1/48 twist & round ball?

[CoHiCntry]

Here I am hunting elk with my first Bridger.View attachment 114257

You my friend, look like an elk killer!

 

[LME]

LME, the thing about building copies of rifles as they look today, such as the Bridger Hawken, is that any handling marks add to the look. They are good. I took the first copy to the Fort Bridger Rendezvous and carried it around. Nobody paid any attention to it. I got a buffalo burger and smeared grease all over the stock. Anything goes.

When Robert Redford, the actor of the movie Jeremiah Johnson, had the Green River Rifle Works make him a Hawken, he didn't like the new look. Carney, who worked there, told me the builders then took turns beating dents into the stock with tools. I also heard, and it might be true, that Redford tied a lasso to the rifle and dragged it down a gravel road behind his pickup.

Here I am hunting elk with my first Bridger.View attachment 114257

It appears to me you are enjoying life way to much! LOL! If I caught someone doing that to his rifle I would pass out!
Owning a custom Hawkin was my next move but it wasn't in the cards. Health problems stepped in and changed a lot of my,"want tos" into no-goes! I watch this forum and videos of people running rabbit dogs. This brings back a lot of fond memories.
I am still looking at building one more Hawkin before I turn my toes up . One minute I say yes and the next minute I say no?

 

[SamTex1949]

Well , dont think we have ever given mr Redford points for being to sharp, just a good actor !

 

[nkbj]

The old TC .54's with 48" twist can be made to shoot well with their maximum listed charges.
To do that you stop changing your powder charge and juggle the other variables.
When you're pushing the envelope small things can start to matter more and more.

 

[Nuthatch]

I’ve got 2 rifles with 1:48 and 1 smoothbore — all .50s. PRB shoots very well out of them all if I do my part. They all seem to like to be shot at around 1600 fps, regardless of the projectile used. So PRB gets about 70 gr. 90 gr is fine but shoots no better. At 70, accuracy is a little easier to come by. But I’m in CA where we have to switch between lead at the range & lead free for hunting so finding a single load that works for both is pretty important. Conicals get 90 gr to achieve similar velocities. I’ve shot out to 100 yards a few times — both with the 1:48 and the smoothbore and they ring steel all the same with PRB. I recently bought a flintlock that has a 1:48 but I haven’t shot it much yet. I was shopping for a 1:66 or smoothbore but ultimately decided that it didn’t matter for my purposes. I’m still figuring that thing out but I managed to get 5 shots in a ragged hole at 25 yards my first time out with it. I’m confident that the twist rate is the least of my worries with that rifle.

 

[flashpoint]

LME, the thing about building copies of rifles as they look today, such as the Bridger Hawken, is that any handling marks add to the look. They are good. I took the first copy to the Fort Bridger Rendezvous and carried it around. Nobody paid any attention to it. I got a buffalo burger and smeared grease all over the stock. Anything goes.

When Robert Redford, the actor of the movie Jeremiah Johnson, had the Green River Rifle Works make him a Hawken, he didn't like the new look. Carney, who worked there, told me the builders then took turns beating dents into the stock with tools. I also heard, and it might be true, that Redford tied a lasso to the rifle and dragged it down a gravel road behind his pickup.

Here I am hunting elk with my first Bridger.View attachment 114257

Great picture. Did ya get one?

 

[Rifleman1776]

A 1-48 twist is a compromise for either round ball of conical. If you load a round ball too heavy. you lose accuracy. Dedicated round ball rifles are better off with 1-66 or 1-70 twist rate. Round balls have almost no sectional density and need very little spin.

Heartily disagree. My experience is the 1:48 is a very forgiving rate of twist for 'almost' (I have not shot all calibers) all calibers. The slower twists require heavier charges to find their sweet spot. A .54 with 1:72" twist I once had required shoulder injuring heavy charges before it would group. My 1:48s, mostly .45 cal, performed beautifully with as little as 45 gr real bp but held their groups when the charges were upped for longer ranges or hunting. There has to be a reason why museum examples are overwhelmingly found to be 1:48. The knew something back then we are still discovering.

 

[FishDFly]

After 192 years why did 1 in 48 suddenly go bad.

Inquiring minds are wondering?

Is it 'cause of the www.?

 

[Stony Broke]

After 192 years why did 1 in 48 suddenly go bad.

Inquiring minds are wondering?

Is it 'cause of the www.?

I wouldn't necessarily say the 1-48 went bad......nowdays there are just opinions all over the place !! It sorta seems like no matter what a guy starts a conversation over when it comes to this stuff, somebody else will have a different way of doing it, or different products likes lubes and stuff..... Lots of opinions out there....and I have to say I like some of them !!

 

[Herb]

Flashpoint, I did not get my bull elk that trip. My daughter Linda was with me, not hunting. We were easing through the Jack-pines following an elk trail when I saw one about 60 feet away, the body but not the head. Could have been a spike bull. Before I could shift to see the head (I needed to see horns to shoot), it ran off.

Another hunt was more interesting. Larry and I were hunting up Dry Fork. He with a .58 flint fullstock Hawken I'd made and me with a 24" barreled .58 flint Leman I'd made. He climbed 1200 feet up a steep mountain to get to the open top, and saw elk there. I stayed on the valley floor and said "Jim Bridger, help me find a bull elk". After about 20 minutes I saw elk about 150 yards away, walking to the left. Got the binocs on them, all cows. I eased towards them and saw an elk about 75 yards to the left. I knew it was a bull by the size and color, but couldn't see the head. I needed to see antlers to shoot. I eased a step ahead and the animal ran. Soon I was almost run into by about 5 or 6 elk, maybe 50 yards away. Before I could see horns, they all ran. Well, Bridger didn't need to see horns to shoot, but I think he helped me!

After a while it began to get dark. I hadn't heard Larry shoot, and the last thing I wanted to hear was his shot and then more to signal me to climb that mountain and drag an elk down. He finally showed up at dark and said he thought he was going to get killed or have a heart attack climbing through the deadfall timber back down that mountain. And him maybe 25 years younger than me.

 

[nkbj]

Aint it amazing how corrective lenses have changed shooting.
The Hawken brothers could have made a killing on good cheaters.

 

[Mogadishu Meanderer]

My renegade is unbelievably good shooting a PRB and it has 1-48 twist. Anyone who says a 1-48 cannot shoot a ball is full of it.

I wasn’t going to post since these thread are getting old but you are 100% right! My Hawkens (4 of them) all TCs shoot on ragged hole at 50yds. They all have a 1-48”. I think the loads is universal, 70 grs of FFFg, .495 PRB cast from anRCBS mold, .010 pillow thickin’ and 1075!… a steady but of awesome smelling coconut oil for lube. They are wonderful shooting guns! Now, may I should start a new thread,” “is the 45 good enough for deer?”

 

[user 36911]

We all have our own definition of shooting well. I don't believe 50yds is a good test.

As I said. Look at target guns that shoot a PRB. See if you find a shallow rifled 1-48 twist. Good luck.

 

[Hesp]

I agree. See 75 yds as a minimum for big game. Should be more like 100yds. If I am going to buy a big game ML it needs to be accurate to 100yds. IMHO.

 

[Nor'Easter]

I would add - with a defined level of accuracy, like all 3 or 5 shots into 2" @ 50yd, and 4" at 100yd. No fliers accepted if your talking hunting accuracy. My dad defines "good" accuracy with an unmentionable as all shots on or touching a white paper plate at 50yd. My definition of the same is 5 shots in a hole that is 2x bore diameter.

 

[user 36911]

I like a nice tidy group of 1" at 75ds. That's my max hunting shot on elk with a PRB.