311440 in a .32 Crockett

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

I've been kicking around the idea of patching the 311440 in my .32 Crockett for a couple of months now. Has anyone played with this idea and what were the results. I can't see any reason why this wouldn't work to make a "maxi ball" of sorts. I don't really have time to play with it now because life's little inconveniences (work and bills), but do have time to talk about it some. Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Everett

[Shooter]

Not .311, but I played with .358 in a T/C .36 1:48. Use pure lead to get up-set.
Was trying for a deer load, and got acceptable 50 Yd. accuracy.

[curator]

Lyman's 311440 won't shoot well in my M-1 carbine with a twist rate of 1 in 20." The .32 Crockett rifle has a twist rate of 1 in 48" which barely spin stabilizes a .32 round ball. My .32 Cherokee rifle will not stabilize a T/C .32 Maxi-ball (.55" long) either with the same twist. On the other hand it shoots bare-ball 00 buck shot into quarter-size groups out to 50 yards with anything up to 40 grains of FFFg black powder. Two bare 00 buck shot one on top of the other shoot within an inch of the other out to 25 yards if you need more weight. You do need a short starter to get these bare balls into the barrel, and you need to wipe the bore between shots or they have problems being driven down the barrel. I have never had any leading despite no lube or patch. My 00 buck shot are cast from the Lee buck shot mould of nearly pure lead and measure .330"

[fouronesix]

Never done it with that combination or even close, but the theory seems ok and it may depend on the twist of your rifle- as curator points out. That bullet seems kind of long and heavy at 147 gr. and it is a GC design- so who knows?

If you have the mold, there's nothing preventing you from paper patching some to see what happens and reporting back here with results.

IF your bore dia. is .320 and the bullet drops at .311 then conventional twice-wrapped thin paper patch paper will put you very close to bore diameter. If you end up paper patching right at or close to bore diameter, you'll likely have to swab/clean between shots. If you can only once-wrap with paper to stay just under bore diameter, try that. Very soft alloy may work best??