The following was taken from The Fouling Shot No. 19, April 1979 and was written by Frank Marshall Jr.
The .25-20-86, .32-40-165 and 38-55-255 created such an impression among riflemen during the fabulous blackpowder era into the smokeless schuetzen period that even today, mention of these legendary rounds conjures images of thumbnail sized groups.
My Uncle Will was not immune to this fever, and when Winchester introduced the Model 54 in .30-30, he arranged to have a heavy octagon barrel 1885 Winchester Hi-Wall dismantled, and had the .32-40 barrel put onto the .30-30 Winchester M-54 action, and stocked with an early version of what later become the famous Winchester Marksman stock. The idea was to find how accurate the .32-40 really was. and Will had already deduced this could not be done within the inherent difficulties of the single shot rifle, its two piece stock, etc.
Will knew all the tricks related to coaxing bullets into the X-ring and had devised some not known outside his domain, as he never knew when the outcome of a friendly wager might depend on a trick of the trade as yet unrevealed to his competition Will had a minimum .32-40 reamer made up with a short groove diameter cylindrical throat. and a gentle taper leads cone. instead of the original .32-40 chamber with no throat. The lead cone begins right at the case mouth with the .32-40 and most other blackpowder breach loaders. and the practice was carried over to some early smokeless calibers like the .30-30. Many .243 Win. rifles are still made that way.
The .32-40 barrel had the standard 16" twist with a . 311" bore and .319" groove, and as fitted to the 54 was a stiff 28" long. The rifle weighed 14 lbs. with its Lyman AS scope. That spring and summer was devoted mostly to that rifle at Will's camp range, and was intently noted by area accuracy buffs Will's trick in mind was to use the common Ideal 319247. the standard flat-nosed .32-40 bullet at .319" and 168 grs. cast from 1 :20 tin/lead. He loaded it with the two front bands out in the throat with the front band snug in the gentle leade cone. assuring concentricity, but not actually engaging the lands, as was popular at that time, using a modification of the breach seat system which required soft 1:40 two diameter bullets that could not be trued or lubed in the normal way. Will claimed that a close throat, a gentle lead and a chamber that uniformly took a bullet of throat diameter in a case fired from that chamber without resizing was the optimum condition assuring a concentric launch. The excellent efforts of present-day cast bulleteers not withstanding, the cast bullet chamber, or CBC as it's now called, is not a new idea. but really dates from the 1920's, if not before.
The .25-20-86, .32-40-165 and 38-55-255 created such an impression among riflemen during the fabulous blackpowder era into the smokeless schuetzen period that even today, mention of these legendary rounds conjures images of thumbnail sized groups.
My Uncle Will was not immune to this fever, and when Winchester introduced the Model 54 in .30-30, he arranged to have a heavy octagon barrel 1885 Winchester Hi-Wall dismantled, and had the .32-40 barrel put onto the .30-30 Winchester M-54 action, and stocked with an early version of what later become the famous Winchester Marksman stock. The idea was to find how accurate the .32-40 really was. and Will had already deduced this could not be done within the inherent difficulties of the single shot rifle, its two piece stock, etc.
Will knew all the tricks related to coaxing bullets into the X-ring and had devised some not known outside his domain, as he never knew when the outcome of a friendly wager might depend on a trick of the trade as yet unrevealed to his competition Will had a minimum .32-40 reamer made up with a short groove diameter cylindrical throat. and a gentle taper leads cone. instead of the original .32-40 chamber with no throat. The lead cone begins right at the case mouth with the .32-40 and most other blackpowder breach loaders. and the practice was carried over to some early smokeless calibers like the .30-30. Many .243 Win. rifles are still made that way.
The .32-40 barrel had the standard 16" twist with a . 311" bore and .319" groove, and as fitted to the 54 was a stiff 28" long. The rifle weighed 14 lbs. with its Lyman AS scope. That spring and summer was devoted mostly to that rifle at Will's camp range, and was intently noted by area accuracy buffs Will's trick in mind was to use the common Ideal 319247. the standard flat-nosed .32-40 bullet at .319" and 168 grs. cast from 1 :20 tin/lead. He loaded it with the two front bands out in the throat with the front band snug in the gentle leade cone. assuring concentricity, but not actually engaging the lands, as was popular at that time, using a modification of the breach seat system which required soft 1:40 two diameter bullets that could not be trued or lubed in the normal way. Will claimed that a close throat, a gentle lead and a chamber that uniformly took a bullet of throat diameter in a case fired from that chamber without resizing was the optimum condition assuring a concentric launch. The excellent efforts of present-day cast bulleteers not withstanding, the cast bullet chamber, or CBC as it's now called, is not a new idea. but really dates from the 1920's, if not before.
