Will 1:66 Twist For A 12" Pistol Barrel Work

Howdy to all.

I have a piece of Jukar .45 barrel.

Planning a percussion Kentuckyish pistol build with a 10 to 12 inch long barrel.

Will 1:66 twist stabilize a PRB in 10 to 12 inches?

Thanks.

Why not? Seriously, I have a couple of barrels from T/C; a .54 that is 9" long and a .50 that is 12" long. They are part of an interchangeable barrel setup I have for my "Yellow Bird Gun", which is basically a New Englander walnut stock with a Greyhawk lock and hardware. These barrels are 1:48 and stabilize round balls just fine.

My T/C Patriot pistols also have a 1:48 twist, and are quite accurate. Other pistols of that approximate caliber vary from 1:18 and 1:24, but those are generally revolvers. That is too fast for a patched round ball as the patch will probably shred even with a light load.

1:48 is a "compromise" twist rate and will generally stabilize round balls and conicals fairly well, but ideally, you want slower twist rates in a round ball barrel and faster twist rates if you are going to shoot conicals or unmentionables.

I would guess, that if the barrel remnant has a 1:66 twist, that is what you will be using and it will probably stabilize round balls better than it will any kind of conical bullet. If it doesn't, then your only other option would be a re-bore to .50 caliber and change the twist rate to whatever you want.

T/C has always maintained that the twist rate is relatively unimportant and that different powder charges and other factors have more to do with accuracy than the twist rate. They are probably right, but I do not completely agree with this notion. I have guns that will not shoot PRB and others that will only shoot PRB accurately.

All that said, you probably need to hear from somebody who has actual experience with slow twist rates in muzzleloading pistols.

Good luck.

Great write-up.

Thank you for taking the time.

The simple answer for other than high level match shooting is yes. In the early days 40s-60s NMLRA many national match champions made their pistols using old 45-70 rifle barrels to use patched round ball. Sounds like a bad match but chopped up rifled barrels for pistols are still used to win national championships and set national records. I have a ROA and Rem. 58 as issued in .36 cal. custom barrels cut from new old-stock UZI 9mm barrels .Yes, designed for 115gr. bullets but now shooting 60gr. .360 size round ball...c

No second place said:

The simple answer for other than high level match shooting is yes. In the early days 40s-60s NMLRA many national match champions made their pistols using old 45-70 rifle barrels to use patched round ball. Sounds like a bad match but chopped up rifled barrels for pistols are still used to win national championships and set national records. I have a ROA and Rem. 58 as issued in .36 cal. custom barrels cut from new old-stock UZI 9mm barrels .Yes, designed for 115gr. bullets but now shooting 60gr. .360 size round ball...c

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I've wondered about this.

I have a bunch of modern barrel stubs. Some .45 Colt. Some .45-70. Some .311 Russian.

I didn't think the rifling was deep enough and too fast for PRB.

Thanks for weighing in.

Loads for deep rifling may be more forgiving to looser loadings. Not that matters to serious match shooters. They just develop a load that gives proper results. Some guns take more time
Polishing your bore with JB bore compound helps with tighter loads. Lapping more so, with taper Lapping being the best for overall ease of use...c

.45-70 Govt. muzzleloader pistol barrel.

.440 Ball/.015 Patch. There's room for an .018 patch.

.400 Bullet/.452 Sabot

If I'm careful and plan it right, I can use the upper portion of the chamber to form a one piece barrel and tang.

If it will go in it will come out. You will be fine for fun shooting. For serious competition you should look to a faster twist.

The barrel is 1:14 twist.

Any faster and we'd be talking about magazine fed unmentionables.

If talking about 1:66, I agree.

Factory Patriot barrels aren’t 1:48 more like 1:18. 1:18 to 1:24 is what should be used for best results.

I sure wouldn’t spend all the time it takes to build a gun and use a sub par barrel.

