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It it was Scovil - he should have known better. The Winchester 50-110 and the .45/90 as well, have too slow rifling twists for the length of the bullets used in them. They were meant for very short-for-calibre bullets, which didn't help matters. This resulted in poor penetration, such that the Winchester .45 and .50 cal rifles were the laughing stock of the buffalo plains. RCBS made or makes a mould for a .510" 450gr. which, if driven 2,000fps or over, cast of WW metal which was then hardened, would have done the job given proper shooting. Trouble is, the 450gr. bullet is too long for the 32"(.45/90) to 56"(.50-110) rifling (jury is out on the twist actually used) twist of those leverguns. I have seen 'duplication' .50 Wnchester barrels for sale for the .50/95 and .50/110 that have 56" twists. This is a round ball twist in .50 to .60 calibre, not a slug twist.
; The .50 Alaskan with a proper 15" to 24" twist is very much different than the .50-110 Winchester in both power and penetration. The high velocty load for the .50-110 was a short light 350gr. at sometihg like 2,200fps, while a strong lever gun will do about 2,000fps with a 450gr. .50 bullet. Chambered in a strong, single shot action, the Alaskan will do about 2,100fps wihth a 520gr.
; Buckbrush, I doubt this was the incident mentioned. Could have been though, you just never know.

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Scovill's rifle was built by Doug Turnbull Restorations from a original .45 caliber 1886. it was rebarreled with a 1-20" twist half octagon/round barrel from Montana Rifleman. he hunted with Martin Pieters of Rann Safaris in Botswana and yes he burned blackpowder in that rifle with that RCBS 450gr. bullet you mention Daryl. i have the DVD "10 days in africa" from wolfe publishing with Scovill's buffalo hunt and some plains game. he shoots that buffalo 6 or 7 times and you can see the dust flying off the buff with each hit. he wrote the buff hunt up in Successful Hunter mag and said the most bullets exited and were all in the vitals FWIW. Daryl, i see in quite a few posts you really like the 50 alaskan. it is an excellent close range thumper. i have a Browning 1886 converted to 50-110 with a 1-20" twist and using 50 Alaskan load data i can easily drive a 525gr. LBT LFN 2000+ fps from the 26" barrel. that cresent butt plate maakes it no fun though.

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