What is your goal?   An original barrel is probably 16 twist and will need something 190gr or under most likely.  That might not be optimal for a bench target rifle.  What is the twist on the octagon?  If it is faster, I would look into finding the right mold and possibly lapping the bore if you think the roughness is affecting accuracy.  If it is brand new, look into shooting some jacketed bullets to break it in.  Badger recommended doing that for that BPCR barrels.

JAck

You should be able to find cast bullets meant for an 8 mm sized at .324, or a mold.

Sorry, slip on my part, I meant groove diameter. 

A bullet that matches groove diameter can not be loaded in a cartridge and fit in the chamber.  So, a bullet 0.002" over, would be a strictly breech seating deal. And, I'd have to make or buy a bastard size mold.   

To my sensibilities a rifle with a grossly oversized groove diameter is pretty useless for the intended purpose.  I have roughly $500 worth of bullet molds that are useless for this barrel, but appear OK for the other barrel.  If somebody had lined that barrel for me he and I  would have had a very serious problem.   

My original question was to determine if there was something I did not understand about the 32-40 cartridge and how to load for it.  I was thinking I was missing something.  It appears that I am on track.  I will forget about messing with the oversized barrel.   

I will go ahead and remove it and and put the original barrel back on.  The original is made to the correct dimensions.  The old owner said it did not shoot well.  It had a burr on the crown and ham fisted attempt to crown it.   I recrowned it properly already because it bothered me.      

The replacement if I understand this right could now be an 8MM barrel and maybe not intended to be a 32-40.

The previous owner was only interested in black powder.  He got terrible accuracy.  BP and 32-40 is a fickle combination.  The barrel is marked 32-40.  An 8mm-40 would be a bad choice.   

I see no reason to make a barrel oversized except sloppy workmanship.

Not sure how it could be sloppy workmanship when barrels and liners are already rifled. I have bored out basebands in existing moulds for friends with .323 grooves. They are very competitive when being breech seated using smokeless powder. Have you tried seating any bullets and knocking them out to see how they might or may not actually engrave a bullet. There is not allot of difference between a .321 or a .323 groove or even the bore and you might already have something that might work for you. If have something that might work breech seat a bullet, put a primer only in an empty case, cock the rifle and fire the primer, count of 15 seconds and drop the block. If no pressure is going beyond the base of the bullet it will push the case back out. Don't stand behind it, I have had one come flying back out but that is not real typical to have taken place. 

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Scota4570 wrote on Sep 16^th, 2021 at 11:20am:


I have several rifles with large bores. Here is a test target from a Remington barrel that measures .326. Twist is 16.  The bullets were Pope style and tapered at about 190 grains. Distance was 200 yards. Has not been a handicap for me. 

Will be fun to see how your original barrel performs.