Best barrel twist for .54 Caliber

[DerJäger88]

Was wondering what's the best barrel twist for both Round Balls and Conical? I'm starting to save up to have a ancestral rifle recreated after it burned in a fire a few years back. It originally only fired RB but apparently it's barrel was changed to a different twist rate that let it fire both RB and Conical in either 1856 to 1860 it was also converted from a Flintlock to a Caplock. But idk anything about muzzleloaders.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

So your ancestral rifle was more than likely a 1:48 twist. 1:48 is often touted as a "compromise" twist rate in that it is known to shoot round ball and conical well, but that's just modern marketing. 1:48 was a popular, widely used twist rate before conical bullets were popular and widely used. When conical bullets appeared it was found they also shot well from such barrels.

The only reason for the conical bullet, was speed of reloading for combat. It was developed for military rifles, not hunting and in fact the first conicals were not liked by many large game hunters, especially those going after dangerous game.

Often you will find .54 barrels in slower twist rates than 1:48 because some folks are using hefty powder loads with their round balls, and at a certain point of bullet weight and twist rate, the torque felt by the shooter's face where it meets the stock tends to give the shooter a more perceived "recoil" than the slower twists. Old Style rifling was a bit different, the grooves were much thinner than today, and in those cases the slower twist rate with a heavy charge kept the patched ball from "skipping" over the grooves and failing to properly stabilize, ..., but modern rifling used in repro barrels these days has pretty much eliminated that.

So a 224 grain .530 round ball is plenty IF you end up going with a slower twist than 1:48

LD

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Original guns were often 1 in 48 or close to it. That twist shoots round ball quite well with out having to use alot of powder.

 

[Grenadier1758]

The 1 in 48 twist with reasonably deep (0.010") grooves and lands equal to grooves is a good choice. That's probably why the 1 in 48 was so popular with early gun builders.

 

[bldtrailer]

talk to B Hoyt about his gain twist that shoots both

here's my 54 gain twist with round ball at 50 yrds (left group load workup top clean barrel then 3 touching , I then moved sights center hit)

 

[Duk]

1 in 48 is the most common for both worlds

 

[The Crisco Kid]

My 54 caliber Rice barrel shoots round balls exceptionally well with 80 gr. FF. It has a 66 twist. I've never tried conicals since I don't have any reason to. My ancestors 40 caliber has a 36 twist. I haven't shot it to test it out for several reasons.

 

[DerJäger88]

So your ancestral rifle was more than likely a 1:48 twist. 1:48 is often touted as a "compromise" twist rate in that it is known to shoot round ball and conical well, but that's just modern marketing. 1:48 was a popular, widely used twist rate before conical bullets were popular and widely used. When conical bullets appeared it was found they also shot well from such barrels.

The only reason for the conical bullet, was speed of reloading for combat. It was developed for military rifles, not hunting and in fact the first conicals were not liked by many large game hunters, especially those going after dangerous game.

Often you will find .54 barrels in slower twist rates than 1:48 because some folks are using hefty powder loads with their round balls, and at a certain point of bullet weight and twist rate, the torque felt by the shooter's face where it meets the stock tends to give the shooter a more perceived "recoil" than the slower twists. Old Style rifling was a bit different, the grooves were much thinner than today, and in those cases the slower twist rate with a heavy charge kept the patched ball from "skipping" over the grooves and failing to properly stabilize, ..., but modern rifling used in repro barrels these days has pretty much eliminated that.

So a 224 grain .530 round ball is plenty IF you end up going with a slower twist than 1:48

LD

All I plan on doing is hunting and reenacting with it so I guess RB is best?

 

[kansas_volunteer]

If the rate of twist is to slow your round balls won't stabilize and will keyhole on the target.

 

[Rifleman1776]

1:48 was a popular, widely used twist rate before conical bullets were popular and widely used. When conical bullets appeared it was found they also shot well from such barrels.

Sez it all. In the museums I have visited 1:48" is the nearly 100% dominant twist. It is my preferred twist with 1:56" not far off. I once had a .54 Jaeger with a 1:72" twist. To get a 'sweet spot' for good groups required charges north of 120 gr. It was a real shoulder buster and not fun to shoot.

 

[SDSmlf]

If the rate of twist is to slow your round balls won't stabilize and will keyhole on the target.

Probably nothing more difficult to correct than roundballs that keyhole.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

All I plan on doing is hunting and reenacting with it so I guess RB is best?

