.223 precision

[kestak]

Greetings,

For you shooters shooting .223. I read that with a twist of 1:7 the 55 grains bullet does not stabilize fast enough and you have flyers sometimes at 100 yards and you need to go with heavier bullets. (I have a SIG 556 BTW)

Anyone of you has a good insight on that? I am stocking on Wolf 55 grains military classic because I read those are the best price/quality combo before I begin seriously thinking to reload that caliber. Maybe I should go with heavier bullets...

Thank you

 

[stubbicatt]

Wolf ammo in most any rifle will not yield the best accuracy that the rifle is capable of.

You can shoot the thick jacketed lighter bullets in your 7 twist barrel. Whether they shoot well or not is simply a trial and error discovery process. The faster twist barrel is designed to stabilize longer projectiles, which, assuming the typical lead and gilding metal jacket construction, means heavier bullets.

Been awhile since I shot the fast twist barrel, but I found, oddly enough, that at distances out to 200 yards, the 52 grain Sierra Match Kings shot remarkably well with loadings that they liked. After that the 69ers didn't seem to "go to sleep" until about 200 yards, and they shot well out to 600 yards in good conditions.

I don't know whether there is a "common wisdom" these days on this subject or not. As I got burned out on competition shooting, I sort of reverted to the more mundane loadings for my rifle shooting.

 

[gvnwst]

I read that with a twist of 1:7 the 55 grains bullet does not stabilize fast enough and you have flyers sometimes at 100 yards and you need to go with heavier bullets.

If anything, they would overstabilize. IIRC, the "proper" twist rate for 55gr stuff is 1-10 or 1-11. 1-7 is made for heavier bullets like the 77gr SMK, but light bullets will shoot through it with no problem. Typically, with the same grade bullets, heavier will work better in a faster twist, ie, if you can find 60gr wolf, it MAY shoot better than the 55gr.

You can't shoot 77gr through a barrel designed for 55gr, but the other way around is possible. It would understabilize, causing keyholing.

Accuracy is in the barrel quality, bullet quality and the load. twist has a very small impact, even in compition. Although, you don't see many competitors shooting light bullets out of fast twists.

 

[weeniewawa]

I would not use that if they are steel cases. you can't reload them. If they are brass, make sure they are boxer primed.

 

[jaholder1971]

Handloader magazine just ran an article on the Smith and Wesson M&P 15 with a 1/8 twist 20" barrel. They tested 7 loadings from 40 grain blitzkings to 75 grain Hornady. All shot 1 MOA or better.

At the 1997 SAFS I attended at Camp Perrry we shot M193 (55gr. FMJ) through brand new, stock M16A2 rifles out to 300 meters with no issues. Shot 40/40 with nice, round groups at each distance. No keyholing seen unless the shooter was skipping them off the berm first, then into the target.

FWIW I've shot lots of 55 grain M193 and 62 grain M855 through my stock AR with Government 1/7 barrel. Usually the M193 shot best, shooting half the group size as the M855.

Shooting light bullets through a fast twist is no big deal. Unless you're interested in benchrest type groups the differences is indistiguishable. There are some really light jacketed .224 bullets made for .22 hornet velocities I'd avoid in it but other than that you're golden.

 

[BUGUDY]

Keyhole city using 75GR with my Savage 10 , but with AR 1/8 twist, they shoot excellent.

 

[ilike223s]

I have a tikka lite in 223, with the 1-8 twist,
I can shoot 1/4 in groups at 100 yard with 40 and 50 gr noslers,and hornadys,all factory 55 wont shoot under 2 in,
I had to keep trying to find that right OAL ,i did try what all the books said to use for OAL. and that didt work,I used the ole cleaning rod down the barrel to find how long my throat was, and found out I run out of clip lengh before I hit the lands,so my Oal.wont work for most guns, but they work for mine,I did start loading some 60 gr hornadys,woking with them,i did shoot 1/2 with them so far, so you have to try good ammo.not that cheap stuff..thats my 2 cents,