Rate of Twist

I want a .50 cal "Kentucky Style" pistol to shoot conicals. Lyman offers a 1-30 twist, Traditions offers a 1-20 twist and I have seen a 1-48 twist, all roughly 8"-10" bbls. Which would serve best for 1st accuracy 2nd power? At this point, I am not interested in a larger bore. Thanks.

Well BJ I took a Course in ballistics while I was in the Marine Corps and the way they figure it for modern weaponry is that the more bullet you have in contact with the lands and grooves the faster the twist needs to be. A long .30 caliber bullet will have a 1 in 10 twist and so forth. Round balls need a slow twist and conicals need a faster twist. The Thompson Center Hawken has a 1 in 48 twist in their .50 cal. rifle. it is more suited to the conicals than round balls which should be up around 1 in 60 or so. It also varies with the caliber too. bigger calibers taker slower twists.
I hope I have been helpful. Later....JT

It's me again. after reading your question again, I would go for the 1 in 20 myself. Such a short barrel and not much time to impart the twist to the bullet. With a 10" barrel it would make only 1/2 turn before leaving the barrel, some to think about. JT

Thanks for the input. It appears the faster the better. I assume at pistol velocities, stripping faster twist is not a problem.