Huntsman .45 cal Twist Rate

[Hammerspur]

What rate are the latter .45 cal Huntsman bbls. twisted at?

By LATTER I mean NOT those from the original H&R back in the .45/.58/12 Ga. Huntsman era.

[Busta]

The NEF Huntsman .45 calibers were never released that I am aware of. They had them in the Catalog at one time but I think they were removed from production. I think the twist was 1-20, that is a long heavy conical twist and wont shoot the short saboted bullets worth a hoot. T/C and Knight both found this out and changed their .45's to 1-28 or 1-30 because that is what most of the general public wants to shoot in them. NEF must have figured this out too late and just dropped them since the .50 cal Huntsman was and is selling so well. White has used the 1-20 twist in their .451's for years and they will shoot long heavy conicals and long heavy saboted bullets very well.

If some of the newer .45's ever did get out to the general public, I have never heard of it and I am sure if someone had one they would be more than happy to let us know here. I would love to get one in the 1-20 twist to shoot the heavy conicals out of it like I do my Whites and my .50 caliber Huntsman. My .50 caliber Huntsman will shoot the long heavy conicals (430-460 grain) right up there with my Whites and that makes me a happy camper. :grin:

[El Lobo]

Hey Busta,

I've got, in my hot little hands as I sit here, a 45 cal Huntsman......H&R Huntsman!!!   I paid $20 NIB for it about 1981...local dealer was selling them off.  

So, do I have a heavy conical rifle, or a sabot rifle??  I've only shot round ball from it.

[Busta]

You have a round ball rifle! The old H&R Huntsmans had a round ball twist. You might be able to get some very short saboted bullets or some minnies to shoot out of it. Heck, ya never know what you might get to shoot out of it, the rifle will show you what it likes. :grin:

[Hammerspur]

Busta, do you know what the twist in the old .45's is exactly?
I've never had one in my hands, though I've known of them for a long time.I have an old .58 which patches out at 1-66", but I've seen other's posts stating a different rate for them. If this is so, maybe H&R tried different rates in different model years, and maybe they did so with the .45's also...but I tend to doubt this.

If the .45 has a twist other than the 1-66" my .58 has, I'm going to guess it might be 1-48". A couple or three decades ago it seemed like every manufacturer trying out the 'muzzleloading waters' was going with one of those rates without much regard to caliber, like there was some magic figure that did all, regardless of bore size or projectile.

Even TC was rather wishy-washy about this, using 1-48" in several of their different rifles at that time. When they did jump into the fray of offering more specialized twist rates, they came out with a .54 cal Scout with a rate of 1-20", like that was THE twist for anything not shooting roundball! (Who WAS the rocket scientist was who decided on that?!  :? )

Lobo, if you could measure that bore for twist, I'd sure like to know...

[Ricci Price]

I made a barrel for my Ultra receiver it is a Adams&Bennett, 26", 1in22" twist, 458 cal. (45-70 replacement barrel). I do shoot smokeless powder in it because it is 4140 chromoly steel barrel and it shoots 1" on average @100 yrds. with 200 grn. sst bullets. I have also heard that the 1in20" will still stablize a saboted bullet. I would have preferred a slower twist but I soon found out that fast twist was the way to go. I have also shot it with pyrodex pellets with the same results.

[wgr]

the older huntsman  had a 1:58 r 1:57 twist  in 45cal at least  i had one it shot rb  good  and a 45cal mini with good results

[wgr]

i have a 50cal tc scout  with a 1:20 twist and its unreal  how it shoots 45cal   250grain bullets  black sabots  with 90 grains of black  r pryo   it will shoot 1.5 to 2 in at 100yards
 never  did shoot a 58. and it will also shoot 300grain  xtp bullets  verry well