Yes the question is not "What should I use", but "What does my rifle like?" Most barrel makers tailor the twist rate for what will work the best for most people.
So some misconceptions of which you need to be aware.....
Twist rate vs. round ball or conical....the facts are, that it's more than the twist rate, but also the depth of the grooves and the width of the grooves in the barrel compared to the lands that help to determine if a barrel will shoot patched-round ball, or conical, or both.
1:48 was
marketed as a "compromise" twist rate starting in the 1970's by Thompson Center with their Hawken and Renegade rifles. In fact 1:48 twist was popular in rifles made before the first widely used conical bullet, "the minie ball" became a widespread military bullet. So you may find, as I have in two rifles (one in .54 one in .40), that a 1:48 twist barrel will shoot both conicals and patched round ball well. The Pedersoli .54 Jaeger rifle has a 1:24 twist rate, yet it shoots round ball well
Slow twist rates
usually don't shoot conical bullets well. I have a rifle with a 1:60 twist, and one with a 1:56 twist that don't shoot conicals well. Yet as one reply mentioned above, he has no problem with a conical bullet in his slow twist rate barrel, and historically the 1853 Enfield "3-band" rifle was/is .58 caliber and originals as well as repros have an extremely slow 1:78 twist, but were used for sniping in the ACW, and today are used for target shooting of conical bullets.
Skipping, meaning the patched round ball isn't gripped by the grooves in the barrel well and so an improper spin, or no spin, is imparted to the round ball was a concern in the 19th century (especially with manually rifled barrels), and today might be a concern with very stout loads in a reproduction barrel, but most folks don't use loads that heavy.
"Energy" is used by a lot of folks with modern projectiles, as it matters a bit to them..., BUT for the slow velocities of the muzzleloader, it's sometimes misunderstood. For example...if two identical bullets strike two identical deer in identical spots, and one bullet exits the deer on the other side, but the other bullet lodges just under the opposite side skin, BOTH bullets
used the same "energy" to reach identical locations under the skin..., while the bullet that exited continued on, using a bit more energy to push through the skin opposite the side of impact. (The deer would not know the difference) The same two bullets..., if one exits the animal at 100 feet per second and the other bullet exits at 200 feet per second, the damage will be so similar to not matter, and as I wrote before the deer won't know the difference. Some folks think for some reason more damage is done to the animal if the bullet doesn't go completely through the animal, or that there is some advantage from the bullet barely exiting the animal compared to one that flies another fifty yards.
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Some stuff that sometimes is a factor:
Patched round ball will often give you less felt recoil, especially from a slower twist barrel, than will a heavier concial bullet launched with the same powder charge as the patched round ball. The conical has more mass and Newton's 3rd law of motion applies
. Some fellows like to use what I consider a heavy powder load (in excess of 90 grains) as well as a conical bullet, the results of which will most definately give more recoil. I've never heard of, nor seen, any study that showed that either projectile on impact was vastly superior to the other. If it's accurate while at the same time has enough velocity to push the bullet to where it needs to go to harvest the deer, it doesn't matter.
On paper, a patched round ball is more easily deflected than a conical bullet. In the real world, don't try to hack through brush with a conical to hit that deer, nevery try to do it with a round ball. Try to avoid blasting even tiny twigs or leaves no matter which bullet you use.
Conical bullets were invented for fast reloads of
military rifled muskets in combat conditions. Today, YES you can get a much faster reload using a plastic speed loading tool that holds a conical bullet and a pre-measured powder load. IF you make an accurate shot the deer will be down before you can reload and make that second shot. If you made a poor shot, but hit the deer, the deer will like be gone from your view before you can reload and make that second shot, so a slower reload, and tracking will need to be done. So don't choose the conical for ease of loading.
So you will be spending a lot of range time, which is a good thing. You will find a good load for your rifle
from the bench at the range, and then you'll need to practice a bit in different hunting stances. Then you'll be ready.
LD
