Navy Arms 1974 Kentucky Rifle

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.45 Navy Arms Kentucky Rifle percussion model.

I dated it using an online reference for Italian date codes, mine is XXX which is supposed to equal 1974. Since I bought the gun off the rack, after watching it sit there for a couple of years, in about 1977 I figure that's got to be correct.

Anyhow, I shot it quite a bit for a couple of years and even managed to win a match using it but my primary shooter back then was a T/C .50 Hawken. The Kentucky, a caplock model, spent the several years displayed on my father's wall. I put in back into inventory after my father passed a little over 20 years ago.

I've shot it a bit over the past 20 years, usually at 25 yards using charges of about 45 grains 3FG, a .440 ball wrapped in a .015 patch. It does okay but it's generally been a nostalgia thing when I've shot it.

Cabin fever bound the past couple of days, too wet and cold to do much, I dug my Navy Arms Kentucky, made by Pedersoli, out to fondle it a bit. I dropped a bore shine down the barrel and shot a flashlight beam to get a view of the rifling. It was like watching the opening scenes of a Twilight Zone episode, those lands and grooves were spinning tightly.

Now when I bought this shooter I was not concerned about such things as barrel twist rates. I did, however, like guns I thought looked pretty cool. At the time this was one. I figured I was a pretty smart guy just knowing my T/C Hawken had a 1 in 48" twist for round and Maxi balls. I never even bothered to check the twist rate might be in my Navy Arms Kentucky.

An online search suggested the Navy Arms Kentucky had a 1 in 48" twist however this was not manufacturer data rather auction site information from past listings, one identified as a 1978 model.

Today I used the marked ramrod method to determine twist rate and it appears to be around 1 in 20". It's beyond me why Pedersoli would put a 1 in 20" twist barrel in 1974 when patched round balls were probably the most likely projectile to be used in this gun but that's what it is. All I can figure is the twist rate for the 45-70 is 1in 20" so perhaps they intially thought that would be the correct twist for a .45 cal muzzleloader.

As soon as this cold and wet spell ends I'm going to spend a range session, at 25 yards, to remind myself of how this gun shoots. No matter what, it will probably remain a wall hanger.

Before I forget, have any of you had any experience with a Pedersoli Kentucky Rifle?
 
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Here's is Navy Arms response to my question. This gun is marked Navy Arms Ridgefield, NJ. I still believe it to be a 1:20 twist. The barrel length is 36". I've seen several of these guns online over the years but never one with a 42" barrel.

This office is not the original offices of Navy Arms Company which
closed in 2001.
We don't import or sell this item, however, the older catalogs from Navy
Arms Company, indicates
the Kentucky Long Rifle rate of twist was 1:65, with a 8 groove barrel
and the barrel length of 40 1/2".
The Kentucky Percussion and the Kentucky flint rate of twist was 1:48
No information on the earlier models of 1:20 twist.

Navy Arms LLC
 
I got the hankering to shoot a 1976 navy arms Kentucky model I acquired cheap. Never gave it a thought until 2 days ago. It's in great shape cosmetically but currently scrubbing to bore as running my scope through it revealed it's not that I should say good. Fixing to go back in the shop and work on it. I came across this thread while looking at there's and my barrel is 1:48 as my rod doesn't quite make a full revolution in the 35" barrel.
 

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