Help with 32 Crockett accuracy

[Cullie]

I’m struggling finding a load combo that’s not wildly inaccurate in my rifle.
Tried different grain charges, .310 rb’s and .315 rb’s. 25 yard target trying to develop a load for rabbit/squirrel.
Findings……
Clean barrel bullseye!
2nd shot with no barrel swab usually a flier.
Tried swabbing after every shot still get flyers.
20 g 3f shutz. Couldn’t find any of my patches at all.
Dropped to 16 g same powder picked up almost all my patches completely in tact.
This made accuracy better but I’m still not comfortable with it.
Note: bench rest, and I consider myself a good iron sight shooter. I’ll say the fliers can be ruled out as the shooter.
I might add this was one of the funnest problems I’ve ever had. Must have shot it 50 times today!
First target was all 20 g loads
Second target was all 16 g loads and me adjusting the way I held the rifle and sight picture.
Any help or advise would be appreciated.

 

[snakebit]

What is your patch size, thickness and dimensions? Are you getting instant ignition? Hang fires? The patent breach can be tricky to get cleaned. Too big a patch can sometimes be an issue. Are your RB's cast, or swagged? Now I've bombarded you with questions. Here's what works for me.

20 grn. Swiss 3F, .310 swagged RB, .018 ticking patch I cut square at 3/4"x3/4". I lube only the bore side of the patch with TOTW Mink Oil. I stop shooting after 5 shots. I lightly spray a cleaning patch with denatured alcohol. The JUST DAMP patch is then pushed SLOWLY down the barrel, push too fast it just shoves the fouling into the breach instead of grabbing it. One of the hardest parts of getting comfortable with my Crockett was the crescent butt plate. Once you do that, I bet your groups will tighten up. These things worked for me. YMMV. Good luck with everything. Once you get her figured out, you'll be amazed how good she shoots.

 

[Cullie]

What is your patch size, thickness and dimensions? Are you getting instant ignition? Hang fires? The patent breach can be tricky to get cleaned. Too big a patch can sometimes be an issue. Are your RB's cast, or swagged? Now I've bombarded you with questions. Here's what works for me.

20 grn. Swiss 3F, .310 swagged RB, .018 ticking patch I cut square at 3/4"x3/4". I lube only the bore side of the patch with TOTW Mink Oil. I stop shooting after 5 shots. I lightly spray a cleaning patch with denatured alcohol. The JUST DAMP patch is then pushed SLOWLY down the barrel, push too fast it just shoves the fouling into the breach instead of grabbing it. One of the hardest parts of getting comfortable with my Crockett was the crescent butt plate. Once you do that, I bet your groups will tighten up. These things worked for me. YMMV. Good luck with everything. Once you get her figured out, you'll be amazed how good she shoots.

Instant ignition every shot.
Patches are 7/8”-15/16” round and best I can tell .021 thick. I acquired these pillow ticking patches from someone and have wondered all day it this was my issue?
Round balls are hornady is all I know, they are down in the shop or I could look at the box.
What puzzles me is from a clean barrel almost every shot is or near bullseye? Does that point to anything like major fouling? Should I change powder brand…… I think I have Swiss 3f
Thanks!

 

[Cullie]

Instant ignition every shot.
Patches are 7/8”-15/16” round and best I can tell .021 thick. I acquired these pillow ticking patches from someone and have wondered all day it this was my issue?
Round balls are hornady is all I know, they are down in the shop or I could look at the box.
What puzzles me is from a clean barrel almost every shot is or near bullseye? Does that point to anything like major fouling? Should I change powder brand…… I think I have Swiss 3f
Thanks!

Patches are saturated with bore butter BTW.

 

[snakebit]

Instant ignition every shot.
Patches are 7/8”-15/16” round and best I can tell .021 thick. I acquired these pillow ticking patches from someone and have wondered all day it this was my issue?
Round balls are hornady is all I know, they are down in the shop or I could look at the box.
What puzzles me is from a clean barrel almost every shot is or near bullseye? Does that point to anything like major fouling? Should I change powder brand…… I think I have Swiss 3f
Thanks!

