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How much of a rabbit hole is this?

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Eric Krewson:
The TC Hawken and Renegade both have a 1 in 48 twist barrel, a middle of the road choice for balls or bullets. TC did make a rifle in the Renegade style called the Pennsylvania Hunter that had a 31", 1 in 66 twist barrel just for shooting round balls which were required in Pennsylvania's late flintlock season. They made this rifle in a carbine model but I don't know what the barrel twist is.

TC made a short carbine style rifle like the Renegade called a Whiter Mountain Carbine that had a 21" barrel with a 1 in 21 rifling twist rate just for conicals with a heavy powder charge.

As you go smaller in caliber the normal twist rate gets faster, my .40 with a Green Mountain barrel has a 1 in 48 twist and the barrel is made for shooting round balls of that caliber.

I just checked the Rice Barrel page and found that the drop in barrels they make for TC guns can have a rifling twist of 1 in 21, and 1 in 24 for bullets, a middle of the road 1 in 48 barrel and a strictly ball barrel that is 1 in 66.

WhistlingBadger:
OK, I've done been overwhelmed.  I guess if I draw a bison tag I'll just borrow my dad's .338.  Or make a much heavier longbow.

Eric Krewson:
I added too many details, 95% of the guys shooting B/P guns just buy a gun, some powder and balls and start shooting them, they don't have clue about barrel rifling and such because it is not that important to the average shooter.

Being a gun builder I need to know the fine details but but everyone else in the sport, not so much.

I drew plan for my latest build that I just started, it will be a cherry stocked Haines rifle, my favorite design to date. This one will be a very slender .50 cal.

 

WhistlingBadger:
Well, that makes me feel a little better, Eric.   ;D  I was asking because I'm planning to put in for a bison tag this year.  It's a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, and on the off chance I draw one (not likely), I would want to have a story to tell.  I'm not convinced that hunting one with a primitive bow would be worth the discord it would cause with Mrs. Badger (she worries about me), so I thought a smoke pole might be a decent compromise.

It's an extremely long shot, but of course there are elk and deer and antelope too.  So I was just wondering how hard it was to get into.

JW_Halverson:

--- Quote from: WhistlingBadger on March 07, 2026, 10:06:54 pm ---Well, that makes me feel a little better, Eric.   ;D  I was asking because I'm planning to put in for a bison tag this year.  It's a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, and on the off chance I draw one (not likely), I would want to have a story to tell.  I'm not convinced that hunting one with a primitive bow would be worth the discord it would cause with Mrs. Badger (she worries about me), so I thought a smoke pole might be a decent compromise.

It's an extremely long shot, but of course there are elk and deer and antelope too.  So I was just wondering how hard it was to get into.

--- End quote ---

With a small measure of inventiveness and determination, you can make almost everything you need. You can throw money at the problem or else learn to make or make do. And I know you are clever enough to devise your own toys!

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