Measureing twist rate???

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The old method you always hear about which I have never found all that accurate but will give you an approximate guess, is to place a mark on the crown of the muzzle of your rifle. Put a second mark as exactly opposite of the circle of the muzzle as possible. You now have a half way point. Now put a tight fitting patch on a ramrod and push the to the bottom of the breech. Where the marks sits, put an identical mark on your ramrod. This marks the starting point on the ramrod to where it was in relation to the start of the twist and the depth of the barrel.

We know that in a 1-48 twist barrel the mark on the ramrod should rotate one complete circle in 48 inches. The same holds true for a 1-28 twist, again the mark on the ramrod should make one complete revolution in 28 inches.

As you pull the ramrod up the barrel, let it rotate. When the mark on the ramrod reaches approximately what you consider the half way mark on the crown of the muzzle and that on the ramrod, measure the distance the ramrod has moved up the barrel from the starting point. Lets say it moved fourteen inches to the half way mark. That would indicate you have a 1-28 twist when you multiply fourteen by two (for the half way mark). For example the ramrod moved approximately twenty four inches up out of the barrel to the half way mark. That would indicate a 1-48 twist, and so on.

I have tried this with different barrels and it will get you close, but unfortunately not all patches seem to want to spin on the ramrod as well as other. I always oil the patch real good but make it fit tight. Then it can grab the rifling and spin at the same time.

A much more accurate way is to ask the manufacturer of the barrel if possible. They normally have records of the barrel. I'm not saying this ramrod method will work every time but this was how I was told to figure it.
 
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