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Some Thoughts About Selecting Barrels

About
Author: yvind Flatnes
Category: Muzzleloading
Published: 09.18. 2008
Views: 66

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svartkrutt.net: Some Thoughts About Selecting...

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M/1867 Remington.
If you are thinking of purchasing a black powder rifle or pistol it may be smart to decide what you are going to use
the weapon for before you buy it. Do you want to shoot patched roundballs or mini balls? Or perhaps both? If you
don't think this though you may end up with a firearm that doesn't meet your expectations. The secret to success is
often inside the barrel.
The relationship between rifling twist, rifling depth and calibre is important. The art of rifling barrels has been
known for over 500 years, so it is not a modern invention. The rifling consists of several grooves that are cut as a
spiral inside the barrel. The task of the rifling is to give the projectile a rotating spin in the air. The spin ensures
better stability and increased accuracy. The rifling twist is perhaps the most important factor, but also the most
overlooked regarding barrel selection.

Different types of rifling.

There are many types of rifling. The most common is a barrel which is round internally with a square rifling profile.
In quality muzzleloading barrels the squared profile is sometimes rounded to ease loading and prevent the rifling
from cutting the patch. Another type of rifling is hexagonal. Inside the barrel the hexagon is cut like a spiral. This
type of rifling is called Withworth rifling. The advantage with hexagonal rifling is ease of cleaning. The Norwegian
Model 1860 kammerlader has Withworth rifling, while the Norwegian and Swedish 12 mm Remington rolling block
rifles have a kind of Withworth rifling with round bottomed rifles in the angles of the hexagon.
In the old days the barrels were rifled in rifling benches which was a time-consuming process (see the Longrifle
Project). Today few of the mass-produced black powder weapons have cut rifling. Instead the rifling is made by a
button that is pulled through the barrel. This only takes a few seconds. It is difficult to make deep button rifling and
that it the reason why many cheap muzzleloading rifles have rifling that is, in my opinion, too shallow.

Glossary
Rifling twist: The rifling twist is measured in how many turns the spiral of the rifling makes in a given length. 1 in
48" means that the spiral makes one full turn in 48".
Rifling depth: The depth of the grooves. See the illustration below.

Bore diameter and

rifling diameter.
Calibre or bore diameter: The bore diameter is the diameter across the rifling flats. In Europe the diameter is
often expressed in millimetres, while in America it is expressed in inches. Examples: .50", 9 mm, etc. Calibre
designations are often nominal. The bore diameter of a .45-70 rifle may be, for example, .458 or even .460.

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The general rule is that roundballs should have a slow twist to achieve best accuracy, while conical bullets works
best with faster twists. If you use a twist that is somewhere in between you may use both roundballs and conicals. I
addition, the rifling depth and number of grooves are factors that must be considered. Deep rifles work best with
roundballs, while shallow rifling is best suited for conical bullets.
Some black powder rifles have fast 1:18"-1:20" twists. This applies to most Sharps and Remington rolling block
replicas in .45-70 Gvt. .40 calibre rifles often have an even faster 1:16" twist. The size of the calibre influences how
fast or slow the rifling should be. Small calibre weapons must have faster twist compared to large calibre weapons.
An example from modern firearms: .17 Remington has 1:9" as standard while .308 Win. has 1:12".
This means that .40 and a .58 calibre rifle have different standards. Confused? See the list below for an overview.

Example: .50 calibre muzzleloading rifle

Let's use a .50 calibre muzzleloading rifle as example.
.50 calibre and patched roundballs:
As previously mentioned the grooves should be deep for best results with roundballs. The reason is that a piece of
cloth is used between the ball and the barrel, and to enable the rifling to get a good grip of the patch the rifling must
be deep. In a .50 calibre rifle a groove depth of .010" to .018" is suitable for roundballs.
In my opinion, the rifling twist should not be faster than 1:60". My favourite twist is the 1:72". This twist shoots well
with several different cloth thicknesses and powder charges. The disadvantage, at least to some, is that you often
have to use a heavy powder charge to achieve best possible accuracy. 1:66" is regarded by many as optimal.
The number of grooves is also a factor. Roundball barrels often have up to 8 grooves, while barrels intended to
shoot conical bullets have fewer.
.50 calibre and conical bullet
With a conical bullet it is meant bullet types such as mini balls, maxi balls, Great Plains bullets, R.E.A.L. bullets or
other long bullets. The rifling should be a bit shallower if you want to shoot conical bullets. .005" to .006" groove
depth should be adequate. With such shallow rifling the grooves get a good grip of the lead and virtually screw the
bullet out of the barrel. If the rifling is too deep the powder gases may blow by the bullet and ruin the accuracy.
1:24" to 1:28" twists should be optimal in a .50 calibre muzzleloading rifle and conical ball. If you use roundballs in
such a slow twist you may experience serious accuracy problems, but you may want to try lower charges. These
twist were actually quite common in large bore European Jaeger rifles in the 1700s, but the accuracy would
probably have been better with slower twists.
.50 calibre and both roundball and conicals
Actually, most replica muzzleloading rifles being made today are made to shoot both roundballs and conical bullets.
These rifles have what I call a compromise twist. Every compromise involves some give and take, and often the
result is just halfway satisfying. This is my experience with compromise twists.
1:48" is a compromise which allows the shooter to use both roundball and conical bullets. If you want to shoot
roundballs with a 1:48" twist you should try low charges, while conical bullets often require heavy loads. The
Hawken brothers in St. Louis used the 1:48" twist in their rifles, so the twist is actually historically correct.

Recommended twists in a give calibre

Calibre

Roundball twist

Conical twist

.36

1:48

1:16

.40

1:48

1:16, 1:18

Compromise

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.45

1:60, 1:66

1:18, 1:20

1:48

.50

1:66, 1:70, 1:72

1:24, 1:28

1:48

.54

1:70, 1:77

1:28, 1:32, 1:38

1:56

.58

1:70, 1:72, 1:83

1:32, 1:38, 1:48 *

1:60

.60
* = .58 calibre rifle muskets which were made to shoot mini balls often had 1:66", 1:72" or 1:78" twists. The
reason is that the slow twist should reduce the horizontal drift on long ranges. Still, they are accurate with mini
balls, but that they may be picky about powder charge. See the article about Rifle muskets and mini balls.

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