No second place said:

The simple answer for other than high level match shooting is yes. In the early days 40s-60s NMLRA many national match champions made their pistols using old 45-70 rifle barrels to use patched round ball. Sounds like a bad match but chopped up rifled barrels for pistols are still used to win national championships and set national records. I have a ROA and Rem. 58 as issued in .36 cal. custom barrels cut from new old-stock UZI 9mm barrels .Yes, designed for 115gr. bullets but now shooting 60gr. .360 size round ball...c

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Trapdoors in .45 caliber had twist rates of 1/22".

Kansas Kid said:

Factory Patriot barrels aren’t 1:48 more like 1:18. 1:18 to 1:24 is what should be used for best results.

I sure wouldn’t spend all the time it takes to build a gun and use a sub par barrel.

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Not arguing, but would a 1:20 twist rate work for PRB? Or is the 1:20 to get the twist going in a shorter barrel. Or is the 1:20 for sabots?

If 1:20 will work with a PRB is a pistol barrel, why wouldn't it work in a rifle length barrel?

I have a 1:20 pistol barrel laying around. But it's rather short at 9-1/4". Was wanting a 12" barrel for hunting.

And, yes, a lot of work for something that may not work.

But if you really want to use a 1/66" twist for a pistol barrel be prepared to use a substantial powder charge....

Was thinking 50-60 grains.

Accuracy trumps all though.

1:20 would be ok. A pistol doesn’t use much powder and the ball has a short time in the bore therefore needs a faster twist.

It’s not that the slow twist bbl wouldn’t work but it will likely not have the accuracy potential of a fast twist pistol barrel. Go to pecatonica River website or similar and look at green mountain pistol barrels and advertised twist rates. They don’t make them that way for no good reason.

I am really getting irritated with all the misinformation being posted here. Go back and read post number 4 by no second place. Read it three or four different times. Read each word and let it sink in.
He is a National Championship winner and not a Master shooter but a High Master pistol shooter.

Rifle barrels can be made to shoot very well for pistol barrels. One thing that is counter intuitive is that shallow groove barrels can be made to shoot well easier than deep groove barrels. I am talking about cut off rifle barrels here.

As competitive pistol shooters we do not want heavy charges and recoil. At Nationals it is easy to put in one hundred shots in one day of competition. And, there are many days of shooting. Accuracy is king of all considerations.
Likely loads are somewhere along these lines; .32 cal. 10-12 gr. powder, .36 cal. 14-17 gr. powder, .40 cal. 16-20 gr. powder and .45 cal. 18-22 gr. powder.

I started shooting at Nationals over 50 years ago. The one thing I have seen over that time is the pistol shooters have decreased the most popular calibers to smaller and smaller sizes as new pistols are built.
I think the most popular size being built now is .36 cal. with .32 making a large influx into the competition.

I have now over 1800 shots through my machine rest testing pistol barrels. It has been very interesting and I still have a lot of testing to do yet. One of the things I will eventually want to test is a few smooth bore pistol barrels I have in stock.
I am attaching a few pictures of the machine rest I made.
First pic. down in shooting position.
Second pic. up in cleaning and loading position.
Third pic. box lock, windage and elevation adjustments.
Barry

WOW!!! Amazing work on that rest.

Thank you for weighing in.

Feeling better about my fast twist rifle stubs.

The original post asked about a cut down rifle barrel with a 1/66" twist....

64Springer said:

Will 1:66 twist stabilize a PRB in 10 to 12 inches?

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I have been wondering the same thing. When I got my last barrel, I wanted a shorter barrel for the rifle. When Track sent the barrel, they included a 10" piece cut from the breech end of a 1-66" Colerain barrel. I have a short barrel with no purpose. But thoughts have been rumbling around in my head about making something.

ord sgt said:

I have been wondering the same thing. When I got my last barrel, I wanted a shorter barrel for the rifle. When Track sent the barrel, they included a 10" piece cut from the breech end of a 1-66" Colerain barrel. I have a short barrel with no purpose. But thoughts have been rumbling around in my head about making something.

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I say have at it.

What is life without risk.

That's why I'm very tempted to use unmentionable barrels as fast twist mentionable barrels.

I have oodles of stubs. 1:14, 1:16, 1:10