Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 308 and Barrel Twist

If you were building a 308 for long range shooting, then what barrel twist would you choose?

The same as short range, 1-10"

Why not 9"?

I'd go 9 if choosing a custom barrel.

Why, a few reasons. More rpm/splat factr with varmint bullets. More centrifugal force for opening coppers, plenty of twist for the longest bullets in the worse atmo, more choices if subsonic is ever on the menu.


All that said, both my 308s are factory 1/12 Rem. I recently shot the 215gr Berger out to 1800 yards with good accuracy. Target was 30" wide x 20" tall. Near calm, 4500 ft, 80F, 22.8 mils, two near misses, then a hit.

Ok, 9

9".




Travis

8

7 3/4

My very best barrel is an early90's Schneider that ROBAR did for me, he said it was a left over, overrun barrel Schneider had from a Marine contract, when the gun got home 7 mos after I sent it to AZ, barkman put a note with it that said the gun was set up for federal GM match 168 gr and would one hole, I went to 5 places in town and found a fewboxes of FGMM and sure nuff it was and still is my most accurate 308, it does shoot the 168's better than the 175's...But its no slouch with the 175's. They say not to deer hunt with the 168 match bullits but I guess Ive been lucky all go bang flop! v best winpoor

As a side note, due to some of you guys here, I bought a case of Lapua 155 senars when Graf and son had a sale in them just to see how they worked, super accurate and SW GA whitetails go down like a sack of cowfeed! It just deflates em, I split my deer within 30 min of nailing them and on heart lung shots they jello everything! v best winpoor
Dam I have half or sometimers today, this barrel is 1 in 12!!
As a side note to the OP, 500 yards IS long range where I live, I know out west where most of you guys shoot and hunt 500 is short and a chip shot.... v best win poor
Remember the toes you step on going up for they may be attached to the azz you kiss coming down! A Brock jr!

They'll all shoot. 9 just shoots better.

for me it would not matter if it was a 10 or 11. as long as it is a krieger.

I did my last one with a 1-10 Benchmark and use it with 190gn SMK and 208gn A-MAX.

What bullet?
Mynewestbarrel is11.25 5R
Used 1 in 10 for 175s with good success

1-10 or 1-11 and rock on!!

in the Palma match, shooters have to use 155grs bullets, and use a 1-14 twist for the most part. Palma is 800, 900 and a 1,000 yds.

The absolute best 308 hammers I've ever used were 1-11 twist. Had a 1-9 schneider that was a sh*t sammich.

All of my .308's sport 1-11" barrels made by Bartlein, Krieger, and Rock. They hammer everything I've shot through them.

My GAP .308 is an 11 twist and is scary accurate!

Matching the barrel twist to the bullet(s) you want to use is a wise approach, making sure the bullet(s) would be adequately stabilized to maximize BC under all conditions you think you would be shooting in.

One thing to remember is that guys who shoot only in the thin air of the Rockies can get away with shooting slower twists than those of us who shoot closer to sea level. Also have read experience of those who found that barrels that don't have a fast enough twist for optimal stability for a particular bullet can still shoot tight groups with that bullet, so a slower twist may still be accurate while robbing you of some BC.

For what I'm wanting to do over the next few years, it's looking like a factory 1:10" twist will be adequate, but if I was to rebarrel, I very well might go with a faster twist (e.g., 1:9").

11.2475 +/-

Brian Leitz is kicking ass and taking names with a 9 twist 308 in 1000 yard matches.

Bryan Litz???

A lot of people are kicking ass and taking names in F-Class with rifles built by John Pierce, including John.

Do you know what bullet he is using?

Just a guess he would kick ass regardless of the twist, and buying a 9 twist is not a substitute for flinging 5 or 10,000 practice rounds downrange. Just saying.

To the OP, a 1:12" 24" which will stabilize 175 SMK's, 185 Bergers and usually 190 SMK's but they are on the edge. A 1:11 certainly will do all of those comfortably and those are nice choices for long range. I tinkered with 155's, but went back to the heavier bullets. 1:11" or 1:10" would be first choice, but I've not seen a difference between those two with those bullet choices.

It's the 185 Juggernaut, IIRC