Twist ?

[Mtman725]

So back in the 80's when I was doing PB, the best twist rate for round ball's was 1-66, and the 1-48 was the one for conical bullets and how it's hard to find an 1-66 or 1-60 gun. What gives? and I take it that the 1-66 or 1-60 is still the way to go for traditional shooting with round balls.

 

[Rifleman1776]

There is another thread right now dealing with this also. The 1:48" is, IMHO, the ideal prb twist. Originals in museums almost invariably are that twist.

 

[Wcerin]

My Getz barrel is a 1:66 and she drives tacks with a round ball. Any reputable barrel company should still be able to make you a barrel in your desired twist I would think.

 

[Kansas Kid]

There’s a lot of depends that goes with that and I ain’t talking underwear. 1-48 is favored in 45 cal and below for RB. 1-48 is favored for RB with lite powder charges. To me it more depends on style of rifling and the depth of it.

 

[kelljp]

The Hawkens (TC, InvestArms, CVA) of the 70s settled on 1:48 as a compromise for round ball and conical ( the buffalo bullet round was a popular in my neck of the woods for deer hunting before the awful sabots made their appearance in the 80s)

 

[ord sgt]

I recently bought a Colerain barrel. It has a 1/56" twist. So far it has been as accurate as my 1/70" GM barrels. Most of my rifles are .50 calibre, and use a .495 round ball, .010 lubed patch.

 

[Zutt-man]

I was always told it depending on the caliber as Kansas Kid mentioned. My .40 is a 1/48 and my .58 is a 1/70 GM. Both are pretty darn good shooters

 

[ohio ramrod]

1/48 was used in most rifles in the 1700-1900 time frame. The original Hawkens were 1/48. As people started using heavier powder charges 1/66 became more popular. The T.C. Hawken 1/48 is considered a compromise twist because of their depth of the grooves. Roundball rifles prefer .010 or greater depth, mini ball rifles use .002 depth. The T.C. Hawken depth was around .005 therefore a compromise between the prb and mini's depth.

 

[Bad Karma]

1/48 was used in most rifles in the 1700-1900 time frame. The original Hawkens were 1/48. As people started using heavier powder charges 1/66 became more popular. The T.C. Hawken 1/48 is considered a compromise twist because of their depth of the grooves. Roundball rifles prefer .010 or greater depth, mini ball rifles use .002 depth. The T.C. Hawken depth was around .005 therefore a compromise between the prb and mini's depth.

T/C barrels can work very well with the lighter shorter bullets. There are a line of bullets designed specifically for the t/c’s. They are the “I“ bullets in 40,45,50, and 54 calibers from accurate molds.

 

[kelljp]

T/C barrels can work very well with the lighter shorter bullets. There are a line of bullets designed specifically for the t/c’s. They are the “I“ bullets in 40,45,50, and 54 calibers from accurate molds.

 

[kelljp]

Would be interested in who sells these molds if you have any info.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

So back in the 80's when I was doing PB, the best twist rate for round ball's was 1-66, and the 1-48 was the one for conical bullets and how it's hard to find an 1-66 or 1-60 gun. What gives? and I take it that the 1-66 or 1-60 is still the way to go for traditional shooting with round balls.

Well there is the Pedersoli Frontier rifle, which is currently available as the Cabela's Blue Ridge Hunter .54 This has a 1:65 twist rate.
So too is the Pedersoli Rocky Mountain Hawken, and the Mortimer. Not to mention the Kodiak Safari .72 with a 1:75 twist, plus the "3-Band" 1853 Endfield Rifle that has a whopping 1:78 twist
There are the Traditions Kentucky Rifles in caplock that are 1:66 Traditions Kentucky Caplock
There are the Lyman Great Plains Rifles and Great Plains Hunters which have variations with 1:60 twist Lyman.

So there are a lot of factory rifles out there still made with a slower than 1:48 twist rate. It used to be that just about all of the inexpensive factory rifles were 1:48 with the exception of some of the CVA models, and IF you wanted a slower twist then you had to go custom.

LD

 

[nkbj]

There’s a lot of depends that goes with that and I ain’t talking underwear. 1-48 is favored in 45 cal and below for RB. 1-48 is favored for RB with lite powder charges. To me it more depends on style of rifling and the depth of it.

The trials and tribulations many experience trying to get large bore shallow groove barrels to shoot good would say that you're exactly right.
Just by example, making a .54 TC Renegade shoot good with heavy powder charges sometimes aint easy and can get you tugging on your beard but fed right with some inventive finagling, it'll hunt.

 

[LME]

There’s a lot of depends that goes with that and I ain’t talking underwear. 1-48 is favored in 45 cal and below for RB. 1-48 is favored for RB with lite powder charges. To me it more depends on style of rifling and the depth of it.

You can make just about any twist rifling work but you will have to back off of F.P.S. the tighter the twist . I had to edit what I said! A heavy, long bullet can be used in tight twist barrels. I shoot exclusively Balls and sometimes make the mistake of not thinking about conicals?