Boxer,

In Bryan Litz' book 'Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting', he outlines some of the most prominent factors affecting the modern rifle's ability to perform beyond close and medium ranges. Two of those factors are....you guessed it.....COAL constraints and twist rate. He also discusses throating. It's a good read that takes a Myth Busters' approach to dealing with some of these misunderstood topics.

Here's an excerpt:

In this image the circles are factory offerings, and the black dots are the average factory offered twist rates for each caliber. He discusses velocity in the RPM requirement, as well, but focuses on showing that in general most factory twist rates are too slow.

[Linked Image]

"These twist rates between normal and fast are just what’s required to shoot the bullets with adequate stability...There are measurable performance benefits which result from super- stabilizing bullets. In particular, the effects of super stability can suppress the magnitude of limit cycle yaw which can allow the bullet to fly with less induced drag and higher BC’s especially at transonic speeds."

"...giving the mass produced rifle a faster twist so it can shoot higher BC bullets doesn’t hurt anything. With a 1:8” twist, you can shoot any bullet from light weight varmint bullets up to the high BC 105’s. Likewise extending action and magazine length in repeaters is something that only makes a rifle more versatile by allowing it to shoot high performance long range ammo as well as short and medium range options."

Hopefully the manufacturers start to take notes and apply same *grin*