I'm thinking your patches probably are probably too too big. Whatever they are lubed with may be an issue as well. If they aren't too hard to seat, thickness isn't an issue. Are you putting the stock on your shoulder, or the crease of your bicep and arm pit? That gave me fits. When I had fiber optic sights (poor eyesight) put on mine, and made stock placement a muscle memory, my groups tightened right up. You'll get there.

 

[snakebit]

Patches are saturated with bore butter BTW.

Are they are lubed?

 

[Cullie]

Are they are lubed?

Yes with TC’s bore butter lube. I may try cutting them down to 3/4”, they don’t load hard once they are started it takes decent pressure to seat them on the powder. Should I be shouldering the rifle or against bicep? All my bpcr rifles have the same crescent stock and I shoot well with them at way greater distance.

 

[snakebit]

Yes with TC’s bore butter lube. I may try cutting them down to 3/4”, they don’t load hard once they are started it takes decent pressure to seat them on the powder. Should I be shouldering the rifle or against bicep? All my bpcr rifles have the same crescent stock and I shoot well with them at way greater distance.

I'll bet you a nickel that bore butter isn't doing you any favors. I hold the stock above the bicep, and turn my upper body into the rifle slightly. If you have any patches that aren't lubed, try a couple shots with just spit. Just pop it in your mouth while you are dumping your powder, not loogie wet, just damp, that bore butter has never worked out for me. Smells good, that's about the only good thing I can say about it. Please understand, these things have worked for me. I'll never tell another fella that he has to do it just like me, only making suggestions. I'm pretty confident that if you ditch the BB, and try a smaller patch, you'll notice a difference.

 

[Cullie]

I'll bet you a nickel that bore butter isn't doing you any favors. I hold the stock above the bicep, and turn my upper body into the rifle slightly. If you have any patches that aren't lubed, try a couple shots with just spit. Just pop it in your mouth while you are dumping your powder, not loogie wet, just damp, that bore butter has never worked out for me. Smells good, that's about the only good thing I can say about it. Please understand, these things have worked for me. I'll never tell another fella that he has to do it just like me, only making suggestions. I'm pretty confident that if you ditch the BB, and try a smaller patch, you'll notice a difference.

Can’t wait to try it! Thank you! Just hope the chewing tobacco don’t rust it up

 

[snakebit]

Not to keep harping on the stock placement, at least for me, the Crockett stock has such a drop to it, that's another reason for holding it in that crease, and not the shoulder pocket. I shoot my GPR the same way though.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I have a .45 calibre rifle, beautiful gun…but it shot pie plate sized groups at 25 yards. I spent 2 years trying to develope a load for that gun…sent it back to the builder twice. I finally put it into the closet, bought a couple more rifles and went on with my life, frustrated, but dang…

Talking with the guys at the range, one of them said to bring it by his shop…he looked it over, and recrowned the muzzle. That gun has 4 loads, that group inside of an inch at 50 yards, it’s taken many deer since that day…amazing

 

[snakebit]

Can’t wait to try it! Thank you! Just hope the chewing tobacco don’t rust it up

It don't good luck, let us know how she does. I will say if you have 3F Swiss, try some. I've noticed when switching to TOTW Mink oil and Swiss powder, fouling was very soft. And when swabbing the barrel after a few shots, push that patch slow, like 5 seconds to get to the crud ring slow. Frustrations with flintlocks taught me that. I was pushing all the sludge from a too wet of a patch right into the patent breach. Live and learn take pictures of them bunnies and chicken of the tree when you start knockin em down

 

[SDSmlf]

I don’t have a Crockett, but ‘standard’ 32 caliber squirrel load in my Pedersoli Scout flint (and percussion, I have both locks) is 12-15 grains of 4F or 3F Swiss. An inch high at 25 yards, about an inch low at 50, but I don’t stretch it to 50 yards very often. Playing the wind makes it quite the challenge. At 25 yards a quarter easily covers a 5 shot group if I don’t mess up. Use a Ballistic Products 1-1/2 buckshot and a relatively thin wet patch (high thread count bed sheets), with a .375” hard felt wad (Duro-Felt Products) over the powder. Can shoot until I am tired without swabbing, but note I don’t wait very long between taking a shot and reloading. I’ve standardize on 3F Swiss for most of my shooting, but 4F works well in this and other 32 caliber guns I’ve tried it in. No reason to think 2F powder can’t be made to work (I have not tried it much), though it will be a bit slower as a pan powder if you were shooting flint.

