Slow Twist Pistol Barrel

[LynnC]

Im looking at buying a 45 caliber pistol with 6” barrel that has an estimated twist rate of 1 in 48. Is that enough spin to stabilize a round ball? Will it be accurate only with the stoutest charges?  All opinions welcome.
Thanks,
Lynn

[whetrock]

To what range are you looking to shoot this pistol?

[LynnC]

10-25 yards max. I doubt I would push it to 50 yards except just to say I tried. All paper punching just for the fun of it.

[Daniel Coats]

1 in 48 is a twist for rifles so are you prepared to load rifle powder charges in your pistol?

[LynnC]

Thats why I am asking. Will it require stout charges to be accurate?  If so I will pass on the pistol.

Thank you for the feedback.

[elk killer]

i built a lot of pistols with cut off slow twist barrels
at 20 to 25 yards i found very little difference with a fast twist
yes i tryed slow and fast twist barrels
i dont punch holes in paper never have
i had one slow twist barrel i think was either  8 or 9 inches
it honestly would shoot clover leaf groups all day long
when i posted pics on here of course the nay sayers commented
not possible..
its very possible and if i remember right was 20 grains of 3fff
just my experience

[Daniel Coats]

Pass, there's too many pistols out there with pistol barrels on them.

[Steeltrap]

I built a small frame individual rifle in .45 cal. I used a new GM barrel and cut off 11.5" of the barrel. Since I now had a barrel of pistol length....of course I built a pistol. Now, I knew that if this 11.5" 1-66 twist barrel didn't shoot well I could buy a Rice pistol barrel and with a little more work, "drop" it in.

This .45 cal pistol is just for plinking and fun. Now, I tried many different loads.....but it was the patch lube that made a big difference. I'm using 60gr of 3F which I know is a lot for this 45 cal. I only use 50gr for my 50 cal hunting flintlock pistol.

If the price was right I'd likely buy it.....but I would have to determine if I could replace the barrel with a fast twist pistol barrel.

[alacran]

Why I wouldn't buy the pistol, slow twist barrel and short barrel.

[Steeltrap]

Why I wouldn't buy the pistol, slow twist barrel and short barrel.

Good point on the short barrel. But if the price were right and a true pistol barrel could be installed, it may be a good buy.

[LynnC]

I want to thank everyone for their opinions and experiences. In the past 35 years among the 20 odd guns I have made I have only made two pistol, both smoothbore. Thus I have no experience with rifled pistol barrels, fast or slow twist. I really appreciate the feedback, especially the actual shooting experiences. I must say I really like the pistol and certainly have the ability to rebarrel it. Its down to do I pull the trigger or pass. Thanks Gents!  You have helped me a lot.

[Daniel Coats]

If you really like the pistol then buy it.

But I want pictures please!

[Hungry Horse]

On two occasions I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of a pistol with a 1 in 48” twist. One of these pistols I still own, and shoot. That pistol is an old Jukar .45 cal. That as I recall a friend bought in a kit for around thirty dollars. That little .45 is from the first run Jukar made of these pistols and I’m sure was made from a scrap piece of rifle barrel that they wanted to use up rather than scrap. It was given to me years ago by a friend who is long gone. I originally used it just for plinking, and as a test mule for building processes that I wanted to try, but not on a new build quite yet. The barrel of this gun is only about 8” long and I did recrown it since the factory job looked like it was done with a center punch. It shoots so well with about 50 grains of 3F that I had to quit loaning it to my shooting partner because he kept outshooting me with it. He has won events shooting this pistol against high end custom pistols, which really burns their taters.

Hungry Horse

[Steeltrap]

I think you should buy it just because It's really easy for me to spend someone else's money. And second, you can then post pics of the pistol.   

[LynnC]

HH, 50 gr is pretty much a full rifle charge. I’m glad to hear of your good results with the slow twist.

Thanks for encouragement Dan and Steeltrap. Ive been itching to buy something for a good while now. Still thinking 😉