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Twist for 54?

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It seems there are a heck of a lot more 1:48" ROT 54 caliber flintlocks readily available than other ROT's. I have been lead to believe a 1:60 or slower is the only way to obtain very good roundball accuracy. Maybe a lot slower. Is there truth to this?

I need (and expect) hunting accuracy out to 100 yards with roundball projectiles and I am willing to figure out the rifles preferred load. Loosely, I think this is 2-3 MOA at 100 yards with everything as controlled as possible.

This is to be a hunting rifle. I shoot elk, black bear and exotics from time to time so I need a "full power" load. In other words, I do not want to have to use light powder charges to get accuracy, but I am not looking to get crazy either. Something that will send the ball at 1500+fps should suffice.

Should I bother to look at anything faster than 1:60 for accurate 54 caliber roundball?
 
A .54 is very accurate with a variety of charges when the twist is 1-60" to 1-66". Slower and light loads might not get the accuracy you desire. 1-48" is fine as long as the grooves are deep enough; say a minimum of .005". Mine has .006" grooves and a 1-66" rot. It can shoot those tiny groups well past 60 yards.
 
I hunt the mountain above Colerain barrels, so they are local to me. I am really thinking of a 54 barrel from them, and they offer 1/56 rot with 0.016 round bottom rifling.
They will do other twists, but that is their optimum twist they say. A 60 or 66 twist would save on tooling wear and reduce cost, so I think 56 must be better than 66 with their rifling. Why increase production cost for an inferior outcome? So 56 has magic for them.
 
I believe the best twist rate for a .54 hunting rifle for ball to be 1/80 with about .012 grooves. This is based on research and not actual ownership and shooting.

My first purchases of .54 featured 1/48 and they do very well with light charges of around 60 grains of powder then it starts to get a little worse as I go up the ladder until I get to 85 to 90 grains it settles in a bit again. Every ball barrel I have ever owned displayed a definite low and high charge sweet spot; every one. The .50's I own are 1/66 and 1/70 with the 1/66 topping out at 90 grains and the 1/70 doing 100 grains of 3f driving tacks. There is much less variation in accuracy up the entire charge level with the slower twist 1/70.

The next barrel I will be working with is a .54 with 1/70 and even then I think it's a little to fast of twist. I just experiment with them and learn as I go. They all shot pretty well but the slower twists can really lay them in there. The difference between 3-4" groups and 2-3" groups isn't really that significant but the consistency as you go up the charge ladder is to me.

All the components matter as well. Ball size, patch thickness and composition, powder brand and granulation, lube in particular is very important depending on the barrel. They all want their preferred load. You can spend months working with a barrel and they all will shoot well if you find what it likes. My findings are that slower is easier to fine tune.
 
My Hawken build has a 1:66 twist w/ .012 deep grooves and the load is 120 grs 3f w/ a .535 RB and a .020 thick patch.

It's used only for elk and the last one shot was at 107 paced off yds{my pace is slightly over 36"} and the mature cow ran towards me for 40 yds and collapsed.

My load is a "big" load but a somewhat reduced amount of powder could readily kill an elk but that's not the reason I use it. I want the flattest trajectory w/in reason so a dead on hold from 10 yds to 120 yds is possible.

The load is very accurate and is sighted in at 100 yds......Fred
 
I built my .54 for elk and maybe moose or bison. Green Mountain barrel 1:70 twist. No shot at the big game yet but load is 120 gr Goex FFg to 130 yards. Nasty on whitetails.

Back in the ”˜80s I had Douglas cut a 1:56 twist .50 cal w .012” square grooves that shoots well w 60 gr FFg and 90 gr FFg. Mostly for target use. So 60 gr to 50 yds and 90 gr for 100yds w/o changing sights or POA.
 
I have had .54's in a number of twist rates. For me personally, I like the mid-60's (1-65 or 66) the best as those seem to be extremely accurate with a tightly patched ball and 90 grs of 2F. Plenty of umpf, but not as much recoil as when I go over 100 grs.

I wish my 1-70 twist was as forgiving as Walks with Fire has experienced. That one did not settle in with what I considered a good group until 105 grains. It's OK to shoot because it's a Virginia style with a big wide buttplate to help distribute the recoil, but since I think 105 grs is unnecessary for my purposes, it's just a waste of powder.
 
To answer your overall question; no. You can get equal accuracy from a 1:60 twist as you can with anything between and up to the 1:48, which is NOT a so called "compromise twist". In my experience with that and my 50 calibers, which all have a slower ROT, the 1:48 is a more forgiving in that it has a rather wide range of powder charges that it will handle with equal accuracy; 75-85 grains of 2f. Now, I've tried a number of times to find a load it liked using 3f and I've gave it up. Why mess with a good thing?
 
