Best Lee Round Ball Mould for 32 cal

[jh45gun]

OK I have a 32 cal muzzle loader that was a CVA "Squirrel rifle" barrel that some one mated to a Savage Falling Block action for an inline gun. I had to make the breech plug out a bolt and drilled and tapped it for a nipple that fits the Ruger Revolver which is a small nipple but still takes a 11 cap. I have not shot it yet The bore has some slight pitting in a couple of spots but most of the bore is pretty clean. So what size Lee RB does any one here reccomend It will also do double duty as a buckshot mould for my 12 guage. Choices are .308, .311 which I can get a double mould and .319.

[JeffinNZ]

You really need to slug the barrel and get the bore and groove dims.

Ball is usually 5 thou less than bore. If you bore is a neat .32 then .315 ball is good. .319 ball would be VERY tight with a patch but not unusable. .311 is workable and a better bet than .319 but .315 would be a nice middle of road size.

Then match up the patch thickness. Half the difference between the groove and ball diameter.

[northmn]

If my fading memory serves me correctly, the CVA was a little tight and they recommended a ball of about 310. You might be best buying a few ball of that size and seeing how they fit before getting a mold. Ball that size are relatively cheap and if they are too small can be remelted.

Northmn

[eka]

I have a Green Mountain .32 and I went with the .311 ball. It was my experience that the patch thickness was a little more critical with the .315 ball than with the .311. .315 was hard to start and finding a thin enough patch was tough. With the .311 you can patch the ball up to find a combo that both shoots good and starts good. However, no experience with the CVA barrels. Just my two cents.

Keith

[mooman76]

I use the Lee 308 in my CVA. The ball actually comes out more like 309 or 310. If you go with the larger size ball you will have to use a pretty thin patch. You can always go up in patch thickness but you can only go down so much.

[flinter62]

I'd prefer the smaller dia. ball with thicker patch. Tried tighter bullets thinner patch and the patches were cut thru by rifling. thicker patch worked better for me. Used 32cal. douglas barrel.

[mainiac]

I have a t/c cherokee in .32, and i use the .311 lee mold, with .018 patches. These are pretty tight when starting,but slide down pretty nice thereafter.

[jh45gun]

Thanks for the info guys I think I will start with 308 due to mooman's expirience. I am thinking the 308 ball would have other uses too for me as a ball for plinking in a 30 cal besides the buckshot loads. Again Thanks.