determining twist

[skippy 10Z]

Hi, all.  If I don't know for certain what twist is in my rifling, is there an easy way to calculate it myself?  I'm going to try to spend a day(s) out working up an optimal load for my Charles Daly Hawken 50, and was just curious, although I guess it's probably 1:48.  Probably most off the shelf rifles for hunting are 1:48 right?   Also, related to this, if any of you were to participate in BP silhouette using round ball with sidelocks only, (I just started) what would your ideal rifle look like, ie. twist, barrel length, caliber, etc...?  Thanks as usual for sharing your wisdom.  Skippy

[fffffg]

put a brush on your clean rod or jag that with a or two will be pretty tight, you can oil the patch or use hoppes so it slides well.  if a muzzeloader put the ramrod  in the bore down almost to the bottom... mark the handle so you know what possition it is in say even with the front sight..  then pull the rod up until the  rod twist halfway around for  a gun with a slow twist.. or 1/4 way twisted around in a circle, what ever works best for the barrel length..  then measure the distance the ramrod came up to turn.   if it turned a half twist multily the lenght it came up out of the barrel, multiply that by 2 for the final answer to your question.. if it turns one full twist that lenght is the barrel twist. if it turns 1/4 turn multiply lenth ramrod came out by 4 for barrel twist.. good luck dave..

[lostid]

Ok, Let's just explain twist first, we got 1-28,1-32,1-48,1-60,1-72 and lot's of others in between right?
 A 1-28 might be easiest to explain,.
1-28 means the "rifling"(aka;lands and gooves) of the bore will make "one"(1) full revlution in 28". If you could follow one of the grooves from the bottom of a 28" barrel all the way to the top, it would turn 360 degrees,a full circle.! :-) No more,no less.
 K?,now let's try a 30" barrel with a 1-60 " twist".  The twist it has will only move 1/2 way around,(180 degrees) while traveling that whole 30 inches of the barrel, follow?
 To determine an un-known twist (close anyways) you need four simple things,
 masking tape,
 a pen or pencil,
 a tape measure or ruler,
 and a darn tight patch on a brush or jag for your rod.
 
 Put yer brush/jag on the rod "tight" so it won't slip, push it down too the bottom of the barrel. Pull the rod up a bit and wrap some tape around it so you can make a clean "visable" mark on it whare it meets the muzzle while on the bottom.
 Make another mark on the tape whare the top sight is,,,,,,
The idea is to "pull" the rod till the mark you made buy the sight makes 1/4 revolution and stop! After that it's all math :? geometery too!
 If your rod mark too muzzle is 7",then it's 1-28, if it 8" then it's 1-32,if it's 12" then 1-48
 Fast twists are a bit easier,,you can usually get a 1/2 twist with the rod, then measure, I got an old .45 thats stil open for debate,,1-60 or 1-66?? depends on the light,and/or the apple pie.