barrel twist for .45-70, maximum flexibility wanted

[bufflernickl]

I'm considering building a .45-70 rifle on a Ruger #3 action.

Can anyone recommend a twist for the .45-70 for a wide range of bullets and velocities? Since this is on a Ruger action, I might be shooting 300 gr. jacketed at 2500 fps or 550 gr lead at 1350. I'd also like to shoot both smokeless and "real" powder.

[John Traveler]

The old Springfield Armory M1873 standard .45-70 twist was 1-in-22", and was considered standard for all bullet weights up to the 500 grain slugs at 1300-1400 fps.  Winchester and Marlin also standardized on that rate and kept it for many years.

Modern BPCR shooters seem to prefer the 1-in-20 or 1-in-18" rates for better performance in long barrels and the longer 500 + grain bullets.

Modern Brownings use Badger barrels, and that may explain why they use the faster rates as well.

I'd go with something like the 1-in-20" or 1-in-18" twist offered by Douglas, Badger, Green Mountain, etc for all bullet weights.

HTH
John

[marlinman93]

My rebarreled Ballard #4 in .45-70 has a 1-18" Green Mountain barrel, that is 34" long. As John mentioned, if you plan on using a longer barrel, such as a 32-34", I would go for the 1-18". Mine shoots everything from 300 grain to 550 grain bullets, with equal accuracy. I do however only shoot cast bullets in mine, and never more than 1500 fps. My favorite loads are usually about 1350-1400 fps.
 Hope this helps.

[Larry Gibson]

bufflernickl

"I'm considering building a .45-70 rifle on a Ruger #3 action.

Can anyone recommend a twist for the .45-70 for a wide range of bullets and velocities? Since this is on a Ruger action, I might be shooting 300 gr. jacketed at 2500 fps or 550 gr lead at 1350. I'd also like to shoot both smokeless and "real" powder.[/quote]"

I have a 45-70 (I refer to it as a .450-400-70) on a Siamese Mauser action.  The twist is 1-22 and is quite sufficient for the 275 gr cast at 1050 fps, cast 400 gr at 1200 to 2100 fps, Barnes 400 gr SPs at 2300 fps and 510 gr between 1100 and 2050 fps.  Accuracy is excellent across the spectrum of bullet weights and velocities.  The BPCR shooters use a 1-18 for the heavier bullets at longer ranges but I've shot lots of 500 gr bullets at 1000 yards with the 1-22 twist of my trapdoor with equal and excellent accuracy.  Both the 1-18 and 1-22 will do nicely, basicly just take your pick.

Larry Gibson