 

[ETipp]

Snakebit has given you the most accurate information on the Crockett. Much of it will depend on how you hold the rifle. In fact, it means everything with the Crockett. Its not difficult to learn but until then, you will have consistency issues. The issue will be multiplied whenever shooting while standing and, or trying to shoot on unlevel ground when getting a rest from a tree. It will also rare its ugly head whenever shooting from a bench. However, after you figure it out, its gravy. Not difficult, just a little different.

The other highly probable reason would be your particular patch material. Patch materials are not created equally. Patch material may also break down after it becomes old. This became apparent and was a hard learned learned lesson a few months ago. I was using some ticking of, I think, was .018" thick. It appeared to be good. However, after some accuracy deterioration, I recovered some fired patches. Sure enough, they had holes burned through them and/or were blown apart. Ordered some new .018" ticking from October Country and the issue was resolved. It became obvious that the old ticking I had was inferior, either in thread count or due to age. Do not skimp on patch material. Buy the best you can get and avoid WalMart material.

Secondly, if you were, in fact, shooting .021" thick ticking and couldn't find any of of those fired patches at only 20 grains, that also suggest poor or inferior patch material. I can and have shot 30 grains of powder and it did not blow up the patches. Not only that, but when I tried .021" patches in one of my Crockett's, I practically had to have a hammer to seat the load. With a .310 RB, ~20 grains of 3F and .018" ticking, you should be able to obtain good accuracy out of your Crockett, as long as you have sufficient patch material. Snakebit and I, and I think Gum Slew Muzzleloader, all shoot the same exact loads out of our Crockett's.

.310 RB

.018" ticking.

20 grains of 3F Swiss.

TOTW Mink Oil.

Where I differ is with his statement that it will clog up the breech area if you push a damp cleaning patch too fast down the bore. I push the damp patches down the bore the same as I do any other time and I have not experienced any issues whatsoever. Sometimes, during a hunt and after I have already shot a squirrel, or shot at one, I run those damp patches down the bore and reload as fast as I can. I use moist/damp cleaning patches sprayed down with Windex, followed by one or two dry patches. Now mind you I have put no less than 500-600 shots through my one Crockett. It's had different size RB, different size thickness and/or different material of patches, along with different powder with different powder charges, and different lubes. I do find it conducive to run a damp patch down the bore after every other to every 3 shots, on average. Sometimes I go as many as 5 shots. One day when I was still using Bore Butter, I shot 11 times and did not run a damp patch down the bore. However, I was using .010" patches.

One last addition, in terms of shooting patches. As long as the patches are cut large enough for proper stabilization of the RB, I doubt you will see any difference if you were to cut them square, or at the muzzle. However, considering the small size of the .32 RB, not cutting them round might be more conducive. I use two loading blocks and it makes loading much, much, easier. One thing to avoid is to not cut the shooting patches too large for the .32 Crockett. Every time I have, I had problems with the patch/ball wanting to pull back out after I seated them, as if they stuck to the jag.

Also, I suspect you might find a difference in accuracy, as well as less fouling, if you can get yourself some 3F Swiss. I know I found a difference overall. Schutzen is said by many to be dirty burning powder. Swiss is about as clean burning as you will find. Swiss is also proven to be a little hotter burning powder.

Patch lube can make a difference from one ML to the next even of the same make and model. I was lucky to get mine to shoot fairly accurately with Bore Butter, which despite what some may claim, I have never once had an issue with the stuff with any ML. However, since it is no longer being produced, I moved on to TOTW mink oil. At this time I'm out of the third can of it but before I open another, the plans are to try some of the real bear grease and real bees wax mixture that I made up. No problems with TOTW Mink Oil whatsoever, but I do want to see how the bear grease works out.

Good luck.

 

[waksupi]

You need a thinner patch, and probably larger ball. Definitely ditch the Bore Butter. Once you get to .36 and below, it's time to ditch the pillow ticking.

 

[ETipp]

You need a thinner patch, and probably larger ball. Definitely ditch the Bore Butter. Once you get to .36 and below, it's time to ditch the pillow ticking.