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Twist rate and Calibre for Target Shooting

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Hi All,

My first post here on this forum. There seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people on here, so I thought I’d ask a question.

I am after some advice on Barrel Twist Rate and Calibre PURELY for accuracy with PRB for competition target shooting, meaning I am not wanting to hunt with the rifle. So I don’t particularly need super hot loads to punch holes in paper.

I have been mainly recommended to shoot with .50 cal and around 1 in 66 twist. What are everybody’s thoughts on that? If I go with a slightly faster twist, will I get the accuracy I am after with smaller powder charge? .50 or .54 cal?

I’m fairly new to the Muzzleloading Competition scene if you can’t tell already, so any advice from seasoned competitors would be really appreciated!

Cheers!
 
Welcome Anthony. Why not .45 cal.? I am not a seasoned competitor, but I seem to recall questions the same/similar to your caliber question, and IIRC, .45 cal. got a lot of support.
 
A lot depends on what type of targets you plan too shoot.. paper any caliber will work, the smaller ones may not handle the wind as well as a larger projectile st a distance.

The .50 cal of .54 are good choices, I shoot a .54 now, but honestly for targets only.... I would go with a .50.

.45 cal will do the job as well, it’s really just a matter of personal preference..

For round ball shooting a slower twist is recommended, 1/66” or 1/60” seem too be the typical twist in most guns I see .

1/48” rifles will shoot good as well , but I have found that they seem to like lighter powder charges... 60 - 70 grns of fffg.

Depending on the targets, gongs and especially knock down steel targets at longer ranges , 100 yards plus you will find that the heavier, larger ball and a little heavier powder charge can be beneficial....
 
Are you looking for a recommendation for a factory built rifle or a custom rifle?

This will likely be a lot more information than you asked for, but here it comes.

Not only do you need to consider caliber and rate of twist, but also depth of rifling, not to leave out square groove or radiused grooves. Then it can somewhat depend on the barrel maker.

In my consideration, it is depth of the groove with the groove being about 0.010 to 0.012". With a radiused groove barrel the depth of the groove can be up to 0.014" Radiused grooved barrels can be a bit more forgiving of fouling build up. Next is width of the groove which should be slightly wider than the lands. Once again, for dealing with fouling build up. The slower the twist, the larger the powder charge that will be needed to engage the ball with patch into the lands and grooves. For a 50 caliber ball, I believe a 1 in 48 twist is good with a 1 in 54 or 56 just about as good. Barrel length should be from 32 ro 42" in a 15/16 to 1" across the flats barrel. If the barrel is tapered, then a 1" breech to 15/16 at the muzzle.

You need a smooth crown for ease of loading and to prevent the cutting of the patch at the muzzle on loading.

Custom barrel makers, Bruton, Rice, Colerain or Green Mounain.

And then even with the best barrel, the best twist and ratio of lands to grooves, it all can go to pot if the ball, patch, lubrication and powder charge are not optimized.
 
One thing to bear in mind, is a smaller calibre can shoot better with a faster twist than can a larger calibre.

Have a look at what some of the custom barrel shops offer or recommend.
I rifled my .44 cal (round ball gun) 1~45" and it shoots just fine with loads between 44 and 88 grains.

Good luck with your quest, Anthony.
BTW;
You aren't "Skip Rat" by any chance, are you?.............I used to shoot a bit with a bloke of your name back in England...
 
For the .45 and the .50 for targets you won't need heavy loads. So I'd recommend 1-56" for either one. Even 1-48" will do very well if the rifling is deep enough. And welcome to the forum, Anthony.
 
Thanks for the replies and the warm welcome everyone! Some awesome info and things mentioned that I have not considered.

Some info I didn’t include in my first post:

-I’ll be shooting no more than 100 yard/metre 13 shot matches, which is why I’m interest in not running big loads to help manage fouling over the string.

-The target I will be shooting on will be the 50m International Slow Fire Pistol Target.

-The Barrel will be replacing an existing barrel in one of my rifles (Percussion Hawken) and I’ll more than likely have a custom rifle made built in the future.

-I pretty much have my mind made up on Rice Barrels. They seem to be on top from what I have read and been recommended. I don’t mind paying a bit extra for the best quality.