I have .54's in 1:48, 1:60, 1:65, 1:66, and 1:72. Grooves vary in depth. It's my opinion that any twist rate with an adequate groove depth is capable of being very accurate.

It's all in a proper patch, ball, powder, lube combination. No two muzzleloader's are the same even though they may have the same characteristics. You have to work up a good load combo for each one to find out what that specific muzzleloader likes.

Once you find its sweet spot and you also do your part, you'll have a tack driver!

Just my two cents.

Respectfully, Cowboy :hatsoff:
 
My lyman GPR is 1:60" it really like 80-90grs of fffg goex.

If you think under 100 grs will do it, then go for the 60s, if you think you need more then 1:70+.

I have yet to build my early reading. But a year before I was allowed to hunt in large cornfields I bought a rice d profile 54 in what I think is 1:56". Gun was meant to be woodwalks, deep woods, and small food plot site hunting.

I wish i got a slower twist. Like 60 or 66 now. I might get a different barrel. Especially since it's a D profile and being built on a large gun frame of an early reading.
 
Cowboy said:
I have .54's in 1:48, 1:60, 1:65, 1:66, and 1:72. Grooves vary in depth. It's my opinion that any twist rate with an adequate groove depth is capable of being very accurate.

I have a similar array of twists and I agree 100%. I'm prone to 1:48 with deeper rifling because I do a whole lot of light charge shooting (30-35 grains of 3f). In my direct experience the 1:48 delivers better accuracy with those low charges while still providing stellar accuracy with large charges. Get too slow and you're almost obligated to shoot the larger charges for best accuracy. I find solace in the fact that so very many of the original guns were 1:48.

Been playing with something else that appears in line with old accounts of "loading for bear" along with indications that folks used lighter charges to save powder unless they really needed the extra power. I've been making smaller powder measures (my favorite for 54 cal is a 30 grainer) and using multiple measures when I want more power. One scoop for dinking around and small game, two scoops for some uses, and three scoops for big game out to longish ranges.

Maybe I'm lucky, but my guns give fine accuracy with all three charges. Better yet, when I sighted in the rifles dead on at 75 yards, the 60 grain charges are dead on at around 50 and the 30 grain charges are dead on at about 25 yards. What could be better? :grin:
 
My Colerain Isaac Haines Profile , 38" swamped barrel has a 1:56 twist rate. I shoot 70 grains of 3Fg and she will hit at 100 yards, no worries on whitetails. I would not hesitate on going up to 80 or 90 grains for elk or bear, but I would go to the range and check impact point when doing that.
:thumbsup:

LD
 
Cowboy said:
I have .54's in 1:48, 1:60, 1:65, 1:66, and 1:72. Grooves vary in depth. It's my opinion that any twist rate with an adequate groove depth is capable of being very accurate.

It's all in a proper patch, ball, powder, lube combination. No two muzzleloader's are the same even though they may have the same characteristics. You have to work up a good load combo for each one to find out what that specific muzzleloader likes.

Once you find its sweet spot and you also do your part, you'll have a tack driver!

Just my two cents.

Respectfully, Cowboy :hatsoff:


Amen, Bro.
A .54" ball, even with moderate charges will give a heck of a wallop on any game animal. A 1:48" twist will give great accuracy with a .54 prb. If you believe heavier charges are required, any minor loss of accuracy is of no real consequence in the field. My Jaeger has a 1:72" twist. It only starts to group satisfactorily at about 100 gr. charges. I never did work up the best 'sweet spot' load as my shoulder could not tolerate the recoil. I suspect it would settle in at about 120-140 gr. charges. I'll never know. Go with the 1:48" twist, enjoy and live long.
 
I have two 54 flinters in 1:48 twist. I shoot 50, 60, 80, and 100 grains of 2F in one (44" Golden Age) and up to 80 in the shorter (32") different brand.
1:48 is good for me.
Flintlocklar :wink:
 
Not as proof or experience, but I recently bought a Pedersoli Jaeger hunting version, and it came with a 1/24 ROT in 54 caliber. Pedersoli recommended a 80 or 90 grain load with patched ball. I just function tested it, so I can't comment on accuracy.

They also offer the Jaeger target version in a 1/65 twist in 54cal.
 
With a .016" groove depth, anything from 1-48" to 1-66" will shoot squirrel loads AND deer loads accurately. Your choice of a 1-56" twist is fine. Shallow grooves won't do that normally.
 
My contention is there is no need to spin a ball any faster than necessary to gain good accuracy.
A faster twist than needed to achieve the above only stresses the patch and fouls faster.
 
48 and 60, both good. And as with rifling width and rifling depth, whatever you have will have good points and bad points.
 
I have several .54's with 1:48" barrels in both flint & cap; all can demolish a grapefruit at 100 yards. That's good enough for me.

Same with my 1:60 .50 cal, however it takes more powder to reach the same level of accuracy as the 1:48's.
 
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