Bullet disintegration on fast twist 223

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25tikka

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I have heard of light varmint type bullets coming apart when leaving the barrel of a fast twist 223. Anyone confirm this, or what is the lightest bullet you could run in a 1 in 8 twist 223 accurately??
 
Some .223 bullets are made for the slower cartidges and have very thin jackets--if you shoot them at higher velocity than they are designed for they can disinigrate before they reach the target--speer tnt's, and hornady sx, sierra blitz come to mind.

44Bore
 
I had some hornady SPSX bullets that really baffled me for a while.

They are softer than the air they are parting at a certain velocity. I thought I was below this velocity, but wasnt.

I didnt realize it a first. All I knew is that I wasnt hitting paper at 100m all of a sudden. And then at 50, same thing. 25m, STILL nothing!

Then at a distance of about 5 paces, I got what can only be described as tiny shotgun pattern.

I think it was 2600fps was the threshold, but not certain.

So I guess I dont know anything about the rate of twist damaging a bullet to this point, but the hardness vs velocity is a factor.
 
A fast twist combined with very sharp rifling can spell doom for some thin jacketed varmint bullets at high velocity. Even a slow twist will have them blow up if velocity is high enough. I had several 50 SX Hornadys disappear in a grey cloud about 20 feet from the muzzle of one of my 220 Swifts [1-14" twist] when I tried to drive them up near 4000 fps. Once I toned them down around 3600, they stayed in one piece and shot very well. Regards, Eagleye.
 
My 8 twist 223AI is just fine with 40 grain B.Tips at 4000 fps.

It's the bullet that matters, not the velocity or twist. As has been said, load an SX Hornady or a Sierra Blitz and look out. But use a Hornady V-Max, Nosler B Tip or Sierra Blitzking and it's a non-issue.
 
I had a .222 with a 1:7 Gaillard that would blow up 50 gr SX's and Blitz's. Never had this problem with light 52 gr match bullets or with varmint bullets with normal jackets. I doubt if you would have difficulty with standard jacketed 50 gr bullets, or even 45 gr bullets.
 
Thanks for the info. I just made a deal in a tikka stainless varmint with the 1 in 8 so I needed some advice on bullet weights. I will be trying some 50 or 55 gr noslers and some 77 gr Berger vlds. Can't wait to get it and try it out.
 
25tikka said:
Thanks for the info. I just made a deal in a tikka stainless varmint with the 1 in 8 so I needed some advice on bullet weights. I will be trying some 50 or 55 gr noslers and some 77 gr Berger vlds. Can't wait to get it and try it out.
Click to expand...

I found 55gr VMAX to be the most accurate gopher slayer in my T3 varmint... the 45gr ones didn't group as nice.

Without much load development, I'm looking at about 0.55" 5 shots groups at 100 yards. Not bad for a 'factory' rifle.
 
I've seen this with the Hornady 70 gr SX in an old 722 in 244 Remington...even with the 12" twist a max load (heh..heh...) of WW760 would make them come apart....I was having a hard time hitting a gopher at about 200 yards and finally my brother said "what's that grey streak and cloud when you fire?".....hmmmmm...
 
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