Did a little testing today with the 28" and 32" Traditions sidelocks. Gorgeous day! Another 60* day 3 days in a row. Windy, but I wasn't shooting for accuracy.


Traditions St.Louis Hawken .50cal 1:48 twist, 28" barrel

Both rifles shot the same loads of 80gr Pyrodex RS, .490" round ball, .020" patches and seated using the Muzzleloading Precision Packer.

Both rifles were also swabbed between shots to try to keep things clean and consistent.

Chrony set at 20 feet and level in all 3 corners.

28" Barrel FPS -
1,718 Clean Bore
1,769
1,772
------------

Traditions Mountain Rifle
32" Barrel FPS -
1,746 Clean Bore
1,768
1,793
I also took one more shot and used the wood ramrod to seat the charge and while it did not hang fire, the powder did not fully light up. Very weak recoil and a low muffled sound when the rifle went off. Im using a factory nipple, so that just might be the issue with Pyrodex RS. This registered 1,545 FPS.

By mistake, the Mountain Rifle grouped amazing! I never paid much attention to the target other than focusing the front sight on the bulls eye at 6 o'clock and so my barrel and the rest of the sight covers were the balls actually impact. After the last shot I turned around and noticed a bright green spot and went, holy......! I had no clue she'd shoot this pretty at 100 yards. Slightly and I mean ever slightly, under 2" group at 100 yards.


Both rifles performed great and shot great. I personally like the St.Louis Hawken better with the shorter barrel. It just seems a lot lighter and easier to handle.


Overall, I did not see a huge performance gain with a barrel that is 4" longer. I shoot the most accurate loads, not the most powerful loads, because accuracy and being able to place those shots matters most to me than going out there and throwing huge powder charges down range that don't group worth a spit.

Somethings just a little weird. Even with a generally light load of 80gr under that ball, you still should have gotten a much more significant increase in MV with 4 inches of barrel difference. That's assuming they are both 1:48 twisters. I would have expected around 100fps difference on cold clean barrel. With a 90-100gr load around 130-140fps difference between the 2.

Im actually not surprised. Back when I was shooting inlines I tested a 30" barrel VS a 27" barrel and got a whopping 45 fps increase with the 30" barrel.

Its a huge difference with smokeless powders like my m44 20" barrel VS my brothers m91/30 with a 28" barrel. 300 FPS difference in fact.

I don't think it's as much the powder as it is the ball and patch. I'd have to test it but my math brain is telling me that you aren't getting as much "seal" as you would with say a connie. If you have some sitting around, try throwing a few from each over the chrony and see. Gas pressure is gas pressure. No matter what the source. The reason you get a more significant increase with barrel length with a CF rifle is bullet obturation creating a better gas seal than you get from some MLers. If you have some solid lead connies, skirted would be even better, Id just about bet you would see a much more significant increase in MV between the 2.

Ive tried conicals in he past. 45fps was the difference between a 27 and 30 inch barrel. About all I have for conicals these days are R.E.A.L bullets.

I'm just the opposite Jon. I prefer the longer barrel. That is why all my RB shooters are 32". They just seem to "set" better on my shoulder and the extra couple inches in the sighting plane IMO increased my accuracy.

Thats mostly due to the rear sight being further up the barrel. Exactly what I did with that shorter barrel, its perfectly clear for my eyes now.

I'm on the other side of the fence SuperHunt. I think that 80 grain charge gave up all of the energy it could before it reached the muzzle of either barrel. So the velocities were about the same regardless of barrel length. The longer barrel will yield higher velocities with larger charges, but only when the charge reaches the point where it is not fully burned in the shorter barrel, but is fully burned in the longer one.

Eh, could be... I haven't shot patchers in a good while. I know the velocity difference between my Hawken and my PH barrels are markedly different with connies out of a 6 inch difference and both are 1:28 twist. With a 95 grain Swiss 2f in either one, I get an average of 140fps difference between the 2. That's between a 22" and a 28". 95gr Swiss is hitting the peak performance in the Hawkin and the PH is just starting to act right. She hits her stride at 110gr and starts dancing that sweet dance at 125gr. That's with my 300gr 100% lead connies that I make with a slight hollow in the base. At the bench, it's also where she starts kicking pappy's rear end too!

One way to prove Semi's theory is to use a 100 gr charge. That would be easy enough to do. And another thing it would prove is what the most efficient charge, in regard to velocity, would be for the 28" barrel.
Record the differences from 60 - 100 gr. If Semi's theory is correct (and I think it is) there should be even less average velocity difference at 60 gr. But at 100 the 32" barrel should be much faster.