re: older huntsman

[whiteoper]

 I have  an older 45 Cal H&R Huntsman (AJ28XXXX) that I can not get to shoot to the same piece of paper let alone the same point of aim.  I have a 50 cal Knight wolverine and a 50 cal TC Hawken  that both shoot very well and have proven that they can at least shoot a quarter of a minute deer when they need to.   The 45 cal was my first rifle and a gift from my grandfather.  For many years I have shot Goex ffg and ball and patch in this rifle and have been happy with big smoke and say half inch one shot groups into the brush pile.  Now that I have boys of my own coming along I would like to make a hunting rifle out of this 45.  Can anyone tell me what rate of twist my huntsman has? Any suggestions as to what loads it might like using the new Shocky powder (what the local shop hAS).  I have considered myself front stuffer proficient in the past but this little 45cal has me reconsidering.  BTW I have also tried one red dot, several scopes and several different sights on this Huntsman along the way. 

Thanks for any input
Roscoe

[Busta]

Your Huntsman is probably a 1-56", but you can find out for yourself with a tight fitting jag/patch. Take the ramrod with tight fitting patch...insert it into the barrel to the bottom...pit a piece of tape even with the muzzle...mark it wit a pen/marker even with your front sight...slowly turn it out until you get exactly 1/4 turn...stop at this point and measure from the tape back to the muzzle...should be 14" if a 1-56"...multiply the ammount of inches the ramrod traveled by 4 (14" X 4 = 56") and that should tell you the twist rate.

If your barrel had 28" of working bore you could go 1/2 turn and multiply by 2. Of course if your twist rate were faster, say 1-28 (which it definitely is not) you could go a full turn and ther would be no need to multiply.

Your gonna find that your old .45 is a roundball gun mostly, you may be able to shoot VERY SHORT bullets with some accuracy. It will probably take a lot of experimentation to figure what will work.

I bought some of the Shockey powder in FFFG, won't be buying any more either.

[PHATINJUN]

I have used Shockey ffg out of my .58 1-66"twist and it shoolts good but doesn't shoot well out of my .50's 1-28". Kurt

[whiteoper]

Busta

Thanks for the quick reply.  Looks like I need to cast some more round balls.  I will do the ram rod thing next set of days off and burn some more powder.

I will just have to get some more 777.  I seems that 777 doesn't last on my reloading bench long as it is too much fun in my other 45s (Vaquero and CR 45LC).

Roscoe

[LHitchcox]

The slow twist is designed for round balls, but a friend of mine has had pretty good accuracy with 250 gr. Lee REAL bullets in this rifle. They are short and seem to stabilize well. If you want to shoot a conical, this is probably your only possibility.

Leon