Remington 783 223 keyholing

Well I just finished cleaning the bore. The barrel definitely has rifling. I think the rate of twist is 1:14. I just did the dry patch thing and that’s what my marks measured. Just a bit slow for those bullets I believe
 
Shane Derocher said:
Well I just finished cleaning the bore. The barrel definitely has rifling. I think the rate of twist is 1:14. I just did the dry patch thing and that’s what my marks measured. Just a bit slow for those bullets I believe
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So your choice then is to find a bullet that will shoot well in the slower twist, or return the rifle due to the improperly marked barrel. Bullets weighing 45-53 grs are the most appropriate, keeping in mind that Stoner chose the 1:14 for the AR-15 so that 55 gr FMJ bullets would be only marginally stable in the air, but would tumble upon impact with the target. The loss of stability in tissue produced greater wound volumes than would be possible with a bullet that remained stable, but didn't expand, as it traveled in a straight line through the target material.
 
I’m going to contact the dealer I purchased rifle from, hopefully they can help sort this out. Or would it be better to just contact Gravel Agency directly? Bullets selection isn’t the best where I live. You can get any type of 223 you want, as long as it’s Winchester 55grain.
 
If you go to Rem. web site it shows the 783 rifle chambered for 223 as having a 1-9 twist. If your does have a 1-14 then I would be talking to the dealer about this problem.
 
personally in a 223 I would rather have a slower twist 1-12" would be ideal because the 223 is a varmint rifle and the 40gr max or ballistic tips are ideal. To me the 223 is a 400 yd varmint rifle and the 40 gr are a lot flatter shooting with less wind drift than the 60+ gr out to 400. If you goal is punching holes in paper at 600 plus that is where the fast twists shine. The slow twist is usually more accurate than the fast twist with light bullets.
 
I tried the rod trick as well and got the same 1 in 14 measurements. I also checked my friends 783 in .223 and he has the same thing. I was prompted to check his because he shot some PMC xtac match in 75 gr and it wouldn't hit paper at 50 m. This was after we were shooting "clover leafs" with 55gr earlier that day

I'm wondering if it was a batch batch that went out. Let me know what happens if you contact Remington or Gravel.
 
Well I’ve come to the conclusion that Hornady 40 grain VMAX is the go to until I’ve accumulated enough brass to handload for this one. The group at top right was my 25 yard with the Hornady, the bottom left is Winchester 55 grain. The group next to the small red dot is the 40 grain again at 100 meters. I was shooting off my tripod and had a 10-20 km tailwind while shooting. The 55 grain didn’t shoot well enough at 100 to be included in the picture haha.

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Had a similar problem with a 303. It was the factory ammo: had .307 dia bullets where there should have been .312". Axis of tumble was wherever the last bounce was.
 
Not saying the 55 didn’t shoot well at 100, I just didn’t print a decent group with them so they were omitted. They also had a few rounds that failed to chamber so I won’t be buying them again. It was the last group i shot and it was getting a bit cold. I’m keeping the 62 grain fusions to shoot from my AR with a 1:9 twist. It shouldn’t have an issue with them.
 
I recently purchased a Remington 783 camo stocked combo chambered in .223 rem. I could get about 1" groups at best at 25 yards with 55gr. and about 3/4" groups with 45gr. both factory ammo. At 100 yards the absolute best I could do with either was 3" groups. The rest were minute of dinner plate. I thought maybe the low end optic was to blame so I put on a scope I borrowed off a .243 that is an absolute tack driver. Results were the same. When I came across this thread I thought what are the chances it came with a 1 in 14 twist rather than the advertised 1 in 9. Well it did. I took mine back to Cabela's Winnipeg yesturday they returned my money. I would have taken another but the 2 other 783's they had in .223 rem were also 1 in 14. They even let me check. During this process I tried 5 different factory loads 3 - 55gr. 1 - 50gr. 1 - 45gr. none shot well. With either scope. The bore looked great. Rifle functioned great. Even though mine wasn't keyholing and was stabilizing rounds, the accuracy was so poor it would have been inpossible to zero this rifle. It's really too bad I liked the rifle for a budget gun, I thought it was well made. There must be a QC issue at the factory that let them leave with the wrong barrels.
 
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Eagleye said:
With a 1-14" twist, it should stabilize everything up to and including 55 grain Flat based bullets just fine. D.
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Yes

Browning Man said:
...During this process I tried 5 different factory loads 3 - 55gr. 1 - 50gr. 1 - 45gr. none shot well. With either scope. The bore looked great. Rifle functioned great. Even though mine wasn't keyholing and was stabilizing rounds, the accuracy was so poor it would have been inpossible to zero this rifle....
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What I don't understand about this is, and similar experiences posted here, is that I have an old SAKO 222 that has a 1:14 twist barrel. My buddy also has one. Both will stabilize 55 gr Hornady, Sierra, and Speer bullets with very fine accuracy.

Why then will a 223, which drives bullets a bit faster, not do the same?

Perhaps there is more to this than rifling twist.
Ted
 
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You could be right. I just suspected the rate of twist there could have been another issue with that particular gun. My other .223 has a 1 in 10 and shoots almost anything you feed it very well. Just sharing my experiance. The way the gun shot was justification to return it. Something was wrong for sure, and it was not built as advertised.
 
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