It is now like Dave said. I had one of the older ones with 1:66.
I don't plan on shooting heavy loads. Probably only in the 80-100 gr range. So with that in mind I will likely go with the 1:60 which Mr. Hoyt recommended.
Slowburn - as for the gain twist - that would be unique.
I've heard of some rifles having that and for the same reasons you specify.

I'm not sure it matters as long as it is somewhere between 1-48 and 1-72...I'm in the camp that thinks, deeper, cut rifling makes the difference...When I had Ed Rayle make ma a barrel for my .54 flinter I made in the '80s he went with a 1-72 and .015 deep rifling...It shoot lower charges quite well, 50 grains is my target/squirrel load and when it comes to hunting I have settled on 80grs FFF Goex...I started with 120grs FF Goex years ago but started backing down and found that 80 killed and grouped just fine, with less fouling...

I would suggest going with .012-.015, cut rifling, and simply with what the maker recommends, so if a problem did arise, he would be more likely to ship another one...

Something else that seldom comes up, I have a 38 inch barrel on my flinter...I'm guessing with a Hawken styled gun that you are going with a 30-34 inch barrel...With a shorter barrel, I'd lean toward a little faster twist...I'll bet the 1-60 would be just fine...

What do you mean by "gain twist"?

"Gain Twist", also known as "Progressive twist", is where the first part of the barrel from the breech is a very slow twist, such as 1:96, and gets progressively faster up to the muzzle. Many have found this very helpful with heavier powder loads that can cause "skipping" in the first part of the barrel where the ball/bullet just slides through the rifling without gaining any twist till around midway up the barrel. This causes very unreliable accuracy. With gain twist, the skipping is reduced, most times eliminated, and produces very accurate groups.

What twist is in my Renegade .54? 1:48?
Its an older model, pre-warning, etc. I plan to shoot prb out of it.

If it's not 1-48 it will say it on the barrel. They made a few with a slow twist, but they're rare.

The early, and I do mean very first few Renegades had a 1-66 twist I was told. But I have examined and owned a lot of Renegades. All I ever found were 1-48 twist. The ones that had the slow twist were a batch that came out with a Douglas Barrel on them. If I ever found one, you'd have to pry my cold dead fingers off it to get it away from me.

Actually my Renegades shoot patched round ball quite well. I have found of the four I own, not all but some of them are powder sensitive. For instance, I shot one for years with Pinnacle powder. A kind of sugar based powder. Man that was an accurate rifle with Pinnacle powder. Another of mine shoots 777 real good with conicals but not round ball. All of them shoot well with real black powder. Goex, Grafs. Wano, Schuetzen, don't seem to matter ... they just shoot real good with it.

Good luck on your rifle. If its a kit rifle, it most likely has the 1-48 twist.

Thanks Dave. Yeah, its not a kit rifle. I don't know what year for sure, the previous owner told me he had it a good while. It just has the company name/address and .54 cal on it. Doesn't even say Renegade. I guess I have to assume its 1:48, maybe one day I'll check it. Either way I'll be shooting prb's so whatever it is...it is! Sure is a pretty rifle, and I have one of those TC peeps on it. Hopefully it will be a shooter.

I wonder if TC can tell me anything about it by the serial #?

I've seen TC's with the 1-66 barrels that weren't Douglas barrels. It was always printed on the barrel. I'm not sure if they came from the custom shop, or they were just a limited run.

Trust me. If it's not printed on the barrel. It's 1-48. I've been messing with TC sidelocks for almost 4 decades.

The T/C PA Hunter rifles were 1:66 twist.

BPS