Rifle a smoothbore barrel

[29caliber]

I just received my $100 Green Mountain close-out .54 percussion smoothbore 15/16" barrel. In talking with GM this morning, I learned that this is the same barrel that they use for their rifled .54 barrel, which has a 1:70 turn. If I were to have this barrel rifled and wanted the option to shoot the Lee REAL and/or PRB, would the 1:48 turn be my best choice... or should I forget the 1:48 and go with either 1:28 for the Lee REAL (Is there a better slug choice for deer than the REAL?) or 1:70 for the PRB?

Who would you recommend to rifle this barrel? Thanks, Tom

 

[Rebel]

Keep that as a smoothbore and buy another $100 rifled barrel from them. It will cost you nearly that much to have that one rifled.

 

[29caliber]

I would keep this as a smoothbore but they are out of the $100 .54 rifled percussion barrels. They did, however, have one for $240 they would sell me! Tom

 

[overrev73]

Faster twists like the 1:28 or even as fast as 1:20 are usually going to be your best bet for shooting conicals like the REAL. I shoot TC Maxi-Hunters from a 1:20 carbine and the accuracy is great. The do a real number on deer too.

 

[d slocum]

:surrender: you got me. all this talk about $100 barrels I just had to order a .62 smooth. :grin:

 

[John Taylor]

I would think the 1 in 28" would be plenty fast enough. The 50-450-100 Winchester had a twist of 1 in 36" on the later 86s which was shooting a 450 grain bullet. Larger bores use a slower twist and the REAL bullet would probably work fine with a 1 in 48" twist in 54 caliber. A 1 in 20" twist is good for 500+ grain bullets in a 45 caliber.

 

[Mad Professor]

I would keep this as a smoothbore but they are out of the $100 .54 rifled percussion barrels. They did, however, have one for $240 they would sell me! Tom

Check Cains or TOTW. Besides the GM closeouts, they sell GM barrels at much below GMs list price.