Many times, I will feel the projectile turning as it goes down the bore of the barrel against the rifling. That tight spot your feeling could be fowling, hard to say and then when you said it gets to the bottom again, you'd have to look after you clean it and see if you can see the rifling real good down there.

What sabots are you shooting with that 1-48 twist? Curious is all. I have shot some T/C Cheap Shots out of my Hawkins and they did real good. I get better luck with ball-et, conicals, or roundball.

If you want to see down the bore, take a brass casing from a 30-30 rifleand some Brasso Polish and polish that casing up nice and bright.(I useit on my .50 calibers) Then a little electrical tape on the nose of the casing (use a small screw driver to tuck the tape in)so it does not scratch anything, and drop that down the bore. It should fit. If not go to something smaller then a 30-30. After it falls down to the bottom of the bore, shine a flashlight down the barrel and inspect the rifling.

If the rifle is old you will see scratches on the inside walls of the bore, but that's not a big deal. Look to make sure you can follow the groves all the way down the bore and that they are nice and clean. Also you can look for rust spots in there... Its a cheap bore light is all....

I also, every so often take a Q-tips and dip into that Brasso and use it on the patch box, but plate, trigger guard, nose cap and ram rod eyes. Smear that on and let it sit a few minutes then take a old sock and polish all that off. (You will see the black oxidation come off) and your rifle will shine like new. I also use it to brighten my breech plugs in my inline rifles...