I am new to your forum and to ASSRA.  I am a competition shooter in several shooting sports.  This forum has a wealth of information supported by knowledgeable people. My question today is in reference to 300 yard shooting with 32-40.  I have a C Sharps Hi Wall 32-40 with a badger barrel. Twist is 1/16, G= .321, B= .312.  I am loading a 180gr Moly bullet @ .323 with 14.5gr 4227 pushed by Federal Gold Medal LR Primers its about 1550 FPS vol..  Groups at 100yds & 200yds are acceptable at about 2 to 2 1/2 in.  Now at 300 its a different story no groups at all its bad.  I do have a range in the back yard out to about a 1000yds so I can do testing.  I need some help from you experts on the 32-40.  Thanks in advance.

Fred

38-55 - Is the use of LP primers still valid for fixed ammo or only for breach seating?

Twelve years ago I tried to shoot my badger 15 twist 32-40 out to 300 yards at Grand Junction. No could do. Was shooting a 200 grain Pope bullet at about 1400 FPS. Was lucky to keep them in the county. Don't remember hitting the target.  Never tried again, no 300 yard matches anywhere else I go to shoot. 

My thought is, increase powder charge and or use shorter bullets if needed. Pretty sure my bullets were tumbling.

Welcome to the forum.


          Joe.

Ruger No.1 with 1-14 twist Douglas barrel
RCBS 32-170FN with Reloader 7 works fine at 300M
Lyman 323471 with Benchmark works fine to 500M
6-24X scope
Ridgway PA...Silhouette Match 2014
not wimpy loads...
never tried it with my 1-16 twist rifle...will try next week and report

I've shot a lot of 4227 with Ron Long spitzers, shortened to 1.100 from 1.160. They will stabilize at 1400 fps in a 16 twist. The best load for that combo was 14.8 gr. 

(A friend ordered a Douglas 16 twist barrel and the RL 1.16 bullet, made for 15 twist barrels. It tipped badly and I shortened it .050 and it straighten it out)

After he died, I got that rifle and mold. I shot a average of 1.28 for 5, five shot groups @ 200.  In a single 5 shot group, in a different match, it shot .865. These groups were shot in ASSRA matches. I say that to prove that it worked VERY well in the 16 twist.

In other testing with my 15 twist Douglas barrel, I was able to get very good accuracy with a load of 16.1 gr 4227 and a PJ mold that was 1.165 long, with a verage velocity of 1546 fps, w/o any leading. Using Smilley Lube (Javalina Schuetzen), I was able to go above that to 16.5 gr, also with great accuracy.

My point is don't be afraid to as high as 16.5 gr in your testing at 300. I would also think that a spitzer would be a must for 300 yards.

This is the shortened RL bullet.

Frank

Goatneck my 32-40 barrel is a Shilen air gauge 1-14 twist with a .3199 gr.  Shoots well

Goat, I think that the 38-55 would be the way to go. Now keep in mind that I have only ever loaded black powder in mind, but the last time I shot it, I used a 300 gr tapered bullet from a hoch mold and 45 gr of Goex Ctg powder, it seemed to be a very mild load and shooting over sticks I had no trouble going 10 for 10 on a pig swinger at 300m. That was not a developed load, just one that I dropped into the case. Just for reference the pig target is about 2 minutes high and 4 minutes long. I think that with that bullet and a little load testing the groups could be tightened up considerably.  My 38 has a 15"twist barrel on it. 
Sam

Ok let me play my stupid card here a bit. Is it the bullet design that is causing the 32 to fall apart past 200? Do the pointy bullets need to have a higher speed to maintain stability at the longer ranges? Does a bullet that has a heavy, more blunt nose hold its stability easier at longer distances with lower velocity?
I ask all of this because just an initial read of this thread would lead me to beleave that my 38 shouldn't shoot well at 300 as slow as it is going. Now I will admit that I have no idea what the velocity of my load is, but it was 45 gr or CTG Goex in a 38-55 and a 300 gr bullet. I would guess the speed to be no more than 1100 fps. I do know that it seemed to be a long time between when the shot broke and the sound came back from hitting the pig swinger at 300m. I have attached a pic of the round, bullet and a 155gr .30 cal match bullet. 
Sam