Round ball barrel or?

[ET]

I haven’t determined the rate of twist yet but the barrel mics out at .455 lands with wide .475 grooves. Take a look at the muzzle, and let me know what you think I should be shooting in it. I plan to try and determine the rate of twist.

[stubshaft]

I'd try roundball first.

[stikshooter]

.010 difference gives a patched round ball plenty of traction and probably gas cutting with boolits without wad stacks ,most likely roundball /check twist rate for certain .

[ET]

At one time (about 30 years ago) I shot a lot of competition at the local hunting clubs. I shot round balls only. It’s been a while since I’ve shot my muzzle loaders, and I just needed to think about it a little while and try to determine the rate of twist of this old rifle that I recently acquired. I did that this morning by using a cleaning rod with a swiveling handle and making a tight fitting jag with oil on it. Then using a few pieces of masking tape and marking a line on the tape pieces and watching it turn around  as I pushed the rod all the way in and then pulling it out to make sure it was rotating fully My Barrel is 32” long, and I found that the rod rotated about one half turn in 32” (so it’s about one turn in 66”) Best twist for round ball.  I have some .440 diameter round balls and they seem to start into the barrel a little tight with a .015 patch. I think I am ready to go shooting. I think I’m going to use a 50 grain load of black powder to see how well this old rifle shoots. It’s over 150 years old, but the bore is clear, smooth, and the rifling seems to be really good and strong. I can’t wait to try it out. I will post a few pictures of my targets as soon as I can try it out.  I posted a few pictures checking the rate of twist.   








ammonium sulphate crystals

[smylee grouch]

Some of those rifles with the turned muzzle were rifled for a sugar loaf bullet, a stubby elongated affair about 1 and 1/2 bullet dia. long. They were started into the bore with a false starter of sorts I think.

[rich pierce]

With that twist a round ball should work fine.  Good luck and keep us posted!

[Hungry Horse]

Most of the old target guns I’ve examined with a turned muzzle were designed to shoot a bullet. Twist rates of 1in 66” are pretty accurate, but in a .45 cal. 1 In 56” is considered the best by many. Some of these were gain twist, making them hard to figure out.

  Hungry Horse

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Your rifle's muzzle has been turned to use a bullet starter which introduces a PATCHED short slug perfectly in line with the axis of the bore.  The grooves are narrower than the lands, and have been filed just slightly deeper than the rest of the grooves.  The lands too have had their edges broken just enough to facilitate loading.  Nice find!

[ET]

You can see more about the rifle in my post on the Antique Gun collecting forum P.A. Reinhard Rifle. The gun was originally built for a two piece bullet with a starter, but was re-bored to a larger bore, and evidently bored/rifled for a round ball.