Shooting Round Ball in Fast Twist barrel

[Gary Conway]

I'm tempted to buy one of those Pedersoli Gibbs .40 cal long range muzzleloaders.  It has a 1:24 twist.  Can one fire a ball in that kind of barrel?  .395 balls are cheap and easy to come by.   

[Harnic]

I haven't fired round balls in a muzzle loader with a twist that fast Gary, but I have in my 45-70, used .457 balls for my Ruger Old Army cap & ball revolver.  In the 1:20 twist & light loads it give exceptional short range (out to around 75 yards) accuracy.  I see no reason why the same wouldn't be true in that barrel.  It may not like heavy loads, but for short range plinking & small game it should do fine imho.

[Daryl]

Considering pistol twists are usually 20" down to 18" for .45's and .40's are 16" to 18", I don't see why someone couldn't find a load that would shoot in a 24" twist.   Gary- are you sure it's a 24" twist and not faster, like 18"?  24" in a .40 is slow for a slug twist, but way faster than a RB rifle barrel twist, of course.

 One trouble with slug barrels, is the depth of rifling usually runs .004" to .005" at most. With a fast twist and shallow rifling the laod will have to be tight and slow.

Harry - are you sure the .45/70's 20" twist is slower than Gary's .40 cal. 24" twist?

[Harnic]

No Daryl, I was suggesting is the faster 1:20 twist worked with a rb, his should too. 

[BrownBear]

I've tinkered a fair bit with RBs in modern guns with fast twists- 50 cal and 54 cal though, rather than 40.

In both of those accuracy was stellar up through 50-60 grains of 3f when you had a happy match of patch and ball.  More powder than that and accuracy began to fall off.  But at 80 grains in the 50 and 90 grains in the 54, they were still "deer accurate" at 50 yards.  Somewhere in the 2-3" range from a rest, compared to around 1" with light charges.

Can't tell you how that translates to your 40, but if you aren't planning to set any new speed records, I bet it will do credibly well with lighter charges.

[Daryl]

I haven't fired round balls in a muzzle loader with a twist that fast Gary, 

Sorry Harry- I guess I misunderstood this sentence. 

[straightshooter1]

The Pedersoli Gibbs was designed to shoot elongated bullets way out there! That's why the fast twist. You might not like what you get when trying to shoot round ball with it. Just my opinion.

[Harnic]

Sorry Harry- I guess I misunderstood this sentence. 

No worries Daryl, my tired old eyes screw up frequently too! 

[Dphariss]

I'm tempted to buy one of those Pedersoli Gibbs .40 cal long range muzzleloaders.  It has a 1:24 twist.  Can one fire a ball in that kind of barrel?  .395 balls are cheap and easy to come by.   

Try it with 30 grains of powder and see how it works. 30 grains will give decent velocity with a RB is a 40.

Dan

[bob in the woods]

Ihave mentioned this before, but years ago, I had Riley Smith make me a .45 cal barrel in 1 in 18 twist
for 1000 yd shooting. I built a rifle [ flintlock] and used it with 530 gr PP bullets with some success out to 700 metres. I have shot more round ball loads through this rifle than bullets, just because I like how it holds, and there are more matches for ball shooters where I live. This rifle is absolutely deadly with a .445 ball and a pocket drill patch. Powder charge is 25 gr of FFFg.  !!!  It has won many a match for me.
Not much noise, and no recoil at all. The ball is slow, but does OK in the wind...very predictable.Probably runs around 700 FPS ?? Maybe!

[Harnic]

That sounds like a pile of fun Bob!  Cheap to shoot & accurate to boot!  Great combo. 

[Daryl]

I have mentioned this before, but years ago, I had Riley Smith make me a .45 cal barrel in 1 in 18 twist
for 1000 yd shooting. I built a rifle [ flintlock] and used it with 530 gr PP bullets with some success out to 700 metres.

I've wanted to build a rifle like that for many years. Never got around to it. My bad.   I can see it now in flint - probably better than a cap gun. I White Lightening liner untouched at about .055" and replace when it gets to .075", rather than spending copious amounts of money on a platinum lined nipple specific to slug gun shooting in a cap gun. Maybe, maybe not. Shooting RB's from the slug gun - interesting, Bob.