I can not located the original manual for my old 50 cal. CVA Hawken. I'm guessing it's a 1:48 twist. I thought Iwould take the jag, shove a patch a few inches down the barrel, mark the rod at the muzzle and on its side near the top, then gently run the rod down the barrel until the top mark rotates 180 degrees, measure the length of rod movement and double this to get the twist rate. Anyone ever done this? Will it work?

yeoman

I will work - any way matehmatically it is suppose to work...

You can got to CVA web site or call them and they will provide you with a replacement manual.

And depending on how old - it probably is 1/48 but it could be a slow twist PRB gun also...

It's vintage 1975. I don't remember what twists werepopular back then. I think Disco may have been "in" though

Vintage 1975 could be a 1-66 or 1-48. There were also a rare 1:32 around.

Take a jag and put a snug fitting patch on the barrel. Push that to the bottom of the barrel. Your barrel is probably a 28 inch barrel. If it is longer then it would almost certain be the 1-66 twist. Take some white out and mark the barrel and the ramrod together. Now mark the barrel 1/4 clockwise on the barrel from the first mark.

Now carefully pull the ramrod up letting it naturally rotate with the twist of the barrel. When the mark on the ramrod reaches the second mark on the barrel, measure the distance from the dot on the ramrod to the muzzle. Let us say for instance the distance is near 12 inches. If we divide 48 by 4 we get 12. So in that barrel the projectile would have made a quarter revolution in a 1:48 twist barrel in 12 inches. If it were a 1:66 twist thw distance would be more like 16.5 inches between the dot on the ramrod and the muzzle. A 28" inline rifle with a 1:28 twist, the projectile should make a complete revolution before it exits the end of the barrel. To the quarter mark it should move about seven inches...

This is not exact, but it will give you an idea of the twist...

I'm with you on the math. I'll give it a try. I'm guessing 1:48 cause I can look down the bore with a bore light in the bottom and envision about where a complete turn would occur.