Short twist

Lately I have seen some posts about short barreled rifles and I got to thinking about the twist rates and groove depths for the ulitmate short barreled rifle. So lets beat the horse a little and get some carbine opinions.

I have always preferred a 24-28" short rifle for my deer hunting here in PA and a .50/.54 ball with a 80-90 grain charge would seem to be plenty for deer under 100 yards.

What twist rates would be ideal for the shorter rifles shooting balls. I know the pistol barrels are quite fast. I never see any 1/48 twist barrels with a decent groove depth anymore in the blanks. My slow twist short barrels do ok with a lower charge but not so well with a full 90 grain charge.

Would a faster twist with .010/.012 grooves be better for a short rifle burning an 80 grain charge under a .50/.54 ball? Who has opinions on such things for a shorter barrel rifle?

For rifles there is no correlation between twist/barrel length and performance. Stick with what works for you.
Pistols are a whole 'nuther world.

No need to change pitch in that length of barrel if round patched balls are used.
I have made pistols from rifle barrels with slow twists and they shoot fine to 50 yards with PB's. Mike D.

If you were planning to shoot light loads from your short barreled rifle, I would say that you would be better off with a 1:48 twist but since you will be hunting with it, you will be wanting to use a bit heavier hunting loads. For this reason, I would suggest a bit slower rate of twist, more in the 1:60 range.

The barrel will have some thing to do with powder charge efficiency. Any change in accuracy will be slight. Anything from 1 in 48 to 66 should do fine! Geo. T.

We have 24" barrel guns in 36, 50, 54 and 58 cals- some in the same caliber but different rifling depths. All are 1:48. Gotta say the only real difference I see in accuracy between them and slower twists has mostly to do with depth of rifling. The shallower rifling performs worse than the deep unless you get really tight combos in the shallow.

If you can tell the difference between a deep-rifled 1:48 and a 1:60+ from looking at the targets, you're a much better man than I am.

I'd have no qualms in your shoes with going 1:48 and deeper rifling like you plan. In my experience there's simply no edge for the slower twist in that case. In fact the edge goes to the 1:48 if you factor in small charge accuracy along with heavy charge accuracy. A deep 1:48 will do it all, while a slow twist is poop with light charges while not any better with heavy.

My 29" Lyman .54 cal 1:48" barrel produces tight groups, all touching at 50+ yards using 80 Gr. 3F.

This gives plenty of punch for large game knockdown.

Seems recently that a lot of folks are more concerned about super-duper velocity outta their roundballs & are less concerned with actual precision shot placement.

Does anyone make 15/16" 1/48 twist .54 roundball groove depth barrel blanks anymore? I have never seen them for sale.

There are any number of great barrel makers that will make you what ever you want in a straight barrel....let you specify length, diameter, rifling pitch and style.....

Oregon Barrels from The Gun Works, Colerain, Rice, Rayl, Charles Burton, Hoyt, Long Hammock, sometimes Getz....the list goes on.

Prices will vary! :grin: Enjoy, J.D.

Oregon barrels 175 bucks will get you that barrel blank all day long. Just tell them what you want and they will make it. It will even be threaded for ya.

How good is Oregon barrels quality? Are they good accurate barrels and are they well finished inside and out? Anyone shoot one?

A 1:48 twist gives you a 1/2 twist to the ball at 24" and a 1:56 twist gives you the same at 28"..., Colerain makes the .54 with a 1:56 which you could use at 28". While Rice does not list a barrel set to your specs, they often do custom barrels, and you might contact them. You already know about Oregon barrels.

LD

I have got one and its a great barrel. The will do whatever work you want to the barrel for a fee. The 175 was just for a barrel blank thats threaded. You can buy a drop in barrel for any gun you want for 350 bucks and that doesn't include sights and is in the white. I am likely to order a 40 cal barrel for my TC soon, all I have to due is install patent breech, install rib and thimbles, cut sight dovetails, and underlug. I can build the barrel in about 4 hours messing around. Or have them do it your call.