Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What will a Ruger .223 1 in 9 twist NOT stabilize?

Hornady shows data for their 75 and 80 grain A-Max bullets out of a CAR-15 1 in 9 twist (.223 service rifle data) but with no further explanation of whether it works well or not, so I have to assume 1-9 is sufficiently fast even with the lower velocity from the 20" barrel. Sierra's write up says a 1x10 minimum for their 69 gr. MatchKing, but a 1x8 for 77 or 80 grain MatchKings.

So, anybody know for sure where the limit is for 1 in 9? I know it is determined by length, not weight or BC or SD, but none of the manuals ever list the exact length of their bullets for comparison.

I've been on the fence a long time about getting a LH Ruger Hawkeye .223 with their 22" barrel and 1 in 9 twist. Now that they made a small run of them in SS I'm in serious danger of falling off that fence but was curious about where their limit is on bullets.




(P.S. Could have posted this in Hunting rifles or Varmint Rifles under reloading but hoping to get the straight scoop from you guys.)

69-70 cup and core, for sure. Anything longer or heavier, a definite maybe.

Google Miller Formula and do the calculations for your own rifle for the best by the book answer.

Read the Handloader Magazine series of articles for each of the popular twists from slower to faster, available on Load Data for the fee, to read of experience and suggestions for loading 1/9 as well as articles on 1/7 and 1/12 et. al. The article series mostly uses modern sporting rifles as the most convenient for otherwise similar rifles with barrels in the different twist rats.

Rumor says

Thanks for the recommendation. I have a subscription to Load Data but never noticed those articles, I'll go look them up.

Its price?

See also:

08/10/10 "Twist Rate for Long Bullets in the .223 Remington"By John Haviland
which addresses the specific question:


as well as:


Pricing information at the site LoadData.com. A very good source for information from Wolfe but some outside data has been pulled for royalty issues. Still useful for computer searches which specify some load combination such as loads with a specified powder on hand.

As others have reported there are combinations which do well on some days and not others which makes them marginal at best. Extra speed doesn't do much but still a load that's marginal in 24" will typically spin just a little faster from another 2" of barrel - hence the long barrels that help keep a .308 stabilized way out there without burning more powder in a bigger case. That's a different issue than stabilized for hunting ranges and in my experience a 1-14" Swift with a 26" barrel is a nice hold on hair a little farther than others in a shooting party but it's not even close to a faster twist despite the muzzle velocity.

The rifle is $582.95 at Davidson's plus shipping and whatever fee your FFL might charge.

http://www.davidsonsinc.com/consume...ffset_rec=0&num_rec=50&item_num=

Thanks for the serious and thoughtful reply. I was alluding to the current idiocy surrounding the price of anything .223. Best, John

Buy it and test it out.

I'm betting you'll be able to run 65 GK's, 70 Speers, and 70 VLD's without too much fuss. Those bullets should kill anything you should be pointing that rifle at.

80gr Amax ain't gonna do it and it's a crap shoot on the 75.

A 70gr TSX will not work either.

Folks seldom think about temps, but they factor greatly.

It's on the way. My dealer here called the distributor and is ordering it (hopefully) as this is written.

Never worked with a .223 twisted faster than 1 in 12 before, so this is purely in the interests of scientific curiosity, you understand.

You won't regret buying that one, no matter what it stabilizes.

I just bought one myself, Ruger stainless laminate .223 with a 24" barrel on it though. Can't wait to get out and try it.

I've played considerably with several .223's with 1-9 twists. Some 1-9 barrels will stabilize very long 75-grain bullets, and others will only go to 70 grains. It depends on the barrel.

I've also seen the same thing with slower-twist barrels, whether in .223 or a faster round such as the .22-250. Some .223 1-12 barrels will shoot 60-grain spitzers very well, and some 1-14 .22-250's will do the same.

But they're on the edge, where an individual rifle will shoot great with the same bullets with the same twist, and the next rifle won't. I've seen this in several rifles in .22-250 and .220 Swift. and the twist was actually measured in each barrel.

In my experience (NRA and CMP High Power matches) and that of my fellow target shooters, a 1-9 twist will definitely NOT stabilize 80 grain bullets and, as MD pointed out, 75 grain bullets are iffy. We prefer 1-7.7 twist for all bullets from 69 through 80 grains.

Some 9 twists will work with 75s, and some won't, crap shoot, like it was said above.

I still consider myself an active Service Rifle competitor. The convention is that 80's require an 8 twist and you have a better than even chance of stabilizing 77's out to 600 yds. That said, I have a 9 twist, 20" AR barrel that will shoot 80's out to 600 and I'm surprised Rost hasn't rung in about the Texas High Master that actually spec's 9-twist for his full course AR's.

If you can get 80's without committing to a box of 500, it's worth a try.

That said, I probably shoot a 6.5 twist upper more than anything else these days.

And an 80gr at 80 degrees is much different than one at say 10 degrees.

Or altitude.

I'm damn close to ordering one of these for my son. Going to be his first deer rifle, and am waffling between this or trying to find a lh action and putting on a fast twist 22-250 barrel.

It'd be neat if anybody had one in town I could actually put my hands on. I'm a lot more familiar with Remingtons than Rugers.