Twist does play in this game for sure. Mentioned earlier that RB loads worked well in my .44 and it has a 20" twist. After fiddling around with 2 ball loads I tinkered with single balls, all paper patched. Worked pretty well up to around 1,400 fps and I was inspired! So I loaded one up with a book max load for a 180 grain conical....~2,400 fps over the Chrony, where it went is anyone's guess. Did not hit the target at 25 yards.
That said, I have a friend tinkering with .300 BO rounds with a suppressed Contender and 10" twist. He is shooting in the realm of 1000-1300 fps with cast bullets of about 8-9 BHN and getting some very nice groups with it during initial load work up. Another buddy who tends to leap before he looks ran some of my Sneezer bullets thru another gun with 8" twist and did reasonably well in the 1050 fps range. Good enough for plinking hogs anyway. Alloy he was using was about 11-12 BHN. Softer alloy did not work well in his gun.
Another point to consider, some shot is hardened, some is not. Lead ball of any size purchased is an unknown unless one runs it thru a hardness test.