Most of my more experienced Muzzleloading counterparts have recommended .50 cal with some recommending .54 cal. The main reason for those Calibres is just to help out in the wind a little bit more. I’m thinking about getting a barrel made in each Calibre.

For the twist, I was thinking of going somewhere in between 1 in 48 and 1 in 66, maybe 1 in 54 or 1 in 56 as mentioned above. A friend of mine has a Pedersoli Tryon in .50 cal with a 1 in 48 twist. It works really well with 50gr of FFFG and then another with a 1 in 66 twist that shoot really well also. Very confusing stuff for a newby, hence the question to you guys to see what the broader community thinks.

Again, thanks for any advice. I really appreciate people who give their time to help others out.
 
-I’ll be shooting no more than 100 yard/metre 13 shot matches, which is why I’m interest in not running big loads to help manage fouling over the string.

So the question then is how often are you allowed to swab the bore, or is this a timed event and you only get a chance to swab about every third shot? The reason is the slower twist gives you an advantage on fouling. They tend to be easier to reload as the bore gets dirty.

-The Barrel will be replacing an existing barrel in one of my rifles (Percussion Hawken) and I’ll more than likely have a custom rifle made built in the future.
-I pretty much have my mind made up on Rice Barrels. They seem to be on top from what I have read and been recommended. I don’t mind paying a bit extra for the best quality. Most of my more experienced Muzzleloading counterparts have recommended .50 cal with some recommending .54 cal. The main reason for those Calibres is just to help out in the wind a little bit more. I’m thinking about getting a barrel made in each Calibre
.

Rice barrels are an excellent choice. 1:56 or 1:66 won't really make that much of a difference for the application that you've listed above. What you want is to buck the cross winds (if there are any) while at the same time have the lightest projectile vs. the powder load that you can, so you get the shortest flight time. Shorter flight time means less drop over that 100 meter distance. The odd factor, though, is the larger that ball, the more surface area for the wind to push upon, BUT the more mass, the more it resists the wind, YET the more powder you need to get that ball to a good velocity to Zip to the target and drop less and of course less time for the wind to effect the ball as well.

So a .440 ball with moderate powder will be moving very fast for you...but IF you often have good cross winds then it may not be the best choice.
.490 ball will need a bit more powder, but will resist the wind a bit more. You might find that sights can allow you to adjust impact enough to not require much of an increase in powder to compensate for mass and thus trajectory. It will be less recoil than from the larger ball.
.530 ball will need a pretty good increase in powder over the .440 ball to compensate for mass and trajectory. So the most recoil from the three but probably the best if you are in an area with good steady crosswinds all the time

So overall I'd say .50 cal shooting the .490 ball. Bucks the wind better than the .440, faster to the target than the .530 with the same powder load so less drop

One other thing to consider..
. there is one other slight advantage a .490 or even a .530 ball may have for you. The bigger the ball the bigger that hole in the paper. If you're using a target with a small scoring circle, or the 10 and X areas are small within the overall target, a .530 ball MAY cut the line between say the 9 and 10 ring and give you a "10" when the smaller balls might not when shot into the very same spot.

And there's one other twist thrown into the mix.... since you're punching paper there's no need to wonder about terminal ballistics when striking a deer, etc. You're not concerned with that so..., you could go to an alloy bullet in .530. You could conceivably reduce the weight a bit by introducing some tin to the bullet metal (IF you hand cast) and develop a combination with that bullet plus a patch, to give you more speed, and the larger hole in the paper, though sacrifice a little on the ability to defeat wind. That's a bit complicated, but it would be shooting a ball weighing half way between the 177 grain .490, and the 224 grain .530...so with the alloy maybe a 200 grain .530 ball, fast, biggest hole of the three, and tiny bit less recoil than the all lead .530. ;)

OR you could do the same by being an "oddball" (no pun intended) and get a custom barrel in .52 and shoot a custom ball in .505. May a bit too custom. :confused:

Sorry if I over complicated the response in the last two paragraphs. Simple answer... go with .50

LD
 
Anthony, Are you planning on shooting in any Novelty shoots? Shooting small candy, crackers , cards , skewers and such?

If so , as LD mentioned the bigger ball has an advantage.

If your just shooting steel targets it doesn’t matter as much as cutting a line on a paper target or cutting the quill of a turkey feather...

Just a thought, I don’t mean too confuse you.
 
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