What weight boolit?

[Freightman]

Have a old rolling block in 45/70 made in 1883 it has 1:26 twist rate so I was wondering which boolit it is going to use the best. I have a 275gr fp, 300gr fp, 405 HB, 450fpgc and a 500gr fpgc moulds.
Thanks

[missionary5155]

Good evening My 1884 trapdoor (1-22 twist if I remember right) shoots 400 -500 PB well if they are over .462 diameter. Case full of 2f compressed some. I have a 350 PB mold that wolks well if the boolit is bumped up to .463 Not tried any light wieghts. I do not remember what my modern Winny twist is but it fires the 350 PB REAL good at 1600+ fps or with a case full of 2F compressed.
I would think with your twist the 500 may be stable but better with a higher velocity. The lighter boolits should fly fine. Just be sure to slug that chamber area and fill it up.

[JSnover]

I'd post a link but i'm incompetent :)
Hit the 'search' button in the right side of the tool bar (under the welcome box). type in "twist rates and bullet weights" you'll get a pretty good thread on how to pick the right weight.

[Freightman]

Darn! I guess I am going to have to load some of all of them and make a trip to the range "Darn"!

[northmn]

If you consider that Winchester had slower twists for their lever guns to use "Express" loads your RB is likely to like the lower weights, probably up to and including the bullets like the 457193 or 422 grains. About the time one suggests that someone will tell you how great of groups they get with a heavier bullet, but my guess is that that may be the purpose og the slower twist.

Northmn

[Larry Gibson]

I concur with northmn. Your RB will do well with 300-425 gr bullets. It also probably has the regular .457/.458 groove depth of the commercial 45-70s, even back then. The TDs were the odd balls with the larger groove depth barrels. Would pay to slug the bore and throat anyway.

Larry Gibson

[NickSS]

The 1 in 26 twist rate was what winchester used for their express loads. They were all loaded with 300 gr bullets in 45 caliber. a 1in 22 or faster will work fine with 400 gr and up. Modern long range competitors have found that 1 in 18 or even 1 in 16 works ever better with boolits over 500 gr.