TC Black Mountain Magnum Westerner

[Pacobillie]

I have an opportunity to buy a TC Black Mountain Magnum Westerner in .54 caliber at a decent price. The barrel twist rate is 1:38 inches. Is there any possibility of this rifle being a good PRB shooter, or will it be strictly a conical bullet shooter?

It has the QLA muzzle. I have read stories about QLA guns being inaccurate with bore size conicals. Is there any truth to that?

 

[ebiggs1]

You have to shoot it, no one can just tell you it will or it won't.
I rarely shoot anything but RB's but I really like the QLA barrel for them.

 

[Pacobillie]

Unfortunately, shooting it beforehand is not an option. The Seller is a few thousand miles away. That is why I am asking these questions here.

 

[ebiggs1]

Than no one can positively say. But 1:38 ROT would not be my first choice.

 

[smokeum54]

i was wondering the same thing a few days ago. my uncle has a cabelas hawken with a unmarked barrel,QLA muzzle and 1 in 28 twist. i took five quick shots at 40yds. with 30 grains of 2f .018 spit patch and a .490 rb. this is what happened.

my uncle wants me to see if i can work up a stronger load when i have more time. he shoots 320 grain REAL bullets in a two inch group at 80yds. but the recoil gets to him. but like the others said, you have to try it to see what it does. also this was shot standing with one hand braced on a post so it might group better than this.

 

[ChrisHarris]

My only experience with a fast twist barrel (1:24) was not good for patched round balls. I did not know it had that twist when I bought it. I couldn't get it to group worth a darn. I tried a bunch of different loads and patch lubes. It was all over the place with the balls.

That rifle was a 54 flintlock with 1:24 barrel.

My next rifle was a Thompson Center .45 Hawken with 1:48 twist barrel. It shot a LOT better. 3 inch groups with 50gr 3F Goex powder.

Then I bought a Green Mountain drop-in barrel for that rifle. It's 54 (fifty four) with 1:70 twist. It shoots 1.5 inch groups.

There's a reason why just about everybody in this sport will tell you to choose a slow twist barrel for PRB. Would I buy a 1:38 barrel if I wanted to shoot PRB? Nope Can it be done? Can you buy a fast twist barrel and find a load that groups good? Sure. But why put yourself through the aggrivation? There's a couple hundred years of rifling information out there, telling us to use a slow twist barrel for PRB. I wouldn't try and reinvent that wheel. It's balanced and it rolls straight enough already.

 

[ebiggs1]

Did you know that a lot of the original Hawken rifles had 1:48 ROT? Others of that era had even faster twists! Still shot RB's pretty well. :hmm:

 

[damron]

Did you know that a lot of the original Hawken rifles had 1:48 ROT? Others of that era had even faster twists! Still shot RB's pretty well. :hmm:

My 1-48 TC 54's and 50's shoot with RB very well.An older fellow i know who was shooting back at Friendship when there were no replicas said they used Trapdoor barrels(1-22 i believe) to build rifles and they shot well also.I am not sure but maybe top end charges might not shoot as well but i seldom shoot balls to the walls anyhow.

George

 

[RedFeather]

I have a ,50 T/C Black Powder Express (Gander Mountain run from a good while back) and it has that same twist. Have not tried round ball in it yet but the fellow who sold it to me said he won a couple of egg shoots with it. I think you will have to dial the powder charge down, though. Not sure why T/C used that odd twist. They must have had a short conical in mind for it.

 

[Zonie]

First off let me say that there is nothing wrong with a 1:48 twist.

That said, people get hung up on this "twist" issue when speaking of a good or bad patched roundball shooting barrel when they actually should be talking about "rifling depth" instead.

A barrel with a 1:28 or a 1:60 twist will shoot a patched roundball just fine if the rifling is .005 or deeper.

A barrel with a 1:50 or a 1:72 twist won't shoot a patched roundball worth a damn if the rifling is only .001 or .0015 deep (like modern cartridge barrels).

 

[10_point]

My t-c hawkins 50 cal, shoots round ball real nice, and i had some REAL BULLETS, and they shot really bad,,shooting low and to the left by 2 foot.and i shot 375 grain maxi-ball and they shot high and right about a foot, This was shooting at 100 yards. Just have to try to work a load up for them and try again.

 

[ryoung14]

PM sent.

 

[damron]

Most modern CF button barrels are roughly .003 to .004 depth.I agree with depth over twist with accuracy in round ball 100%

George

 

[Pacobillie]

Too many ifs. I have decided against buying it.

I just found a .54 Lyman GPR at a similar price and I trust that it will have no problems shooting round balls accurately.