Here's a company that makes conicals designed to shoot in slow twist barrels. Anyone have experience with them? PR Bullets

Ian

No, but I know Hornady makes a conical for 1:66 or slower twists. Also, I personally use the Buffalo Ballet in my T/C Hawken 54. Shoots very well.

thanks, I'll go have a gander at the Hornady site.

Good shooting,
Ian

I have a Traditions Hawken rifle with a 1:66" twist that very much likes the 300-grain CVA Buckslayer bullet. This is a very short, cast-lead bullet with a modified hollow base. Hunting accuracy with open sights is acceptable up to about 100 yards, which is better than the same gun with round ball.

I saw their literature about a conical for slow-twist barrels. I contacted them for a recommendation for a bullet for a 1/66" twist .54. Their response was "use round balls, the 1/66 twist is too slow for any conical." Well, it isn't THAT much slower than a 1/60", and we KNOW that the .58's in the Civil War shot 530-grain Minies out of 1/72" twists, so PR's credibility went down the tubes right then and there, as far as I'm concerned!!

BTW, I use the Lyman # 57730 flat-nose Minie in my Green River Rifle Works .577" 1/60" twist barrel, and it shoots just fine! This bullet weighs 570 grains.

[ 10-12-2003, 19:23: Message edited by: eldeguello ]

Hi eldeguello,
Have to agree 100% on what you say about conical bullets shooting in slow twist rifles. THEY WILL SHOOT!
I believe my 1861 Colt in .58 cal prefers a good long, heavy, bullet to Round Ball & Patch, Albeit she does that pretty well too.
I have read, and heard, many discussions regading the twist rate thing in Muzzle loaders. I don't think it is as "carved-in-stone" as many would have us think. 1:48 / 1:60 / 1:66 / 1:72 all seem to perform with excellent results using the right conical bullet.
I shoot a .50, .54, and a .58 all with different twist rates, and all with conical bullets. On the other side of the coin I also shoot PRB in all three rifles with very good results.
So, where is this "Twist rate preference", and how is it established? If I had a Long Range ML I would prefer, actualy insist, on having a .45 cal
(.451) with a 1:22 twist. But since I ain't shooting at 800 / 1,000 yds, and unless you are interested in this, (and many are interested) I don't see where all the disagreement comes in about twist rate in a Hunting Rifle.
Unfortunately, I have never learned to appreciate the in-lines and can't say about them, but I have been Muzzle Loading for over 30 years and can speak with some experience on these.
It is a matter of finding the right bullet / load for your gun.
Sorry I got long winded.
Respectfully, Russ

I saw that the Hornady "Pennsylvania" conical for 54 cal is 295gr... kind of a short stubby thing, so I bought a Lee 300gr R.E.A.L. conical mold to try in my Great Plains 60 twist. We shall see how it does.

Ian

The 250gr Lee REAL over a Wonder Wad out of my 1/66" 50cal CVA Frontier rifle holds 2" groups at 100yd off a bench, so I know they work.

In my Browning's I shoot the "Ballet" with the 1-66" twist, they work great.