CVA 32cal w/ revolver bullets?

[LongRifleVaB]

Here is the question

I have a CVA combo rifle, a 45 cal and a 32 cal. Great story where I got if from but I will stick to my question for now.

So.. I noticed tonight that 32 cal roundballs are .310 diameter. I also noticed tonight that I (at some time in the past to feed my Cowboy side match appetite), I had ordered 1,000 (what was I thinking?) 32 cal lead bullets to load up 32 S&W "shorts". What was I ever going to do with 1,000 of them.

The bulb went off. I grabbed the calipers and yep... .310. So... what do you think would happen if I patched a 32 cal pistol bullet in my CVA? Seems that if I patched it tight, it would work fine at reasonable ranges.

 

[bob308]

it mite work. we were shooting .38-40 bullets cast out of pure lead in our .40 rifles. they worked good. had to make a sort of false muzzle to get them started stright.

 

[arquebus]

Might be easier to paper-patch them. What is the rifle's BORE diameter?

 

[sduve]

Couldn't you just lube them?

 

[Zonie]

Couldn't you just lube them?

IMO, a roundball needs to be patched to provide a good seal with the bottom of the rifleing groves and to seal the bore tightly.

This is especially important in rifles with deep grooves.

While longer slugs obturate (swell in diameter) when they are fired and will seal in a shallow grooved rifle, a roundball does not do this to any usefull degree.

If a person shot a unpatched, bore size, greased roundball in their rifle, they could expect to see accuracy on par with a loose fitting ball in a smoothbore.

zonie

 

[LongRifleVaB]

RE bore diameter, I am not sure. What I can tell you that might help is that it is a 32 cal, and that I have shot 32 cal round balls that measure .310 in diameter. I patch them with standard (I think .015) patches from Thompson Center. Lubed with bore butter. With that patch, they are nice and tight. If you just dropped the ball in the barrel, it woudl literally roll right to the breech.

So, I think the patch is the way to go, but getting it started will be the trickiest part.

That revolver bullet, while conical in appearance is more like the maxi balls that TC either used to sell or still sells. I am not up to date on anything other than round balls, that is all I shoot. Well, with the exception of Mini balls that I shoot from my 1861 Springfield.

In short, I would have to patch these things, but assuming I did so, and that I got it started straight, how do you guys think they would fly? I have just never heard of patching anything other than roundballs.

 

[arquebus]

The early bullet guns (Sugar-loaf, picket, etc.) often used a paper or linen crosspatch, but that requires the use of a fairly elaborate false muzzle. What I had in mind was using a regular roll-on paper patch that would take the bullet from its current undersize diameter up to the bore size. Being bore size (not groove size) they are easy to load without any special attachments, just pushing into the muzzle with light thumb pressure. When fired they bump up to fit the grooves. I would recommend using an over powder wad to protect the bullet's base, too. I use this style of bullet in my .451 target rifle, usually a bore-size lubed bullet, but sometimes paper patched. I use eraseable typewriter paper for patching, but almost any decent paper will work quite well, the important thing is finding one of the correct thickness.