45 cal rice barrel on the way soon!!

I should have my 45 cal fast twist rice barrel for my t/c hawken by next week... I need to order some bullets,, any suggestions with loads?/ Thanks much!! Kirk

Mine will shoot anything I've tried. I settled on arrowhead XLD 325gr sized to .449 with a .125" paper wad over 84 gr by weight of BH209 using a magspark nipple. No grease needed, I'm getting sub 2" 100yd 3 shot groups with the front sight post it came with (Williams fiber optic) and a skinner peep barrel mounted but moved back just forward of the snail. This is my long range hunting rifle and I'm getting 2115 fps. Dead on at 100yds, down 10" at 200 and 30" at 300yds. I feel like I can eyeball those distances and hold over well enough to get the job done if I have time. Went 4 for 4 with it this year from 80 to 180 yds with excellent performance on whitetails. It may not be all that traditional but I've had a ton of fun tinkering with it.

Here are other loads I've tried. Everything shot great as these are top quality barrels. All sized to .449

Hornady 300gr XTP mag pistol bullets
84 gr wt of BH209 with .125 thick .460 diameter paper wad 2250fps sub 2" 3 shots at 100yds

300 gr arrowhead XLD
Same powder and load
2.5" groups
I will say that if you choose copper jacketed bullets it seems like they all did better with very hot loads. I think they just obturate better.

If you shoot lead or lead alloy you my need to slow them down to prevent melting in the bore.

These barrels come "in the white" so you will have to decide on metal finish. I had mine salt bath nitride dipped which makes them a Cole black satin finish. It hardens the outside one thousandths inch of the metal and makes it nearly impurvious to corrosion. It also makes it lubricious and it cleans up better and faster than stainless steel. I am having several of my other sidelock barrels dipped this off season. You may want to look into it. There is a place near Houston that will do a ton of barrels at the same time for $200. It's called Houston Unlimited metal finishing.

Sorry i didn't put enough info,, mine is 20 twist 32 inch 45 cal "drop in" for T/C/ hawken,,, shipping today!! thanks much!

I have an 18 twist 32". I also just got a .50 28" 24 twist that I haven't had dipped yet. Will shoot it later this spring. One thing that is great about the Rice barrels is they all have very tight bores. Like exactly.
.450 or .500. That gives you more bullet choices. You can size them down way easier than you can knurl them up. If you don't have a Hankins dynamic sizer you should think about getting one. Best $130 I ever spent for MZ accuracy. Also if you nitride your barrel it's a ton easier to seat bullets than blued barrels. I can't imagine a better metal finish for a chrome-moly mz.

With the 1:20 twist you will probably be able to shoot bullets as light as 250gr if you don't push them too fast. As you get into longer heavier bullets you may have to up powder charge to get them to group but I would think that won't happen until you get way heavy. The guy at Rice said that for lead bullets to keep them south of 1500 fps for best accuracy. I have shot mine with T7 (2F and 3F) up to 95 grs by wt. Shoots good with #11 caps but as you get to the heavy charges it can't give you the velocity of BH209. The Blackhorn requires the magspark nipple but it keeps your hammer and snail clean as it's a closed system and is great in wet weather. I have also shot 2F Shutzen BP. Shot ok, very dirty and velocity with 90gr and a 300 gr bullet was 1380fps. The T7 will require swabing with a spit patch between shots because of the heavy fouling where the last charge sat. The BH209 I've shot 10 3 shot groups with no problem loading the next round it just isn't that "traditional" but it's all Los of fun to mess around with. Hope thos helps a little.

This is the load I settled on. Best group at 100.

This is probably average. 3" bull btw. And the last shot is where it prints at 50 yds

Best ever use of political yard signs. I shoot better when the sign was for a Democrat.