1/48 twist & round ball?

[Hesp]

I am looking for a 54 cal percussion ML . I will be shooting round ball ONLY !! I see rifles for sale that appeal to me but with a 1/48 twist. My ML rifles in the past have been 1/60 , or 1/66. Can any one assure me a 1/48 twist will give as good of accuracy with the RB as a 1/60 twist ?

 

[user 48679]

Nobody can assure you that what you buy may/may not be as accurate as accurate as your 1/60 & 1/66 rifles - they can only tell you their different experiences with their rifles.

IME, different 1/48 barrels will give slightly different accuracy results, just like 1/60 & 1/66 rifles.

The only way to determine the accuracy of a particular rifle of any twist would be to shoot it with various powder grades/charges.

 

[Des52]

Well the Hawkens where made with 1/48 so there is that. The main thing is the depth of the rifling. Patched round balls need deep rifling for accuracy. A lot of them where made with shallow rifling, TCs come to mind to shoot maxis and conicals. What rifles you are considering? As far as it goes I have had good groups with my TC Renegade with roundballs, with a tight patch and ball.

 

[Old Hawkeye]

It's not the twist rate so much as it is the depth of the rifling. Your 60 twist barrel will have deep rifling, possibly .010" to .012", that makes it easier for a PRB to engage the rifling. If a 48 twist barrel has the same depth of rifling you should have no problems. All the old original Hawken rifles had a 48 twist, but they also had deep rifling. Some of the 48 twist barrels, designed for conicals, with very shallow rifling, say .004", can allow the PRB to slip the rifling with too small a ball & too thin of a patch & large powder charges. Other 48 twist barrels have a slightly deeper rifling, say .006" or more, which will help eliminate "slipping". All 48 twist barrels will shoot a PRB. It's just a matter of finding the right ball, patch, powder charge combination that gives the best accuracy the barrel is capable of. If you are looking for large powder charge loads & max velocity a slow twist, deep rifled barrel may be a better choice, but as Pietro said, you never know till you try. The most accurate ML I have is a 58 cal, 48 twist, with PRB over 55 grains of FFg.

 

[user 36911]

I like deep rifling and slow twist. It can handle heavy powder loads better.

 

[necchi]

Can any one assure me a 1/48 twist will give as good of accuracy with the RB as a 1/60 twist ?

Nope.
An option may be to find a rifle you want in .50 and send the barrel off to Bob Hoyt to re-bore into a 54 slow twist.(?)

 

[user 36911]

Nope.
An option may be to find a rifle you want in .50 and send the barrel off to Bob Hoyt to re-bore into a 54 slow twist.(?)

Pretty much what i'm doing so I can hunt for elk in Colorado. One thing we can all agree on is if Bobby bores it out it will be a good shooter.

 

[Hesp]

Not familiar with Bob Hoyt. Any contact info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[user 36911]

Bobby Hoyt 1-717-642-6696

 

[martin9]

Yes, the 1-48" will give you good accuracy. You can't really pour the powder to the 1-48" twist as much as you can the 1-66 but other than that it'll shoot just as well. Folks get stuck on "roundball twist' that's just a term TC or green mountain came up with back in the day. A lot of original jaegers have a 1-20ish" twist. They wouldn't have built so many like that if they didn't shoot.

 

[Danny Ross]

My buddy's youngest boy (36 years old then) has a 54 cal TC Renegade with a 1:48 twist. I went to the range with him when he sighted it in with real Black Powder, he had been using Pyrodex Select previously. With that powder he was having inconsistent results, a lot of flyers. Some folks on here had been using 3F for their 54's and had good results. So I told him to get a pound of it and meet me at the range. When we started with the 3F and he started shooting his groups weren't that great, a little better than the Pyrodex, but not much. So I had him try some of my 2F. We started at 80grs and then went to 90grs. When he used the 90grs he was shooting lights out. This was all at 50yds, so I traded his 3F for my 2F, pound for pound. Point is you will have to figure out your powder charge and granulation that works best for the rifle you have. That fall I watched him take a doe at about 70yds in a slate pond and saw the ball skip on the ground some yards behind it. His first with a sidelock. So a 1:48 works very well. Look at it this way it is no different than working up a load for a cartridge rifle, except you are loading it from the muzzle each shot instead of in a case. EVERY rifle is different (even from the same manufacture) in what it prefers, you just have to see what yours likes for its best capability with you shooting it. DANNY

 

[hanshi]

Twists of 1-48" was a common rifle twist in the old days and is still a good one. I've gotten excellent accuracy in 3 .50s with that twist rate. It will work just fine.

 

[Bigpete]

My Dikar has 1:48 twist and shallow rifling and shoots round ball AND Lee minies equally as accurate AND to the same point of impact at 50m.

 

[Hesp]

WOW !!!Thanks so much for the wonderful knowledge packed reply's.. Almost makes me want to sell my Tikka stainless 6.5x55. Almost, but not really. Hope there is a 54 cal cap lock to come my way in the not too distant futhure.

 

[hunter thompson]

HERES A sidewinder at ya....Ive shot roundballs with 1 in 36 out of a T/C thunderhawk with good accuracy

 

[Tasbay]

I have both 1-48 and 1-66. As far as accuracy goes I can`t tell the difference, even off a bench.

 

[leadhoarder]

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.

 

[Des52]

My buddy's youngest boy (36 years old then) has a 54 cal TC Renegade with a 1:48 twist. I went to the range with him when he sighted it in with real Black Powder, he had been using Pyrodex Select previously. With that powder he was having inconsistent results, a lot of flyers. Some folks on here had been using 3F for their 54's and had good results. So I told him to get a pound of it and meet me at the range. When we started with the 3F and he started shooting his groups weren't that great, a little better than the Pyrodex, but not much. So I had him try some of my 2F. We started at 80grs and then went to 90grs. When he used the 90grs he was shooting lights out. This was all at 50yds, so I traded his 3F for my 2F, pound for pound. Point is you will have to figure out your powder charge and granulation that works best for the rifle you have. That fall I watched him take a doe at about 70yds in a slate pond and saw the ball skip on the ground some yards behind it. His first with a sidelock. So a 1:48 works very well. Look at it this way it is no different than working up a load for a cartridge rifle, except you are loading it from the muzzle each shot instead of in a case. EVERY rifle is different (even from the same manufacture) in what it prefers, you just have to see what yours likes for its best capability with you shooting it. DANNY

Yes my Renegade likes 90gr of 2F also. Got more deer with my Renegade than any other gun I own, most with a round ball. The sweet spot for Maxis is 110gr.

 

[SDSmlf]

Not familiar with Bob Hoyt. Any contact info would be greatly appreciated.

Bobby Hoyt
Freischutz Shop
2379 Mt Hope Rd
Fairfield, PA 17320
ph# 717-642-6696

 

[Bad Karma]

Yes, the 1-48" will give you good accuracy. You can't really pour the powder to the 1-48" twist as much as you can the 1-66 but other than that it'll shoot just as well. Folks get stuck on "roundball twist' that's just a term TC or green mountain came up with back in the day. A lot of original jaegers have a 1-20ish" twist. They wouldn't have built so many like that if they didn't shoot.

If you really find your load is skipping the rifling with heavier loads you could always send it to Mr. Hoyt or Ed Rayl and have them deepen the grooves to a round bottom configuration. You’ll have a true ball shooter for such little money you’ll be embarrassed to mention it. And yes, you can get good to great accuracy with heavier loads from the 48” twist.