Post by Bullshop on Jan 11, 2020 15:20:01 GMT -7
Today Saturday my one day a week off was one of those days that in spite of foul weather by golly I would not be trapped in the house but would battle and overcome the elements. Step number one in the process was to drag a 50 gallon drum to my shooting bench and gather up a bunch of scrap wood on hand for just such an occasion and get a big blazing fire going right next to the shooting bench. Step one made it all possible with temps down near zero and a steady brisk wind that froze up my exposed fingers quite quickly.
Today had me shooting a vintage 36 caliber we acquired fairly recently. I had been hunting for a 32 caliber to use to teach my younger daughters the ins and outs of muzzleloaders.
After quite a long search we couldn't find a 32 that seemed right for us but did come across this 36 caliber that looked good and we could afford. I had no previous experience with a 36 but remembered I did have a Lyman mold squirrelled away for a 36 maxi ball. Looking into what diameter RB others were shooting in a 36 told me I needed a .350" ball so a Lee ball mold was ordered in that diameter.
While waiting for the rifle to arrive I cast up some of the Lyman maxi balls and found that they dropped from the mold right at .360" diameter. That revelation set off some mental gyrations that raised more questions because .360" is exactly the diameter I size all my bullets to for use in the 38 special and 357 magnum. That was for sure a HMMMMM moment. Another thig was the length of the maxi was right in between two bullets I regularly use in a Marlin 357 magnum.
This now had me wondering what twist rate was used in the vintage 36 cal ML and what would be the maximum length bullet that it would stabilize. Today was the day to find out.
For todays outing we used four different projectiles a .350" ball, a .360" 125gn Lee FR, a .360" Lyman maxi ball and a Lee .360" 158gn swc. The lengths of the conical bullets are .548", .586", and .635" respectively.
Our likely poor choice of powder was Graffs FFG but its what we had on had and seemed better than not shooting at all. I say likely a poor choice of powder because the sound of the report was not consistent sometimes a sharp crack and sometimes more of a boom. The cold could have been part of that problem
Today was also another good opportunity to test our new black powder cold weather lube Black Ice. Black ice was used on all bullets and as a patch lube for the balls as well.
The bore was wiped after every shot with a mix of equal parts of alcohol, peroxide, and Murphy's oil soap. This to be sure that different degrees of fouling between shots would not effect the results.
The results are indeed interesting but by no means conclusive as conditions were poor. It does show though that a 36 ML is a true 36 caliber which sure simplifies things, well for a bullet man anyway. The best of the day was the .360" 125gn Lee RF. The 158gn SWC seemed to want to shoot but always had a flyer. It also seemed to be making larger diameter holes in paper possibly indicating a wee bit of wobble of instability. The Lyman maxi right in between those two in length didn't do so well but to be honest I have never gotten that design to shoot well in any caliber. They were popular at one time for very moderate range deer hunting but never came close to being a target bullet design.
The PRB did ok but remember conditions were poor. The fact that the two shortest projectiles the PRB and the 125gn Lee shot best tells me that this old rifle likely has a very slow rifling twist rate and we are good with that because for us this will never be a deer gun but only a small game or just for fun gun which for those purposes fills the bill quite nicely.
Also nicely fitting with its purpose is that it has quite a short pull length and is a very light weight rifle perfectly suited to the small people we got it for. The girls are totally unintimidated buy its size, 22 like report, and very low recoil. The perfect tool for them to learn with. God bless them too as they were out there with me today braving the conditions. They gave it up a wee little bit before the shooting was done but I sure don't blame them. Right at the very end my hands were freezing up too bad and I couldn't have gone on much longer either. Stand by for pictures.
Today had me shooting a vintage 36 caliber we acquired fairly recently. I had been hunting for a 32 caliber to use to teach my younger daughters the ins and outs of muzzleloaders.
After quite a long search we couldn't find a 32 that seemed right for us but did come across this 36 caliber that looked good and we could afford. I had no previous experience with a 36 but remembered I did have a Lyman mold squirrelled away for a 36 maxi ball. Looking into what diameter RB others were shooting in a 36 told me I needed a .350" ball so a Lee ball mold was ordered in that diameter.
While waiting for the rifle to arrive I cast up some of the Lyman maxi balls and found that they dropped from the mold right at .360" diameter. That revelation set off some mental gyrations that raised more questions because .360" is exactly the diameter I size all my bullets to for use in the 38 special and 357 magnum. That was for sure a HMMMMM moment. Another thig was the length of the maxi was right in between two bullets I regularly use in a Marlin 357 magnum.
This now had me wondering what twist rate was used in the vintage 36 cal ML and what would be the maximum length bullet that it would stabilize. Today was the day to find out.
For todays outing we used four different projectiles a .350" ball, a .360" 125gn Lee FR, a .360" Lyman maxi ball and a Lee .360" 158gn swc. The lengths of the conical bullets are .548", .586", and .635" respectively.
Our likely poor choice of powder was Graffs FFG but its what we had on had and seemed better than not shooting at all. I say likely a poor choice of powder because the sound of the report was not consistent sometimes a sharp crack and sometimes more of a boom. The cold could have been part of that problem
Today was also another good opportunity to test our new black powder cold weather lube Black Ice. Black ice was used on all bullets and as a patch lube for the balls as well.
The bore was wiped after every shot with a mix of equal parts of alcohol, peroxide, and Murphy's oil soap. This to be sure that different degrees of fouling between shots would not effect the results.
The results are indeed interesting but by no means conclusive as conditions were poor. It does show though that a 36 ML is a true 36 caliber which sure simplifies things, well for a bullet man anyway. The best of the day was the .360" 125gn Lee RF. The 158gn SWC seemed to want to shoot but always had a flyer. It also seemed to be making larger diameter holes in paper possibly indicating a wee bit of wobble of instability. The Lyman maxi right in between those two in length didn't do so well but to be honest I have never gotten that design to shoot well in any caliber. They were popular at one time for very moderate range deer hunting but never came close to being a target bullet design.
The PRB did ok but remember conditions were poor. The fact that the two shortest projectiles the PRB and the 125gn Lee shot best tells me that this old rifle likely has a very slow rifling twist rate and we are good with that because for us this will never be a deer gun but only a small game or just for fun gun which for those purposes fills the bill quite nicely.
Also nicely fitting with its purpose is that it has quite a short pull length and is a very light weight rifle perfectly suited to the small people we got it for. The girls are totally unintimidated buy its size, 22 like report, and very low recoil. The perfect tool for them to learn with. God bless them too as they were out there with me today braving the conditions. They gave it up a wee little bit before the shooting was done but I sure don't blame them. Right at the very end my hands were freezing up too bad and I couldn't have gone on much longer either. Stand by for pictures.