The normal springback of the case neck to bullet diameter indicated adequate neck expansion for uniform bullet release. This amounted to only about 1-1/2 to 2 thousandths in his .32-40 and may be about optimum with very uniform brass according to his results. I mention these particular aspects because he was in fact using fixed ammo in cast loads, which makes things pertinent to our CBA rules.
His favorite powders were Dupont No. 80 and Unique, with no particular preference to either, except No 80 gave off a particularly pleasing aroma, as those who have used 1t will remember. Charges of No. 80 used in the .32-40 in those days ran from about 9 grains and 1100 f.p s up to a maximum of 13 grains for about 1450 with the #319247 bullet. In the late 1940's SR- 4759 replaced No. 80 but its pressure curve doesn't peak quite as soon, though pressure per charge is about equal with the same bullet weight.
Will decided that about 1450 f.p.s. w,th the 168-gr. 1 ·20 mix bullet in his 16" twist was optimum. but if he had 11 to do over again he'd have gotten a 12" twist to take heavier bullets. Even so, on calm evenings he could cut the 1" ten ring out of the 100 yd. target with that outfit. without any of the fliers he'd come to expect as a fault of the weak hammer blows of old single-shot actions and two-piece stocks. As sweet a trigger as the old Ballards had, the blow was only OK with thin cup primers used with blackpowder, and was not suited to the thick cups of later smokeless type primers. Many riflemen at the time didn't realize weak ignition with the single-shots was a problem.
Will promptly proved that his concentric. close chamber theory with a sized one-diameter bullet was equal to or better than the partial or full breech-seated soft two-diameter bullets of the old single-shot system . Later, It became evident. however, that the bolt action itself that was the factor. and not the loading system ...
Ironically, Will also had then a 4-groove 1 O" twist .30-06 Type T 28" barrel Bull gun with common throat and chamber. It would shoot right with the .32-40 on calm evenings and often beat it under average conditions. He attributed its success to the long heavy Ideal #311282 plain base .30-40 Krag RN bullet. This bullet. with a gas check base added, later become #311284.
But, when sized to throat diameter and seated in a neck-sized case. #311282 had the required concentricity. An added plus with this Hudson bullet, of course, was. its large diameter bore riding nose that gave it superior guidance in the bore. Will worked up a load with this plain base bullet and the government corrosive primer with about 10 grains of Unique for around 1300 f.p.s. which. on a straight-up day or 311282 evening, would stay around 1" for 10 shots at 100 yards from sandbag rest with the AS SX scope His best .32-40 loads would often match that on a good calm evening, but the 220-gr .. 30-06 was more consistent in the long run. Will felt a fast twist .32-40 with a heavy 220-grain bullet like the 311282 would have been the ultimate in a bolt rifle. It would indeed have been interesting. After the crash of 1929 he was unable to complete his investigations, so we never found out.
But in view of what I witnessed in that rifle, I believe that the thrust on the bullet base with the straight or straight-taper case 1s more evenly borne on the bullet base. than by the venturi action of the conical shoulder of a bottleneck case. This would, of course be more significant with an unprotected, plain base bullet of soft alloy, than with our harder gas check bullets used today This effect on bullet base deformation in the throat, 1f not uniform, would have a pronounced effect on accuracy.
Most of the plain base bullet shooting with straight cases was done within the limitations of the soft alloy bullets, which topped out about 1300-1450 f.p.s. As we now know, this velocity level is most susceptible to wind drift, compared to subsonic or higher supersonic velocities above about 2000 f.p.s. This would mean the accuracy potential had to be very good 1n spite of it, since the old timers were not phenomenal wind dopers, Just good mechanics and hard holders. 1 agree with what Howard Thomas said In Newsletter 18 and think new investigation with straight cases would be very worthwhile My personal choice for such an outfit would be to use the .32-40 case with its straight taper to the base of ,ts cylindrical neck. but to hold a .30 caliber bullet. The .30-30 case could be run in a .32-40 die, as Carl Johnson did in making his .30 Johnson, but leaving 1t full length This would be an alternative to using scarce .32-40 cases. In reforming it would stretch towards the 2.130" length of the .32-40. but will still be a trifle short, but there's no real problem there.
To incorporate the multiple benefits of a heavy cast bullet, I would go with a 1 o" twist for maximum stability of long 220-gr. bullets like my standard #311284 which holds a number of CSA records, and would stick to the proven combination of a medium -hard alloy and a velocity about 1600 f.p.s. like my .30-06 match loads. The smaller case capacity should permit using somewhat slower burning powders than the SR-4759 I use In the b6, while filling the case better. and at low pressures.
