Barrel length and twist?

[hummer]

Can someone help me out on the barrel length...which is better?  The lengths vary from 22" to 32"?
Which twist does the best for accuracy?  Most are 1-28" but Hawken has 1-48" and Austin & Halleck has 1-66" twist...need  help    Also .45 or .50 ??    What weight bullet...  &  sabot or ball?  Pellets or loose powder? 

 Looking into getting into muzzle loading for deer.  Thanks guys/gals for the help!

[Snowshoe]

Can someone help me out on the barrel length...which is better?  The lengths vary from 22" to 32"?
It depends on what you like, and want. I like the shorter barrels for carrying in the bush, and the longer ones for target shooting at a bench.
 
Which twist does the best for accuracy?  Most are 1-28" but Hawken has 1-48" and Austin & Halleck has 1-66" twist...need  help
If you want to shoot sabots or bullets go for the faster twists, 1-28" or 1-32".
If you want to shoot light to medium weight bullets, or round balls, go for the 1-48"
If you want to shoot just round balls go for the 1-66"

Also .45 or .50 ??   I prefer the .50 or .54 for hunting whitetails. I would recomend loose powder, it is cheaper and more versitile.
I have been muzzleloading for 18 years now, and have used sabots, bullets and round balls. Now I only use round balls for all my hunting, and am very pleased with the results. Good luck and have fun.

[Biff Mayhem]

Can someone help me out on the barrel length...which is better?  The lengths vary from 22" to 32"?
Which twist does the best for accuracy?  Most are 1-28" but Hawken has 1-48" and Austin & Halleck has 1-66" twist...need  help    Also .45 or .50 ??    What weight bullet...  &  sabot or ball?  Pellets or loose powder? 

 Looking into getting into muzzle loading for deer.  Thanks guys/gals for the help!

What I like better may not be what you like better.

You have to first decide if you want an inline or side-hammer percussion model. Then you need to decide if you want to use real black powder or a substitute powder like Pyrodex, Triple Se7en, American Pioneer..... etc. Then you need to decide if you want to shoot roundballs, conicals or sabots.

After that, you will get help much faster.

[hummer]

Mayhem:
Sidehammer or inline is there a difference or is it personal choice?  Round balls ..how is penitration on these or are sabots and conicals  better?  Will go for black powder not pellet since it is cheaper.
Again is length important on these large caliber rifles?
Sorry but this is all new to me....

thanks!   
 hummer

[Snowshoe]

Barrel lenght is not that important, if all you want to do is hunt with it. Like Biff said, you have to decide if you want a inline or a sidelock. Look around and find what style you like best. The new inlines with their fast rate of twist, are made to shoot sabots or bullets. A rifle with a 1 in 48" twist is made to shoot bullets or balls, and a rifle with a 1 in 66" twist is made to shoot balls only. This is only a basic look at them. You might want to do a bunch more reading before you decide what to look for.

[simonkenton]

Your first question to answer, is do you want a scope? If yes, then you need an inline.
If no, get a Lyman Great Plains Rifle, or a Thompson Center Hawken, in .50 caliber, and shoot patched round balls. You already want to use black powder, so this will give you the same hunting rig that the pioneers had before the Civil War. This is the cheapest shooting you can do.
You are too concerned with barrel length. Once a muzzle loader barrel gets past about 22 inches, you are getting about all the power out of it that can be gotten. I recall that the TC is 28 inches, and the Lyman is 32. Not much difference, just depends what feels comfortable to you.
As for penetration on round balls; don't worry. I have killed 14 wild hogs and deer with round balls and got complete pass through shots every time. Kind of bugged me, because I wanted a recovered ball to inspect. I was using the TC Hawken on most of those shots, with 80 to 90 grains of black powder. Remember, the elk herds were exterminated from Kentucky in the early 19th century by patched round balls.

[hummer]

Simonkenton;
Thanks ..
Will be hunting in the  heavy bush so a scope is useless.  Will check on the Hawken----Lymen Great Plains-----and the Thompson Centre  rifles.....in .50cal!   One of these should  do the trick.  Saw a few Hawken at the last  gun show..they always have a Hawken!  The barrel length has been well explained...I think that in heavy bush distance is not important as long as I have  up to 100yds.  Thanks for explaining the barrel length.  Don't need the extra length and weight then. 

 I am set to start looking to buy one!

Thanks again
hummer

[roundball]

For what it's worth, I have several TC Hawkens in .45/.50/.54/.58/.62cals...both cap & flint, I use patched balls hunting deer in medium thick woods in central North Carolina with my average shot being 25-75yds, take deer with all of them.


One way I like to think about it is like this:

A .50cal ML & patched ball is basically a .30-30...an open-sighted 100yds woods rifle with a good reputation as a deer rifle.

The .30-30 shoots a .308dia bullet wieghing 170grns with a MV at around 2200 fps.

The .50cal shoots a larger .490dia ball weighing 180grns with a MV at around 2100 fps.

And with about 99% of all deer being taken within 75yds, just hunt & shoot it like you would a .30-30.