Submit your twist rates and bullet weight suggestions

[Midlander]

• 
  Hello forum,
  
  For quite a while I have been trying to figure out twist rates and the best bullet weights.
  
  I am sure I cant be the only one doing this so I thought if we all say what guns we have, what twist rates they have and what weight of bullet we find best it could save us (and other people doing the same) some time
  
  Here is my suggestions...
  
  CZ American 550 .308 - 1:12 - 150 or 155 grain seems best.
  Tikka T3 lite .223 - 1:8 twist - 69 grain seems best.
  CZ 527 .22 hornet - 1:14 twist - 40 grain seems best (50 grain or heavier is best avoided)
  
  So if some of you do the same with your guns and ammo choice we can all compare and when we change our rifles we will know what ammo to go for instead of all that experimenting that comes with buying a new gun!
  
  

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

.223 1/8 should do well with anything from 68gr Hornady up to the 77gr SMK or Nosler.

68 Hornady
69 SMK
73 Berger
75 Hornady
75 Hornady AMAX
77 SMK
77 Nosler

Also, some people have really good luck with the 60gr Hornady VMAX. For some reason, that bullet gets great responses by people who use it, especially in 1/8.


There's no magic bullet. Sometimes you'll be surprised that your particular barrel really likes a bullet in a different weight class than you expected.


Keep in mind though, the 69 SMK in .223 and the 168 SMK in .308 should be the bread and butter loads. I'd be suspicious of any rifle that doesn't shoot those decently. I wouldn't be so critical of the rifle if it doesn't shoot the VLD style bullets well. That can happen.

 

[McCall911]

This also asks for bullet length and muzzle velocities, but I found this site helpful:

http://www.uslink.net/~tom1/twistrate.htm

 

[Jim Watson]

Rifling twist is overstudied these days. If you have stability, you have a chance of good accuracy and will not know without shooting the gun. Your 8 twist .223 might well shoot a 52-55 grain bullet quite well. I know my 9 twist did better with 52 gr SMK than anything heavier.

A 12 twist .308 will surely handle a 168 gr match, 180 grain flatbase spitzer, 200 grain semipointed, and will very likely do ok with a 175 gr boattail.

Standard bullet weight for a Hornet was 45 gr for a long time, starting with rechambered .22 lr 16 twist. Might shoot a flatbase 50 gr out of a 14 twist.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

Not to mention that just because you have a 1/8 doesn't mean it is exactly 1/8. It could lean toward 1/7 or 1/9 depending on the machinery or the day it was made. It is almost never exact. But it should be close.


Add in environmental factors, as well as differences in powder, seating depth, primer, cases ...and there is a whole lot more influencing the performance than twist rate alone.


In my view, the goal is to stabilize and stabilize well (meaning even in cold weather shooting long distance) ...after that, don't worry about it. I don't think it is a big deal in performance unless you have some sort of super-match benchrest gun. These guys with space-guns shooting sub .2 moa all day long. They have this concern.