Like my Uncle Will, who was mesmerized by the old lore and legends and had a real favor for the Schuetzen style cases, I am awfully tempted to play with a straight taper case and traditional style cast loads. However. I have a 5/8 m.o.a .. 30-06 Winchester Model 70 which has won my complete confidence under match pressure, and that's a powerful antidote.
------------as ever, Frank Marshall Jr.
Will decided that about 1450 f.p.s. w,th the 168-gr. 1 ·20 mix bullet in his 16" twist was optimum. but if he had 11 to do over again he'd have gotten a 12" twist to take heavier bullets. Even so, on calm evenings he could cut the 1" ten ring out of the 100 yd. target with that outfit. without any of the fliers he'd come to expect as a fault of the weak hammer blows of old single-shot actions and two-piece stocks. As sweet a trigger as the old Ballards had, the blow was only OK with thin cup primers used with blackpowder, and was not suited to the thick cups of later smokeless type primers. Many riflemen at the time didn't realize weak ignition with the single-shots was a problem.
Will promptly proved that his concentric. close chamber theory with a sized one-diameter bullet was equal to or better than the partial or full breech-seated soft two-diameter bullets of the old single-shot system . Later, It became evident. however, that the bolt action itself that was the factor. and not the loading system ...
Ironically, Will also had then a 4-groove 1 O" twist .30-06 Type T 28" barrel Bull gun with common throat and chamber. It would shoot right with the .32-40 on calm evenings and often beat it under average conditions. He attributed its success to the long heavy Ideal #311282 plain base .30-40 Krag RN bullet. This bullet. with a gas check base added, later become #311284.
But, when sized to throat diameter and seated in a neck-sized case. #311282 had the required concentricity. An added plus with this Hudson bullet, of course, was. its large diameter bore riding nose that gave it superior guidance in the bore. Will worked up a load with this plain base bullet and the government corrosive primer with about 10 grains of Unique for around 1300 f.p.s. which. on a straight-up day or 311282 evening, would stay around 1" for 10 shots at 100 yards from sandbag rest with the AS SX scope His best .32-40 loads would often match that on a good calm evening, but the 220-gr .. 30-06 was more consistent in the long run. Will felt a fast twist .32-40 with a heavy 220-grain bullet like the 311282 would have been the ultimate in a bolt rifle. It would indeed have been interesting. After the crash of 1929 he was unable to complete his investigations, so we never found out.
But in view of what I witnessed in that rifle, I believe that the thrust on the bullet base with the straight or straight-taper case 1s more evenly borne on the bullet base. than by the venturi action of the conical shoulder of a bottleneck case. This would, of course be more significant with an unprotected, plain base bullet of soft alloy, than with our harder gas check bullets used today This effect on bullet base deformation in the throat, 1f not uniform, would have a pronounced effect on accuracy.
Most of the plain base bullet shooting with straight cases was done within the limitations of the soft alloy bullets, which topped out about 1300-1450 f.p.s. As we now know, this velocity level is most susceptible to wind drift, compared to subsonic or higher supersonic velocities above about 2000 f.p.s. This would mean the accuracy potential had to be very good 1n spite of it, since the old timers were not phenomenal wind dopers, Just good mechanics and hard holders. 1 agree with what Howard Thomas said In Newsletter 18 and think new investigation with straight cases would be very worthwhile My personal choice for such an outfit would be to use the .32-40 case with its straight taper to the base of ,ts cylindrical neck. but to hold a .30 caliber bullet. The .30-30 case could be run in a .32-40 die, as Carl Johnson did in making his .30 Johnson, but leaving 1t full length This would be an alternative to using scarce .32-40 cases. In reforming it would stretch towards the 2.130" length of the .32-40. but will still be a trifle short, but there's no real problem there.
To incorporate the multiple benefits of a heavy cast bullet, I would go with a 1 o" twist for maximum stability of long 220-gr. bullets like my standard #311284 which holds a number of CSA records, and would stick to the proven combination of a medium -hard alloy and a velocity about 1600 f.p.s. like my .30-06 match loads. The smaller case capacity should permit using somewhat slower burning powders than the SR-4759 I use In the b6, while filling the case better. and at low pressures.
Like my Uncle Will, who was mesmerized by the old lore and legends and had a real favor for the Schuetzen style cases, I am awfully tempted to play with a straight taper case and traditional style cast loads. However. I have a 5/8 m.o.a .. 30-06 Winchester Model 70 which has won my complete confidence under match pressure, and that's a powerful antidote.
------------as ever, Frank Marshall Jr.
