Crockett rifle

[DylanAdkins1996]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and have only been into muzzleloading for about a year and I just put a new traditions crockett on lay away today. Does anyone have any tips or is there anything I should know before I get it out. I've read some great reviews about them and everyone says their very accurate. I hope to enjoy it alot this coming spring!

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and have only been into muzzleloading for about a year and I just put a new traditions crockett on lay away today. Does anyone have any tips or is there anything I should know before I get it out. I've read some great reviews about them and everyone says their very accurate. I hope to enjoy it alot this coming spring!

Welcome to the forum.
You will enjoy your Crockett Rifle.
As you stated alot of good reviews.
Take your time to find a good loading combination.
You'll different amount of powder, and patch thicknesses. My works good with 15 to 20 grains of FFF I use Goex and Schuetzen, I got real low on Goex, so I had to by Schuetzen, both work just fine for me. My patch is .015 prelubed pillow ticking. Tried .010 it did shot good, just seemed a little better with.015.
If you've been muzzleloading for about a year you've learned a good bit. After 1 or 2 shots I run a damp patch down the barrel, then a dry one. That's me, some do some don't.
One and basically the only thing I had to mess with, was the right size patch..... Do not force a large patch into barrel, trust me. The best pacth I found to buy is Allen's 7/8"x7/8" or cut the bigger ones to comfortable fit.
I will be taking mine out tomorrow morning, and hopefully shoot me some little grays, I've yet to get this season.

Take Care Stay Safe....

Fred.

 

[Powderfirst]

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum and have only been into muzzleloading for about a year and I just put a new traditions crockett on lay away today. Does anyone have any tips or is there anything I should know before I get it out. I've read some great reviews about them and everyone says their very accurate. I hope to enjoy it alot this coming spring!

Remember that all of your accessories have to be .32 caliber compatible including a range rod, patch worm, ball puller (get a co2 discharger), it should come with a jag. Enjoy the little rifle cause they are a lot of fun

 

[DylanAdkins1996]

Welcome to the forum.
You will enjoy your Crockett Rifle.
As you stated alot of good reviews.
Take your time to find a good loading combination.
You'll different amount of powder, and patch thicknesses. My works good with 15 to 20 grains of FFF I use Goex and Schuetzen, I got real low on Goex, so I had to by Schuetzen, both work just fine for me. My patch is .015 prelubed pillow ticking. Tried .010 it did shot good, just seemed a little better with.015.
If you've been muzzleloading for about a year you've learned a good bit. After 1 or 2 shots I run a damp patch down the barrel, then a dry one. That's me, some do some don't.
One and basically the only thing I had to mess with, was the right size patch..... Do not force a large patch into barrel, trust me. The best pacth I found to buy is Allen's 7/8"x7/8" or cut the bigger ones to comfortable fit.
I will be taking mine out tomorrow morning, and hopefully shoot me some little grays, I've yet to get this season.

Take Care Stay Safe....

Fred.

What size round ball do you recommend? I found some options for .310 and some .315

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

I’ve only use .310. They work good for my gun.
I’ve read a lot about .311 and .315
I will try both, Right now I’ll stick with .310s for rest of the season, when I order something else I’ll get some of the other sizes and experiment with them.
Look for posts from ETipp on the Crockett Rifle. He has some good advice.

Wish I was more help.

Take Care Stay Safe

 

[ETipp]

Hello Dylan.

My guess is you will like the Crockett rifle. At 6.75 pounds and its slim design, it’s a real joy for packing in the woods. I did not keep track of how many times I had my Crockett out in the woods last year, but I do know it was well over 75 hunts. I really put it through the test in these thick, steep, often rocky, hardwood mountains here. It has the battle scars to prove it, too. On a couple of hunts, my Crockett was out in rain for hours and it still fired just fine. One day it was 7 1/2 hours and she still fired like normal. However, I am a solo hunter and I keep the hammer all the way down. I am not one to do the half-**** thing and I’ve never had an issue with doing so. Use your own judgment on this as it is not recommended.

As Gum stated, you might want to try several combinations of patch, ball sizes and powder. Mine seems to do well with.310 balls and .015 pillow ticking. I get my ticking from October Country. I have found that .010 cotton patches are simply too thin and would blow out. The .310 RB and .015 ticking holds up well and I can reload maybe 5 shots or so in a row but I prefer to run a damp patch down the bore, followed by a couple dry patches, as soon as I feel a fair amount of resistance and/or a crud ring when seating a load. For the damp patches, I cut them a bit smaller than dry cleaning patches. Those are lightly damp with Windex. All of my shooting is for squirrel hunting. If you want to keeP shooting at a range without wiping, I would reckon that spit patches might work but again, I only shoot for hunting. So I care not to alter my process or components.

My Crockett rifle performs well with 20 grains of FFF GOEX. However, I just switched over to 15 grains of FFF Swiss yesterday but it has not been thoroughly field tested yet. I have established that any charge higher than 20 grains of 3F tended to damage a squirrel more than I like. You definitely want to use 3F and not 2F whatever powder you settle with.

There’s tons of lubes to be had and I have settled on Track Of The Wolfs Mink Oil. It has more than proven itself and it is not the same as mink oil for boots.

I recommend NOT getting or using a .32 caliber cleaning brush and do not use too large of shooting patches nor cleaning patches.

Unless Traditions has changed some things, there’s most likely two things you will want to address. One is the factory nipple is too small and it appears to be tapered a bit. Number 11 caps will fall off way too easy. A replacement nipple can be found Track Of The Wolf for about $6.00.

The second issue I found was the factory ramrod that came with mine is junk. It’s too small of diameter and it rattled with every step I took. It was also loud in the woods while reloading, which is something I do not tolerate on any of my hunting gear. It was replaced with a TOTW hickory ramrod blank that I built up myself. This one I left a little larger in diameter and it is next to silent while reloading IF I do my part right.

