twist rate in 243

coombsshooter

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ok im a newb here so don't laugh lol. i have an m77 ruger, 1-10 twist. now my savage axis loves the 95 gr rounds i am using but its 1-9 twist. when i run the 95 gr in my ruler it doesn't shoot nearly as well. i am guessing the twist rate will work better in a lighter round? i am on vancouver island and want to hunt little island deer with it. anybody have any advice? i was thinking of going light and fast as my dad used to run 67 gr in his 223 and snipe them hard. thanks:sucks::sucks:
 
Is your rifle a newer Ruger? The newer ones are 1:9. 95 grains isn't heavy, and 1:10 should stabilize it fine but some rifles just don't like certain bullets... maybe 100's would shoot straighter. We need more info... are you handloading?
 
ii is older, paddle stock model around 1990. i am reloading using 95 gr horonady sst and 34.5 gr varget. this load shoots beautifully in the savage and i am told my older ruler is 1 in 10 and i should possibly shoot lighter in loo
 
as a rule of thumb does lighter shoot straighter??

Depends on the rifle, but usually bullets closer in weight to whats recommended due to twist will shoot better.
Heavier bullet weights for a particular caliber are popular choices due to generally higher ballistics coefficients and thus better in flight characteristics and downrange performance.
You might wan to try a lighter bullet though and see if it makes a difference.

You can also use thee calculator here to see if the bullet you are using is stabilized.
http://www.bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

Bryan Litz has a number of books that are great reading also.
 
I have a 243 Win in a 9" twist Brux that shoots 105 AMax's and 107 Match Kings quite well. But there are internet shooters that routinely shoot 1/4" groups at 300 meters and these groups might be laughable to them, so keep that in mind.



A 10" twist will run 95's without issue. Here's what they did in a Kimber I had recently.

 
Is your rifle a newer Ruger? The newer ones are 1:9. 95 grains isn't heavy, and 1:10 should stabilize it fine but some rifles just don't like certain bullets... maybe 100's would shoot straighter. We need more info... are you handloading?

That depends on the bullet length. Berger says for their 95vld you need 1:9 and for 105/8 8 and 115 7 twist.
 
All the 243 rifles I have owned were 1 in 10 twist. Every one also shot better groups with bullets lighter than 100 grain, than they did with 100 grain bullets.
However, 100 grain bullets made groups that certainly were suitable for hunting.
Many modern shooters are too hung up on twist, thinking they need the perfect twist for the bullets being shot. It's pretty hard to have too much twist!
 
hey right on! this is all good stuff to learn. I have been slightly fascinated since my first new savage .243 shot quite well right out of box with minimal advice besides "use these" lol. but yeah, now I am going to play with my ruger and get a bit dialled in with some lighter loads, no matter what it'll keep me thinking! thumbs up
 
A couple of darn good powders for the 243 are bottled with Hodgdon's name on them, H414 and Superformance. Each has data for the 243 right on the label on the bottle, with no starting load, just the one, major load. They only show the H414 in 100 grain bullets, but it has long been an excellent powder for 70/75 grain bullets in the 243.
The Superformance is shown on the bottle of powder as 49 grains with a 75 grain Hdy, HP bullet and a velocity of 3510 fps. I have chronographed that load and the velocity shown is about exactly what I got from them.
Caution--Don't reload using these figures I have given, unless you check them out for yourself.
 
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