What have you found is the best .223 round for a 1 in 9 twist?

randyhub

randyhub

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Was out playing with my budget build Savage Hog Hunter.

Wears a 50.00 bedded Accustock, 70.00 DBM, 100.00 VISM scope.

Seems the heavy stuff works the best, namely 75 Grain Hornady Match.

There was a bit of crosswind, shot off my bipod and table, lasered at 119 yards, wish I had nice shooting bags to tighten up the grouping.

Amazing how much different ammo changes one's grouping.

Yes I know it's fugly but it is just my field gun.

 
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Each rifle is different. The twist rate of the barrel will dictate the maximum weight bullet you can use but this has little to do with accuracy, especially at short and medium ranges.

Try a number of ammunition types to see what works best. If you were a reloader you could pick a bullet and develop a load.
 
In order to determine which is the best ammo, we would have to know what the ammo would be used for. A match bullet isn't great on live targets, an explosive varmint bullet is less than ideal if you're a pelt hunter, but a pointed non-expanding bullet can fail to produce quick kills.

From the look of your target, your rifle likes Hornady Match, but when you compare it to the military surplus ammo you shot, its not a reasonable comparison, and has nothing to do with bullet weight. Under ideal conditions, any reasonable match bullet load from the 52 gr Match King to the 77 gr Scenar will probably produce very tight groups from a 1:9 twist barrel, but both the 75 gr Hornady and the 77 Scenar will be only marginally stable, and in cold temperatures when the air is denser you might see problems that weren't evident in warmer, thinner air.

You might have better luck with your bi-pod if you put the feet on a soft surface, like a pair of gloves, then lean into the rifle to "load up" the bi-pod legs.
 
Mine shoots 69 gr Nosler and Barnes match into tiny groups one hole 55 gr ballistic tip and vmax about 3/4” . Tried 62 gr ttsx yesterday 3” groups. Rem 700 5R was really surprised it wouldn’t shoot the TTSX.
 
My Ruger American Ranch is also very fond of 75 Grain Hornady Match. But i have a 1:8 twist in that rifle.
Shoots well under an inch if i do my part. That's out in the field, not in a lead sled or anything. Im sure 1 hole groups are well withing the realm of this ammo.

The simple Hornady 75 grain BTHP projectile of this ammo is a favorite among reloaders and seems pretty versatile. From paper to game, lots of success stories.

As a plinking load i've had great success with Aquila 62 grain ball ammo. At 100 yards, the POI is very close to the 75 grain Hornady.

All that said, every rifle is a unique beast, and there are so many 223/556 loads one could go broke trying them all.

As others have said, lots of factors to consider.
 
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My Savage 1:9" has a 20" barrel, accustock, etc. (older "Precision 10" carbine bought new). SHOULD favor heavier stuff, but this gun simply loves 53gr./55gr. Hornady V-Max. Sub MOA with factory ammo, laser with hand loads if I'm on my game. Which I'm mostly not in the last year or so. lol Anyhow, in an attempt to talk myself out of a new .204R, I decided to see how low I could go, and tested Hornady's 35gr. NTX bullets. Very promising results, but I put the load testing on hold when groundhog season got underway. Square peg/round hole proposition maybe, but something fun to tinker with.

Realized I didn't mention it, but I did (early on) try 69gr. SMKs. Everyone I talked to about a fast-twist .223 swore they'd be the end-all/be-all...but after a couple of range trips testing a variety of loads, just didn't prove to be the case.
 
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