I just love shooting this rifle. I think it's my favorite gun.
I started out real close, just 25 yards. I started by using 20 grains fffg Goex with a patched round ball (an old orange shirt patch). Too close, too easy.

So I moved the target out to 50 yards. Same load and patch. A little more challenging.

Same distance load and patch.

I wanted to see if I could tighten the groups up some so I increased the load by 5 grains to 25 grains.

On this target shots marked 1 and 2 were shot at 50 yards and I decided to see what this rifle would do at 75 yards so I moved it out 25 yards and shot numbers 3 and 4.

Not good , so I moved back to 50 yards, changed to a grey shirt patch and shot this target with 25 grains fffg Goex.

One more target with the grey shirt patches and still using 25 grains fffg Goex at 50 yards. Not too shabby. I think this little .32 is a hoot to shoot. I think she'll be taking a few squirrels this fall.

That last 50 yard target is mighty fine Pluckit. Watch out bushytails.

I agree - But I also noticed that the 1st 50 yd target was with 20 grs, The last with 25 grs and tighter. Did you try 30 grs? That's what my .32 liked.

That 25 grain load was real good. You'd sure give a cottontail a bad day with that load. I never went to a caliber that low, but am currently looking at a .36 caliber. That might be fun, but I really don't need it. I wonder how far that ball would fly in a dangerous mode, when shot in the air at say a squirrel in a tree. Every since that Amish girl was shot on that buggy by someone just shooting off their rifle in the air, that really bothered me for some reason. Probably because I am guilty of doing the same thing IN THE PAST.

I know deer can be killed with a load such as those you shot those target with. You don't say you're going deer hunting with it, but if I wanted to hunt deer with that gun, I'd be looking at charges 40 gr and up. I'd hope to get good accuracy on the 50-60 gr range. With that kind of charge I'd be confident to at least 50 yds with the right shot opportunity.

[QUOTE=UncleNorby;3944327]I know deer can be killed with a load such as those you shot those target with.
Not legally in my state.
This rifle does not meet the minimum requirements for bullet/round ball caliber or powder charge for hunting deer.
This rifle, a Traditions .32 caliber Deerhunter, was bought for 3 reasons. The first was because I love this model side lock because in my opinion the adjustable single trigger is second to none on any side lock. The second was to use it for squirrel hunting. And the third was because it is an inexpensive rifle that I have found from the purchase of my first one, a .54 caliber, to be a very accurate rifle.

Is it legal in the regular firearms season?

I'm not positive but I don't think so.