Question ..... What would be the best rate of twist in a .40 caliber muzzle-loading barrel?

[Buck Conner1]

Hey Lewis have a question for you and the guys.

What would be the best rate of twist in a .40 caliber muzzle-loading barrel? Standard with most of these barrel makers is 1-48 with no other choices. I'm thinking a 1-32-38 twist would shoot better at a 100 yards or further? What are your thoughts?

Buck

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[outdoorsman1]

Round ball or conical? Conical I would go 1:16 twist

Not sure but probably in the 60’s or 70’s for rb

 

[Buck Conner1]

QUOTE="knifemaker3, post: 126163, member: 4727"]
Round ball or conical? Conical I would go 1:16 twist

Not sure but probably in the 60’s or 70’s for rb
[/QUOTE]
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Conical: ?

Round Ball: ?

I'm thinking which one for the least amount of work, lubing, patch or no patch, etc. ? I never have played around much with conical (shot some with a musket 50 years ago). Too damn old to remember what we did back then......
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Barrel choices
RICE BARREL
TAPERED BARREL
Hawken tapered octagon barrel w/out plug square bottom rifling.
Hawken Taper barrels available in lengths of 34".
Available 1" to 7/8" taper....$250
With plug installed add...$25
With radius bottom rifling add...$20
Hawken Taper barrels are available in lengths of 34"-36" only!
2 sizes available 1 1/8" to 1" and 1" to 7/8"
Available 7/8" taper....$250 with plug installed...$25 and radius bottom rifling...$20
Hawken Taper barrels are available in lengths of 34" available 1" to 7/8"

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Green Mountain has 13/16 barrels only for .40 caliber. Want a 7/8 barrel
Colerain has 13/16 and 15/16 barrels only for .40 calibers. Want a 7/8 barrel
Getz is out of business.
Colerain has the size of barrel and caliber needed... $170 ???

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[Billy-by-gosh]

Hi Buck,
Looking over the possibilities, if you choose to shoot with patched RB, the twist rate for calibers 40 on down is usually close to the bore diameter, or between 1:38 to 1:48 inches. The RPMs required to stabilize a small ball need more twist than big bores, so the 60-70 twists aren't very desirable on these.

If you want to use conicals, you could utilize a light short bullet and still have that same twist rate. HOWEVER, if you stick with longer/heavier bullets, then stabilizing those requires the twist rate to speed up considerably, depending on how big the projectile is (I would look at rates of 1:16 to 1:32).
Another possibility is 10mm bore, which has lands at.390 with grooves at .400 so the twist rate data is the same. Not sure what stock is available, but something to consider if you end up having to get a custom barrel made.
Fun project you have going here - keep us posted!

 

[Buck Conner1]

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Thank you for the input, interesting Billy.

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