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Barrel Twist help 58 cal

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Dirty Mike

Dirty Mike

40 Cal
Joined
Feb 13, 2022
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I'm having a custom barrel made in 58 cal, I'm wanting to use it with PRB. What Length and twist would be best for this caliber I was thinking 30" barrel 1:56 to 1:66 twist what are your thoughts?
 
I have a couple of 58 cal 1-60 radius bottom rifling barrels that shoot patched roundballs great. I have owned 58 caliber barrels with 1-72 twists that took more powder than I cared to shoot before optimum accuracy was close to being achieved. Think 130 grains of powder plus. The fun factor, at least for me, was long gone. The 1-60 barrels I have get pretty happy at around 80 grains of powder accuracy wise. Your shoulder, your decision. Just my observations on what I have experienced .
 
SDSmlf said:
I have a couple of 58 cal 1-60 radius bottom rifling barrels that shoot patched roundballs great. I have owned 58 caliber barrels with 1-72 twists that took more powder than I cared to shoot before optimum accuracy was close to being achieved. Think 130 grains of powder plus. The fun factor, at least for me, was long gone. The 1-60 barrels I have get pretty happy at around 80 grains of powder accuracy wise. Your shoulder, your decision. Just my observations on what I have experienced .
Click to expand...
Thank you the gentleman that's going to build it usually does 1-56 but I can choose what I want I may keep it at 1:56 but was also thinking about 1-60 not sure if there would be any difference in accuracy at that point
 
Dirty Mike said:
Thank you the gentleman that's going to build it usually does 1-56 but I can choose what I want I may keep it at 1:56 but was also thinking about 1-60 not sure if there would be any difference in accuracy at that point
Click to expand...
There won’t be… at least no difference that you or I can measure. That will make a dandy elk thumper.
 
Light loads are for close range...I have no problems with my Colonial`s GM 1:70 twist.

For this month's Forum Match I used 50gr of Fireworks/Reenactor Goex 5fa el'cheap'o powder, mixed with a little KIK and Wano for good measure.
25 yards..off-hand. .570Roundball
20230424_182149.jpg

For long range....use more powder.
.570 Wheel-Weight Roundball
120gr low-grade powder
215 yards 1shot seated with x-sticks
20230331_175158.jpg


215 yards looks far! Target is under the little red arrow. Last day of March `23.
Winter stays long this high!
20230410_112743.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My latest 58 has a 1-90 twist. This is only a hunting gun made for gobs of powder.

But you should shoot harder balls.

Close range a high speed soft round ball will flatted like a quarter.
 
How are you going to shoot it? What will the finished gun weigh? For targets I would probably opt for a twist in the 50's so I could be fairly confident it would shoot well 100 and in with 50- maybe 80 grains. For a hunting gun I would look for high 60's low 70's and know I would need to load in the 80+ grain range and possibly well over 80 to get it stacking balls. If I wanted something to shoot really heavy loads in that was going to be built heavy I would look at a slower twist still. My 58 is a 70 twist in a 9 pound rifle and my 62 is a 66 twist that I am going to try building to about 8 pounds or as light as I can.
 
HSmithTX said:
How are you going to shoot it? What will the finished gun weigh? For targets I would probably opt for a twist in the 50's so I could be fairly confident it would shoot well 100 and in with 50- maybe 80 grains. For a hunting gun I would look for high 60's low 70's and know I would need to load in the 80+ grain range and possibly well over 80 to get it stacking balls. If I wanted something to shoot really heavy loads in that was going to be built heavy I would look at a slower twist still. My 58 is a 70 twist in a 9 pound rifle and my 62 is a 66 twist that I am going to try building to about 8 pounds or as light as I can.
Click to expand...
Basically building a new elk thumper, going to be on a thompson hawken half stock so around 9 lbs thinks 30" barrel strictly for Prb I think 1-56 twist should do good for higher powder loads but also wonder if 1-60 would be better
 
Dirty Mike said:
Basically building a new elk thumper, going to be on a thompson hawken half stock so around 9 lbs thinks 30" barrel strictly for Prb I think 1-56 twist should do good for higher powder loads but also wonder if 1-60 would be better
Click to expand...
The TC Hawken in not a friendly big bore stock design.

The thin curved butt plate will not be your friend.
 
If you're going after elk with a 58 PRB, I would consider a much longer barrel.

The velocity gained is significant in longer barrels. I get 1820fps with a 44" barrel with only 100 grains of 2ffg powder . When you read through the old lyman manual you'll see how hard they struggled to get to 1600 with ridiculous powder charges using short barrels.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
freedom475 said:
When you read through the old lyman manual you'll see how hard they struggled to get to 1600 with ridiculous powder charges using short barrels.
Click to expand...
Don’t know what you consider ‘ridiculous’ powder charges in short barrels, but I have a couple 26” long 58 caliber barrels that will send a .562” diameter patched roundball out the barrel at around 1550 fps with a charge of 80 grains of 3F Swiss and get close to 1700 fps with 100 grains. I prefer to hunt with 80 to 90 grains of the 3F Swiss in those barrels, finding the fun starts going away as charges approach a 100 grains.
 
For an elk thumper and PRB I would go with a twist in the upper 60's, maybe up around 70 or a bit over. That's what my 58 is built for, and I went with a 70.
 

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