Bolt action .223 with 1:9" bbl

Folks,
Who besides Kimber makes such a rifle? Most are 1:12" or 1:10". I want a light weight rifle for close deer / coyote work.
Please - no other caliber recommendations.
Thanks.

Ruger African comes in .223 Rem with a 1/9 twist barrel. I like mine so far.

African?
EDIT:
I stand corrected. Thanks.

Stevens 200 by savage

CZ 527 Varmint, but it has a heavy bbl. The Remington 700 VTR and SPS Tactical do as well, but both are also heavy bbl.

Why on earth would any company make a .223 with 1:12"? That's terrible. You wouldn't be able to shoot anything more than 55-grain bullets. Ideally you'd want a 1:7" to allow you to shoot the heavier hunting bullets. A 1:9" barrel hits its accuracy peak around 68 grains. Above that, it starts losing accuracy.

Why on earth would any company make a .223 with 1:12"? That's terrible. You wouldn't be able to shoot anything more than 55-grain bullets. .

Depending on the bullet a 1/12 can handle bullets up to 65 and in the case of the sierra smp 70 grains, granted these are short specialist bullets. This said I agree with you 100% a factory 1/12 what is this 1965?

There are bullets/loads that will do what the op wants with a 1/12 twist. In fact its slightly ironic that most "deer" bullets for this caliber are 65g or less with almost ALL of the heavier projectiles being match bullets.

I hunt with a 223 quite often and one of my favorite bullets for deer is the 55g sierra gameking. Barnes also makes a 55g TSX that's reported to put 223 in a whole nother class of deer wackage

A 1:9" barrel hits its accuracy peak around 68 grains. Above that, it starts losing accuracy. My Stevens Model 200 with 1:9 rifling was as accurate with 55 grns as with 68 grns(1moa). It was MOST accurate with 75 grn PPU match ammo (being .5-.75 moa)@100yds.

I have the Varmint 24 inch Barrel they are surprising rifles for the price. They shoot better than I do at this point.

http://www.mossberg.com/product/rifles-bolt-action-centerfire-mvp-centerfire-predator/27714


http://www.mossberg.com/product/rifles-bolt-action-centerfire-mvp-centerfire-varmint/27700

Almost all Savage/Stevens 223s are 1:9.

I've got a 26" 1:9 223 varmint barrel taken off a Savage 12FV that shoots 0.5 MOA or better (5 shot groups, multiple targets, multiple range trips) to at least 200yd with the very first load I tried: 24.0gr Varget with 75gr Hornady HPBT. Shoots best with a slight jump, but does well at any OAL from on the lands to AR mag length. Hits 8" round steel at 650yd with boring repeatability.

Didn't have as good luck with 68/69 gr bullets, though folks swear by them.

Savage would be your best choice.

Jim


223 20 inch bull barrel 1:9 twist

http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt284/bigjim_02/SAM_0245.jpg

I believe Tikka has 1:8". As a bonus they are very accurate, very slick, and reasonably priced.

Mossberg MVP has 1:9" twist

Indeed Tikka's are 1:8 twist. I love my .223 Tikka T3.

Another vote cast for.......Tikka T3 Lite

M

Savage for sure has 9" twist.

Why would you want a 1:12 twist? Varmint hunting.

I sold my Savage 10fp because it had the 1:9 twist. It could shoot the 69 gr bullets into less then 1/2" all day long. 55 gr and 50 gr would only do 1" at best. I bought this rifle with the intention of using it for groundhog hunting.

Now I know someone is going to popup and say "use the 69 gr bullets for varmint hunting". Well, there is a problem with that flawed logic. Varmint bullets are frangible which prevents ricochets. You may get by using those heavy bullets in areas where there are no farm animals or houses but in the areas I hunt you're inviting trouble.

And now you know the reason I despise the .223 cartridge. It tries to be something it isn't by shooting a heavier bullet than what it was intended to shoot. For something heavier I'll just pick up one of my other rifles.

Savage makes .223 excellent rifles with a 1:9 twist. They also make 1:7 twist rifles in the same caliber. But some of their best rifles they make are 1:9. Mine will shoot 75 gr. bullets with no problem. I have a 1:9 model 12 LRPV. It has the target action and trigger and will shoot groups under 2" at 400 yards depending on the wind.

But my rifle is far from being light. Don't worry though. They make light rifles in the same caliber and spin. For example the 11FCNS (http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/11FCNS) weighs 6.9 lbs. and has a 1:9 twist for the .223. I would say that fits your request just about perfectly.

BTW my rifle will shoot 52 gr. bullets pretty accurate too. I put 2 out of 3 inside the bullseye of a Shoot N See target at 400 yards with it the last time I shot it. I shot one other time at that target. I missed the bull by 1" with the third shot. But I had another box of the same ammo but from a different lot and it wouldn't shoot nearly as well. Go figure. It was Black Hills ammo I was using so yes it was off the shelf ammo but it was reloaded. They sell some mighty good reloads at Black Hills. I have better luck with the heavier bullets when it comes to accuracy usually. I was essentially planning on shooting up my remaining light ammo from when I was testing to see what ammo my rifle liked. It surprised me that some of it shot really well but not all of it did. Still for deer hunting I would want a heavier load anyway. Coyotes will go down with light or heavy bullets.

So what did you end up buying?