Pistol Rifling Twist

[wtilenw]

I have been looking at several Blackpowder Pistols such as the Lyman and others since I shot a Blackpowder Pistol for the first time today and was suprised to find they seem to have a much faster twist than the rifles. What is the reasoning behind this and is this typical?
Idaho PRB

 

[John Taylor]

A pistol can not get the same velocity as a rifle so the ball is not spinning as fast. to increes the spin at a lower velocity needs a faster rate of twist.

 

[wtilenw]

:winking: "I see" said the blind man to the deaf girl.
Idaho PRB

 

[SAJones]

Also why cutoff rifle barrels don't work so well. Yeah, made one like that; bought a "pistol" barrel cheap but turned out to be a piece of rifle barrel. So much for good deals.

 

[John Taylor]

I have a couple of 50 cal barrels for pistol with a 1 in 22 twist. I have cut twist rates at 1 in 8.5" for a special order. I had a 54 pistol with a 1 in 22" that shot great. I have been told that at randes less than 25 yards that a smooth bore will shoot as good as a rifled bore but have not been able to prove it.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

We do know that smoothbore long guns can put them all in the same hole at 25 yards so I don't see why a smoothbore pistol would not. I think smoothbore pistols were common because they were easier to load than a tight fitting ball for a rifled gun and pistols were thought of as having only a little longer effective range than a sword, which in real combat is probably true, especially from horseback. :grin:

 

[Roy]

I made my first pistol using a cut off .50 cal rifle barrel. With 22 1/2 grns of 2F made pretty little clover leafs at 25 yds.