Antique barrel overhaul. Depth and twist?

[Dusty_Traveler]

Good morning gents.

I have a barrel I'll be sending to Mr. Hoyt for a liner. The bore measures .413, and is at max due to breechplug size.

I'm wanting the bore diameter in the neighborhood of .357-358". This way I can shoot a sized-to-fit pure lead hollow base wadcutter. I'd also like to get some hands on experience with paper patching. 99% of my experience has been with patched round ball. 1% with Minie's.

In your opinion, what would be the best performing: rifling profile, depth, and rate of twist for wadcutter and longer paper patched projectiles? The barrel is 35" long.

[Nobade]

I built a 35 caliber inline with a modern cartridge rifle barrel, so it has 6 groove rifling .004" deep on a side. (most modern barrels are similar depth except 375) 1:14 twist. It does exceptionally well, both with grease groove and paper patch bullets. I had always wished I could get something like you are proposing, so I could shoot 35 caliber bullets out of normal moulds. I would think that Mr. Hoyt could give you good guidance on the subject as well.

[freakonaleash]

Talk to hoyt about it. He does this stuff all the time.

[Woodnbow]

Bobby will advise you, when I asked him about bullet shooting for my 40 caliber rifle he suggested 1:14 for up to 420 grain bullets and it’s been brilliant. Beware of fouling with the smaller bores. With loads over 60 grain or so it fouls badly enough that I just clean the breech thoroughly between shots. This is the TC breech and if I build another 40 it will use a different breech. The one Jason at Rice barrels provides is a much improved version and still compatible with the TC rifles.

[Sandro_ventania]

I built a 35 caliber inline with a modern cartridge rifle barrel, so it has 6 groove rifling .004" deep on a side. (most modern barrels are similar depth except 375) 1:14 twist. It does exceptionally well, both with grease groove and paper patch bullets. I had always wished I could get something like you are proposing, so I could shoot 35 caliber bullets out of normal moulds. I would think that Mr. Hoyt could give you good guidance on the subject as well.

I have a barrel like this too, but in 1:12 and I'm afraid to use it, as I'm afraid the bullet won't be able to grip the rifle with a strong twist. Do you believe it will work?? Have you ever seen anything like it? 1:14 is close...it gave me hope.

[Nobade]

I have a barrel like this too, but in 1:12 and I'm afraid to use it, as I'm afraid the bullet won't be able to grip the rifle with a strong twist. Do you believe it will work?? Have you ever seen anything like it? 1:14 is close...it gave me hope.

It should work fine. People are using 1:12 38-55 guns for silhouette and long range with good effect. The main thing is going to be having a bullet the right length to work with the fast twist. I suspect you are going to be around 300 grains or a bit more. I am using 250 grain ones in my rifle.