Sask_Hunter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan
1-8" no question
.223 Best All Around Twist Rate
- Thread starter David_M
- Start date
The first barrel on my 40X 223 was a 9 twist and the best shooting bullet was a 69 gr. Sierra Matchking, none of the available 70gr. or 70+ would shoot to an acceptable degree of accuracy.
The current 8 twist barrel seems to shoot practically anything well that I've tried.
My T3 Tikka that I use for coyote hunting also has an 8 twist barrel and it shoots really well also with anything tried.
One of my all time reliable 223s was a Remington 788 in 223, it had a slow twist 12" I think and its pet coyote load was a 60 gr. Sierra HP over a compressed case full of H380.
That was my coyote load on the Prairies for several winters in the 1970s..
The rifle in that example has issues then. Too fast of a twist does not decrease accuracy with lighter bullets, any good 7 twist barrel will shoot any weight of bullet well. While you need faster twist to stabilize heavier bullets the reverse is not true.
Thanks, seems like 8 twist is top pick, but I think I might go with nine since that is what the savage 25 varminter has, and it is an accurate gun from what I have seen and from what everyone has been saying, basically if it is an accurate gun, then the twist will only limit what types of loads you can use, correct me if I'm wrong just trying to narrow this down
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I believe some of the Savage model 12 came in 7 and maybe one of the Kimber offerings too iirc but yeah they're quite rare unless going custom. Don't worry about it too much 9 twist will get you to your 600 yds even if it wont do 75s for you. The 7 and 8s are more recent and less common in factory rifles.
I prefer a 1-12" and keep the bullet weight to 50-55gr .Tightening the twist and loading heavier bullets didn't make it a better killer IMO ........less wind drift and better penetration aside it is what it is........ better on varmints. The Soviets AK 74 round also went out the backdoor as vets preferred the 7.62x39 rd given the choice.The AK74 round had an air pocket in the nose while still FMJ to make the bullet Geneva approved, tumbled on contact causing horrific exit wounds.First used in Afghanistan in the 80's...........Harold
- Location
- West Quebec
Have a 9 in my Savage 12BTC and it works very well up to 200 so far with 69gr Sierra
That is exactly what I was just wondering! I just bought an new .223 with a 1 in 8 twist and I knew it would be OK with heavier bullets but I was curious how well it handled the 40-45 grain bullets.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
I discovered a long time ago that there is almost no downside to using a fast twist regardless of bullet weight. In .224 I prefer 1:7, and with that 1:7 some of the best shooting I did was with 52 gr bullets. That was a M-700 .222 with a Gaillard barrel. I now have a .223 with a 1:12 and an AR with a 1:7. With a 1:7 there is no bullet currently made that it won't shoot, although the 90 gr Bergers seem to prefer 1:6.5 or faster. The 1:12 won't even stabilize Barnes 55 gr MPG, which printed a perfect keyhole even at 5 yards, made an oblong round hole at 10 yards, then the keyholes gradually worsened until once again the bullet hit full side on at 25, which is as far as I tested.
So if there is no loss of accuracy with a very fast twist, what downsides are there? Two come to mind, one might matter, the other in a .223 probably won't. The one that matters is that thin skinned varmint bullets when fired through a fast twist barrel can explode in the air and never reach the target. When shooting Sierra Blitz and Hornady SX through the 1:7 .222, it seemed to work out to 1 to 3 bullets out of 10 turning to dust on the way to the target. The less important downside is shooting cast bullets through a fast twist barrel. The bullet tends to push past the rifling and fills the grooves with lead. I discovered this with my 1:8 Kreiger .308, and dropping the velocity even to 1000 fps didn't completely solve the problem, so I leave shooting cast to my 1:10 and 1:12 barrels.
So if there is no loss of accuracy with a very fast twist, what downsides are there? Two come to mind, one might matter, the other in a .223 probably won't. The one that matters is that thin skinned varmint bullets when fired through a fast twist barrel can explode in the air and never reach the target. When shooting Sierra Blitz and Hornady SX through the 1:7 .222, it seemed to work out to 1 to 3 bullets out of 10 turning to dust on the way to the target. The less important downside is shooting cast bullets through a fast twist barrel. The bullet tends to push past the rifling and fills the grooves with lead. I discovered this with my 1:8 Kreiger .308, and dropping the velocity even to 1000 fps didn't completely solve the problem, so I leave shooting cast to my 1:10 and 1:12 barrels.
I have a CZ527 that came with a 1:12 twist. So far is seems to stabilize up to 60gr. 62 keyholes in the bullets I tried. Have a couple of new powders to play with and will be doing up some loads once it warms up a bit in Mission. Too much too rebarrel so I will see what I can get out of it as is. There is some good info here. That said it will happily shoot 50-55gr all day long. I could always sell it but its such a sweet rifle I am quite fond of it. Came as a leftie too so thats another incentive. What setback are you using for the 223? I use .020 for my 308 and 30-06 but am thinking that might be a bit much for the little 223.
Thanks Boomer! I will definitely have to do some testing with the lighter varmint bullets. I want them exploding inside the critters! Not before they get there!