I also have a brass ramrod that an awesome member on here sent me. It’s very nice and sturdy. It added about 15 ounces to the rifle that I believe helps when offhand shooting.

The Crockett rifle is a true aim small, miss small rifle. Holding it still is paramount. For whatever reason, I find that it is not tolerable of anything other than good shooters form.

Perhaps its finest attribute is how economical it is. The Crockett is on par with a .22 unmentionable when using 20 grains of black powder. I liken it to a .22 Mag unmentionable with 30 grains of BP. I find no practical reason to need any more than 20 grains unless your particular rifle is more accurate with a heavier load. I did some real world hunting testing with mine and 30 grains and found no difference in accuracy with 30 grains, it is louder, and it fouled the barrel faster.

Good luck with your new Pee-Wee shooter. Mine has provided me with more enjoyment than all my other ML’s combined.

 

[Gum Slough Muzzleloader]

There ya go Dylan..
ETipp knows alot about the Crockett Rifle.
Check out his
2024/2025 Squirrel Hunting Thread....
There is a few of on there regularly.
You'll like it, good posts, pictures and just good Ole fun. Some way more successful than others.. ( I'm in the others).
Good guys, good stories about hunting, and just plan
"MUZZLOADERING" Around.

Take Care Stay Safe

Gum

 

[rusticbob]

Dylan, I am in the same boat. I just shot my first Crockett after looking at them and lusting over them for years. It’s still winter here in Vermont, so opportunities to shoot are scarce. But I did get it out last week and shot it. Amazing at 25 yards from the bench the first four round balls were touching! I was using a .310 ball and 15gr of T7 powder. .018 patch.
I have black powder, but I save that for my flintlocks. As soon as it warms I will be doing some serious range time and experimenting. Good luck with yours.

 

[Sooty Scot]

Since you've already been shooting BP for a year, this is probably redundant but I'll write it anyway.
Get a ball screw and patch worm to fit.

As ETip said, avoid the headaches of trying to use a bore brush. Getting one stuck in any bore is a pain - and you will; in a small bore it's a nightmare.

For the same reason, don't FORCE anything down the bore - cleaning patch, patched ball, etc. Getting it back out gets harder the further you manage to cram it down the bore, until you have to find a BP gunsmith. As soon as something is taking force - pause, pull it out (while you still can),and rethink. If it went in before, the bore probably needs a good wiping/cleaning.

Comfortably snug is all you need for the patched ball or a cleaning patch.

Good luck. Have fun. Let the squirrels beware.

 

[Johnny Too-Tall]

I no longer have a crockett but I do have a SMR and a cva squirrel rifle both in 32 cal still. My SMR loves 30 grains 3f with a .311 ball and .015 spit patch. The CVA squirrel rifle 20 grains of 3f same .311 ball and .015 patch. The SMR has a 42" swamped barrel and the CVA has a 26" barrel I believe might have to measure it but the SMR is always my go to 25 yard match gun no questions asked. I use it on woods walks too but sometimes the Boosway doen't see the target move from the hit but you can here the ball smack it but if they aren't paying attention you can end up taking a miss. Its zero'd at 25 yards to hit 1" high so I can use a 6 o'clock hold. Won a ton of matches with the 32 cal its fun and cheap to shoot. Just aim for the tree rats head or you might be eating back legs only.

 

[snakebit]

Love mine. I've had it for several years. That rifle will shoot as good as you want her to. Mine shoots way better than me. I got a solid brass ramrod for mine (Log Cabin Shop), and had a set of fiber optic sights put on mine (old eyes), and lastly a new nipple, #11 caps were too loose on my factory one. Yours may be different. Like ETipp, and Gum and the other fellas have written; just take her to the range and let her tell you what she likes. Id be willing to bet you whiskey to water, your Crockett will be one of your purchases in life you won't regret. Have fun with her, and reach out with anymore questions.

 

[S.Kenton]

I’ve been wanting a Crockett rifle for a while now, but the stars just havnt aligned as of yet.

 

[ETipp]

Dylan, I am in the same boat. I just shot my first Crockett after looking at them and lusting over them for years. It’s still winter here in Vermont, so opportunities to shoot are scarce. But I did get it out last week and shot it. Amazing at 25 yards from the bench the first four round balls were touching! I was using a .310 ball and 15gr of T7 powder. .018 patch.
I have black powder, but I save that for my flintlocks. As soon as it warms I will be doing some serious range time and experimenting. Good luck with yours.

No ill intent intended. However, I want to caution those that use .018 thick patches and a .310 round ball in a Crockett. I realize that no two rifles are the same but in my particular Crockett, it accepts a .018 patch but unless someone wipes between each and every shot, I foresee a potential problem. As tight as the first one went down, I dared not load another one unless the bore was wiped first. I can absolutely see a stuck round with such combination. However, lube choice may be a factor.

As I have stated, I only squirrel hunt and often there’s not the time nor is it the place to wipe prior to reloading. So, perhaps the situation might be different for those that wipes after each sho or uses different lube.

That small bore requires additional thought, IMO.

 

[ETipp]

Dylan, I am in the same boat. I just shot my first Crockett after looking at them and lusting over them for years. It’s still winter here in Vermont, so opportunities to shoot are scarce. But I did get it out last week and shot it. Amazing at 25 yards from the bench the first four round balls were touching! I was using a .310 ball and 15gr of T7 powder. .018 patch.
I have black powder, but I save that for my flintlocks. As soon as it warms I will be doing some serious range time and experimenting. Good luck with yours.

Does T7 torch off okay every time in your Crockett?