Short .54 caliber
 

Anyone have an opinion about a 24 inch 1:48 inch twist .54 caliber barrel? It is a Traditions, but I'm not too worried about that.

I have a couple thoughts on that Pluckit. And these are only my opinions and not based on first hand experience. (I do have a 21" GM 1:28 50 cal barrel that I like.)
1. Being a .54 - whatever you hit with it is surely going to know it.
2. With a 1:48 it won't shoot conicals nor PRBs well. (Satisfactory but not good).
3. The short 24" barrel will not make optimum use of any 'hot' loads. The unburned powder will blow out the barrel after the bullet leaves.

Now with that being said, if your shots are <50 yds - this would make a dynamite woods rifle once you find an accurate load for it.

I thought the 1:48" twist was made for patched round balls a conical bullets, though I'm sure the length of the barrel would put limits on the length of accurate shots. And with open sights, 75 yard shots would be the maximum for me anyway. I wouldn't use much more than around 70 grains fff in it.

You're right. the 1:48 was a 'middle of the road" twist rate to shoot both PRBs and conicals. Buttttt, it doesn't shoot either one as well as a 1:70 for PRBs or a 1:32 or faster for conicals.

I just found a really cheap .54 cal percussion side lock kit and thought it would be fun to put it together. And I just can't seem to pass up an inexpensive black powder rifle to add to my collection. I've been wanting a .54 cal. anyway. (And a .58 cal.)

Jump on it with both feet,Plucky!! Cheap would be all the reason I would need.

I think I will. It will give me something to do on days like this. Then I can concentrate on the Green Mountain Replacement barrel in .58 caliber for my old Hawkins. The .5o caliber barrel on her is pretty worn out. She still shoots pretty good though. I should take her to the range soon.

I am going to disagree with a lot of folks here. I have won a lot of matches with a 54 -1-48 twist and they can be made to shoot very well. The will burn a quite a bit of powder not as much as a slower twist like a 1 in 66 or 1 in 70 but plenty for most purposes as long as you are not planning on the mountain man or Hawken matches at 177 yds that's where a bit more powder can make a difference.
I am not sure about the 24 inch barrel it may cut your powder load some more but maybe not.
The way to make a 1-48 54 caliber shoot its best: Since one of the problems with a faster twist is the ball slipping in the patch or the patch stripping the patch and ball combination has to be tighter my normal combination is a .535 ball with the heavy duty ticking patch that's about 20 thousandths thick loose measure or 18 thousands with a micrometer squeezed tight this will load a bit harder. The way to test and see if you have the right combo is to load with 15 gr of powder and shoot into water or some thing soft enough that it won't mash up the ball. When you do this there should be heavy marks where the land marked the ball and light marks where the groves were if you don't get the light marks where the groves were then it is not tight enough if it cuts a greased patch the its either to tight or your button is sharp.
In my opinion if you are looking for a woods gun go for it if you want a open field gun or a long range target gun get a longer barrel.

You will be surprised at how well that rifle will shoot. I have a couple of Traditions sidelocks, although I have no 24 inch barrel model. With the 1-48 twist it will shoot roundball well enough to hunt with. And it might surprise you how it shoots conicals such as Powerbelts. Granted it will be a 100 grain rifle with that barrel length, but that's all you need. Being a kit I would get it also, especially if it were cheap.

1:48 twist with 90gr 3f and .501" Thor @ 100 yards. Darn '48 middle 'o the road twist.



1:48 twist is a do it all twist with patch round ball and conicals. Even sabots will shoot good once you find the right combo of sabot/powder charge.

The price is right and I hunt in pretty tight quarters so it should work out well. I want to try my hand at putting another kit together anyway. The first time I put one together was putting together the Hawkins in the picture in the post "I told you I was bored."
I slapped that one together in a hurry and wasn't too worried about looks. I just wanted something to hunt with.

I have a T/C White Mountain Carbine, .54 caliber, with a 1 in 48" twist. It has a 21" barrel, and with a PRB, ( .530" ball, .018" pillow ticking patch) and 80 to 90 grains FFG, it shoots quite well. How much more powder do you need ? Have taken several deer with it.

I have 2 Lyman 54 cal with 24 inch barrels. They both shoot good with conical and round ball. I also use 54 cal powerbelts I get great groups with these I use 75 to 80 grn of goex. I use t 7 in the percussion good power and accuracy.

Now gentlemen, I never said the rifle would not shoot PRBs or conicals. Both will shoot satisfactory with the right bullet/powder/charge combo. I was merely saying that the 1:48 is not the OPTIMIM twist rate for either.
I shot a 1:48 for years in PA when only PRBs were the legal projectile. And when conicals were allowed, the transfer required just a bit of load tweeking.
But for a short range woods rifle I said it would be dynamite.

Darn It
 

Traditions took the .54 cal. kit off the specials page. That stinks.