Had occassion today to get my newish Remington 700 VTR in 223 Remington (with the 1 in 9" twisted barrel!) back out to the range today.
You may recall I bought this VTR Remington 700 not aware that it has a barrel with the 1 in 9" twist which is normally better suited for heavier and longer bullets.
My intentions for the Rifle was to have it available for when my Ground Squirrel Hunting partners put away their rimfires and bring out their "centerfires" (this puts the closer Ground Squirrels down from the LOUD report of their centerfires and I just stand around waiting for a new stand where the rimfires can be brought back into action).
Anyway I got a great deal on the VTR and get it home and measure the barrel and the muzzle brake and THEN I make reference in the 2,009 Remington catalog and discover the twist rate that is not so conducive to accuracy with the lighter bullets I wanted to use on the diminutive and prolific Ground Squirrels.
Well I had a "sinking feeling" when this info sunk in!
Oh well I thought I'll give it the old college try.
I mounted a Leupold 3.5x10 VX-III on it and headed for the range with some Federal factory machine gun ammo I had on hand.
It shot that ammo pretty well during initial sight-in, break-in!
Then I tried some handloads that I had on hand for another 223 - this ammo used the wonderful 52 gr. Berger Varmint bullets.
That day I shot two groups (5 shots at 100 yards) which measured .551" and .685" - not bad I thought for a new rig with a 10 power scope and "light bullets".
And that .685" group had four shots in .271".
I was pleased with this performance.
Now 29 days later the wind FINALLY quit for an hour and I headed for my Rifle range with some handloads made with 40 grain Berger bullets and some made with 40 grain Sierra BlitzKings.
I got to fire 10 rounds making two groups there at 100 yards with the 40 grain Bergers and the groups measured .710" and .814". I was somewhat happy with these results.
I looked carefully at the "bullet holes" in my BR style targets and they seemed to be very concentric with no signs of tipping or canting.
Anyway the 1 in 9" twisted barrel didn't do horrible things to these 40 grainers and I may end up using them for my Ground Squirreling?
The wind came up as I was shooting and by the time I got to the Sierra BlitzKing 40 grainers the wind was blowing to hard for real accuracy evaluation.
I'll try again tomorrow.
I do see the accuracy difference in this very small sampling of my handloads.
I'll post if the Sierra 40 grainers are an improvement accuracy wise.
Anyone else trying light bullets in the 1 in 9" twisted 223's?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy