Twist Rate for Browning B-78 .45-70 Barrel?

[GrayFox]

I finally got my project gun Browning 1885 rebarreled with a really fine B-78 .45-70 barrel. Boy, does that shorter tube balance nicely. I'm wondering if any of you folks know what the rate of twist is for that barrel, and if so any bullet weight recommendations. I've got the Gould 457122 330 grain and the 457193 405 grain molds now. I plan to shoot mostly Prodex Cartridge grade (got a full case) and GOEX 2f that I have on hand. Thanks for all info. GF

[powderburnerr]

my b78 when I was young and could see would shoot clover leaves at 100, loaded from an old loading manual that is way not conservitave with 300 gn bullets both cast and sierra , the 350 s never did well in my rifle and the jacketed 405s did ok but the 300s really shined,

I dont know the twist but you can figure it easily enough with a swivel handle cleaning rod and a tight patch ... doubt if it is faster than 20 as there wasnt much bp shooting of it in the 70s when mine was built.

[bigted]

my newer traditional hunter barrels are both 1 in 18 twist. dont know if the older B-78 barrels were different.

if they are the 18 twist then the 500ish boolits will work very well ahead of 68 to 70 grains black powder...2f goex....as i recently found out thru much grinding of teeth and a year of poor experiment...load that boolit out to touch the lands of the rifling enough to mark the boolit....this should put you on the road to happy shooting with these cool rifles.

dont know anything bout the other powder you mentioned tho!

[montana_charlie]

I finally got my project gun Browning 1885 rebarreled with a really fine B-78 .45-70 barrel. Boy, does that shorter tube balance nicely. I'm wondering if any of you folks know what the rate of twist is for that barrel,
I don't know the answer to your question, although it can probably be discovered with some time spent on Google.

But, are you saying that you have the barrel in your hand ... and you are asking us what the twist is?

CM

[Gunlaker]

The twist should be 1:20.

Chris.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Mine from the early 70s shot all bullet weights from the Gould to the 500 Government , black or smokeless very well. It shot patched up Mauser (11MM) lead bullets nicely too. I had the heel of that atrocious butplate milled off. It was a killer with any amount of recoil and you could take your loads there for sure.

BvT

[texasmac]

As Chris noted, the twist rate should be 1:20. Keep in mind that the twist rate was optimized to handle bullets in the 300gr range for hunting. 400gr or so should work fine, but I would expect that bullets exceeding 500gr would be marginal at long range as the twist rate would be a tad slow for optimum accuracy. With that said, the Browning 45-70 BPCR has a 1:18 twist (not that far from 1:20) and handles 500gr+ bullets extremely well.

Wayne

[GrayFox]

Thanks for the info, guys. I've got a batch of 457193s cast of ACWW that I'll run throught the .460 sizer and load atop a case full of Pyrodex Cartridge Grade and go make smoke and punch holes in some paper.

[bigted]

were you just cussing with that 'P' word???