peep sight on .32 CVA Squirrel Rifle

[bamaranger]

I've threatened to do it for for some time and finally did.....I put Skinner
Lo-Pro peep on my dainty .32 CVA caplock. Had correct hole drilled/drilled & tapped on the tang where the hooked breech fits. The shaft of the Lo-Pro screwed right it. Sight is brass and matches the brass hardware on the rifle and looks like it belongs there. Removed the rear sight assembly, which left a dovetail at mid-barrel. I hope to fit a decorative filler there, maybe a brass inset with a turkey track, maybe a US quarter that has the gobbler embossed on the rear.....I dunno yet.

First range trip was with mixed results. I liked the sight picture, my old eyes can stil run a peep better than traditional bead and blade. Intial shooting yielded that my self cast .32 Maxiballs (yes, they existed, I have two factory boxes in addtion to my mold, cute little things) landed 3" low with the Skinner spun up to maximum elevation. Filing the OEM front was not an option, I would have had to file the entire bead away, and the resulting stem was just to fine for me to see.

Internet to the rescue. Found a fat post type blade with the correct size dovetail and ordered same. Last night, I went to fitting. As is typical with any dovetail job I try, I made a small mess of it, but the new, lower front sight is installed and I can touch the mess up later. Back to shooting and zero soon. I did the math, the new front sight SHOULD work, we will see.

My hope is that I can zero with the conicals, but have sufficient adujustment to get roundballs on target as well should I choose to shoot those tiny peas. Desired zero for the conicals is projectile landing on top of the post at 50 yds for holding "on". Interestingly, the RB's come in a bit higher, likely due to their higher initial velocity and less drop. Charge is 25gr of real 3F for either projectile. Thinking in print, I could likely drop the RB powder charge and get the impacts to meld w/o sight adjustment. Hope to shoot when the weather moderates a bit.

[4V50 Gary]

Good luck.

I'm dragging my butt on the very same rifle; but in southpaw.

Is there a gap (rectangular square) between the lock and the stock? Is the tang exposed on the lock side of yours?

I'm stuck at installing a sideplate I made. Too busy with other things (yesterday I was digging out my draining ditch).

[Pahoo]

.32 Maxiballs (yes, they existed

WOW, that is pretty neat. I "had" the .36,.45 .50 and .54. But never seen a .32.
Sound like and interesting project and if you could, post some pictures. By any chance are those .32 mold "cut-off" handle straight or "Ideal". I just finished PM
work/cleaning on my new .58 Zouave and started on a neglected "Trapper". Thanks for posting ......

Be Safe !!!

[bamaranger]

Lock and stock-
Gary I had a bit of trouble following your inquiry, but the barrel/lock/stock arrangment on my RH rifle is a drum and nipple affair. The sideplate has a circular cutout to accept the drum as it protrudes from the barrel. There does indeed appear to be a metal "spacer or filler" rectangular in shape when viewed as a top view of the lock area. I did not pull my sideplate to see what lies inside tonight, I'm about out of gas for today. On the RH/h side of the rifle, a verticle face of the tang, which accepts the hook of the breech/barrel, is exposed and I would estimate it about 1/4" square. On the LH side the stock covers that area and comes up to the radius of the breech face. As they say, a pic is worth a thousand words. I am a klutz with posting pics but will get bamaboy to help with same upon his next visit.

mold- I bought the mold from "Track of the Wolf" a few years back. They then went out of stock for a bit, but I think the .32 Maxi mold may be available from them again....not sure. It is made by Lee, and is typical of all my Lee molds, so I guess the .32 is a cutoff....I am not familiar with any Ideal molds.

[4V50 Gary]

bamaranger - Go here to see what I've done to address those issues.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.ph...n-nose.919489/

Can you please photograph the brass nose? I want to see what the factory's looked like.

[bamaranger]

The factory stock has no material fitted for a nose, it is simply tastefully thinned and the rod slides in accordingly......but I will post a pic with the others when my tech guy arrives.

[4V50 Gary]

No nose? That would be ugly. Barrel/under-rib would fall short of the stock, correct?

My brother bought it as an partially completed kit and said that he didn't get a nose.

Does your tang stand proud above the stock? By necessity it does on my brother's. The barrel, drum and nipple and lock must all mate. I can't lower the barrel b/c of the inletting position of the lock. Thus the hammer in its fallen position determines where the nipple is and where the nipple is determines the drum and where the drum is determines the barrel and where the barrel is determines the tang. The factory messed it up from the get-go.

@1:35 and esp. at 2:23 of this video you can see that the exposed tang and barrel are visible.

https://youtu.be/k8IfbRcHIJc?feature=shared

[bamaranger]

OK, watched the video. The tang arrangement on my rifle, and the tang on the rifle in the video appear the same. Note the the nose of the forearm on the video rifle has no cap, neither does my rifle. But......the wood forearm/nose on my rifle is more "blended" into the rib than the 90 degree face displayed on the forestock in the video. I'd add that the side plate and trigger guard are fitted better on my rifle too. Can't say whether my rifle was a kit or factory......paid $75 bucks for it, complete.

My early T/c Renegade .50, circa 1985 (about when I got the .32 as well) has no nosecap either....from the factory. I like the simplicity of the look, don't think they're ugly at all. I'll add the poorboy or Southern Mtn look appeals to me too, iron furniture, no patchbox.

I hope to put the .32 on paper tomorrow.

[4V50 Gary]

So how did it chute?

[bamaranger]

OK, the .32 is on paper and zeroed at 50yds. If you discount an oversized Maxi that loaded hard ( I should have not loaded that slug) the remaining 4 rds went into 2-3/8". For a rifle that is twisted 1:50+ and never intended for conicals, I am satisfied with the accuracy. A coyote, groundhog or turkey gobbler would be in grave danger to 75 yds or so. I've hit a 10-12" steel plate many times with the old sights by holding on the top lip. I have a nice pic of the group and hope to have bamaboy help w/ posing pics of the whole project tomorrow. (less the decorative dovetail filler....still thinking)

My math was not as good as I thought...it took 47 moderate file strokes to get the POI I wanted. Additionally, the difference in the drop of the conical at 25 yds and then to 50yds was a surprise...more than expectd. I set the Skinner Lo-Pro in the middle of its adjustment range, 1-1/2 turns from bottomed out, and then filed to zero. I now have 1-1/2 turns (3 settings) in either direction to adjust for changes in charge weight or to shoot round balls.

I had to drift the front sight a bit for windage, so while I was at it, I drifted the sight completely out, cleaned up my work on the sight and the burrs created on the dovetail, and reset the whole thing. A few taps got it to where it needed to be. Cold blue touched up the whole area very nicely and I am well pleased.

Again pics soon I hope

[bamaranger]

Two attempts to post pics have failed....."security token" message, which tech section research states happens for unknown reasons......will try again in future.

[4V50 Gary]

Can you please drop a 22 LR ramrod down the barrel and then compare its depth to that of the regular ramrod? I wonder if it has a Nock Patented Chamber like the Lyman Great Plains or Browning Mountain Rifle.

[bamaranger]

Just saw this inquiry.....I will reply soon.