I think so, but full disclosure, that's my opinion. Roundballs have less mass being a sphere rather than a conical, and do an amazing amount of damage, so you get less recoil, but the desired result on deer. With a properly worked up load it's very accurate. A roundball's ballistic coefficient is manure-tastic, and it sheds energy very quickly over the distance of 150 -200 yards, which most people think is a negative. BUT..., where I hunt, the hunting zones are small, and surrounded by dwelling areas, so for me the fact that the patched RB at the MV of my rifle isn't going any farther than 200 yards due to the height above the ground and my shooting position, is a great thing. This also means that I must be good at getting close to the deer, or getting the deer to come close to me, and I only hunt from a "ground blind"..., and that's a fancy way of saying that I find a tree or two to break up my outline, and stand their hoping a deer will wander past.

LD

 

[Flintleather]

Probably nothing more difficult to correct than roundballs that keyhole.

 

[hanshi]

As I've mentioned before too many shooters pay too much attention to twist rate when it's the groove depth that matters more. Grooves that are too shallow have difficulty "grabbing" the patch on a prb. This is what causes the prb to "strip" (skid over) the rifling. A 1-48" twist is an excellent round ball twist rate. And it isn't a compromise twist at all. The compromise is the groove depth used. This is why I'd prefer a separate rifle with a dedicated twist rate and groove depth especially for conicals. Shallower grooves for conicals and deeper grooves for ball.

I hesitate recommending any particular twist and groove depth; all I can relate are how my rifles handly ball. I have a .54 with 1-66" twist and .006" rifling. At 60 yards it will print a 6-shot group of about 1-1/3" with prb. When tested with two styles of conicals it grouped over 3X that of ball.

My other rifles have twists from 48" to around 56 " or so with groove depths of around .010" to .012" (square cut) and .016" (radius cut) and all shoot ball more accurately than I can.

 

[LME]

My 54 caliber Rice barrel shoots round balls exceptionally well with 80 gr. FF. It has a 66 twist. I've never tried conicals since I don't have any reason to. My ancestors 40 caliber has a 36 twist. I haven't shot it to test it out for several reasons.

My favorite rifle is a .54 cal. Ithaca Hawkin it has a 1in66 twist rifling and is accurate . I have mentioned this before that It will shoot a round ball with devastating accuracy.I haven't shot past and 200 hundred yards and 90% of the time I can keep a 6 inch group . When shooting at 100 yards I have shot one oval hole with three shots. That is the best target so far. The sights are the buck horn type that came on the rifle. These muzzle loaders will shoot very well once you learn what to do. I use 80 grains of powder and prelubed store bought patches with a .530 store bought balls. Ironically it is what the company reccomended. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"!

 

[mtfishn]

I just started shooting a new 36" Rice barrel, .54 cal. with 1/70 twist. Shoots RBalls great. I shoot 55gr. FFF at 50yds and touch bullets....80grFFF at 100yds to be able to use the same sight picture. And it groups 2.5-3.5" I have tried 90 grains and it seems to shoot OK so plan to hunt with that. It has square bottom groves about .010 deep.

 

[LME]

I just started shooting a new 36" Rice barrel, .54 cal. with 1/70 twist. Shoots RBalls great. I shoot 55gr. FFF at 50yds and touch bullets....80grFFF at 100yds to be able to use the same sight picture. And it groups 2.5-3.5" I have tried 90 grains and it seems to shoot OK so plan to hunt with that. It has square bottom groves about .010 deep.

You are the first person that shoots the way I do. I am sure there are others that I may have missed that posted the same method. You use 55Grain at 50 yards I use 60 grains is the only difference and like you said hold dead on at both distances. It takes the guess work out of the equation.

 

[Tony Rothrock]

The optimal twist rate is determined mostly by the length of the projectile your using. In any given caliber the longer your bullet is the faster you got to "twist" it to stabilize it in flight. That's the simple answer. If you want a more complicated explanation all the ratios and formula stuff, look up the Greenhill Formula.

 

[morehops52]

Probably nothing more difficult to correct than roundballs that keyhole.

I tried coreecting my RB keyholing. Tried different loads, patch thicknesses and finally had a someone cast me up custom diameter balls. Nothing worked. Them I started using Maxis and the keyholing went away. Problem solved.

 

[son of rooster]

1:48