR & an inline, but after a bit we were just taking turns with the 32 :wink:

 

[rodwha]

I did this with my beer brewing friend from Houston while he was in town. He shot my Old Army and .50 cal Deerstalker and had a blast. Now he's considering a side lock of his own in .50 cal, though he's not really into hunting as he's never been.

I don't think he'd be as impressed with a .32. He likes the thunder much like I do! I even explained how smaller calibers use less powder/lead, but despite being frugal he wasn't buying into it.

I'm working on him to consider casting with me so as to get all of what we'd need, which would possibly require him to come up for a visit (bringing home-brewed beer to swap) more often so as to cast.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Their are videos of yotes being taken with airguns now and lets not forget the archers!

Brits

 

[tx50cal]

The largest thing that I have shot with my .32 is squirrels. It think it would go up to coyotes, but that would be my max at 40-50 yards max. It is a good shootin' rifle.

 

[Loxahatchee]

Realistictly, even a .22 can take down anything if you hit it right :wink:

If you have a good head shot on something, a .32 should do the trick. Id think it capable of killing any small critter or varmint. Not sure about getting up to coyote size. On a broadside shot, Id imagine the ball would enter and penetrate the lungs, not sure if it would exit though.

Airguns nowadays shoot pellets close to 2000fps, even the .22 and .25 caliber pellets get like 1000fps. Id imagine the energy needed to pass an arrow through a critter would be different than the energy needed to pass a round ball, since the arrow is propelled from a single, small position (the nock), whereas a round ball is pushed from the whole rear-side. Plus, the actual point of penetration of an arrow is smaller than that of a round ball, since the point of an arrow is smaller. So, all that energy is focused into a smaller area, which gives it good penetration. A round ball hit its target with the full front-side, so the energy behind it is spread over the whole area.

Primitive bows have a draw-weight of roughly 30 pounds on average. But, there have been flint/rock arrow heads found that can fit on your finger they are so small (usually called "bird points" because they were thought to be used for hunting birds.) Testing blood left behind on these points revealed they were actually used to hunt big game (deer and elk) and after testing replica points, arrows, and bows on deer, the arrows had excellent penetration, usually passing through the deer or stopping underneath the skin of the opposite side. The reason behind it being that the low amount of energy released from the bows is focused onto such a small point, it gives the small point good penetration. So heres your ff info :idunno: