28" VS 32" Barrel + Precision Packer

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.




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.

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

Larry Pletcher did an experiment years ago, where he took a long barreled rifle and kept cutting 1" off, then shooting 5 shots over the chronograph, cleaning between shots. He said he didn't see much difference until he got to 28" long. Then, the shorter it got the more drop there was in velocity. The long barrel just makes for a long sight distance.

~Kees~