Quote Originally Posted by floodgate View Post
Back inthe early Black Powder / Round Ball days, when rifling was first coming into common use, it was felt that the addition of twist (early "rifling" was often straight - no twist - mostly to provide a place for fouling to be deposited) held the ball back and built up pressure, so that the faster twists actually ended up giving HIGHER velocities at the muzzle. It'd be intersting to try this out, using - say- several pairs of Lyman GreatPlains barrels with "slug" and "ball" twists, th see which one actually DOES yield the higher velocity for the same powder and ball load. Hmmmm... is that an excuse to spend some more $$$$?

floodgate
I'd played with that concept a bit, and found I got greater velocity from a smooth bore than a rifled barrel, given the same powder charge and ball size.