Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .223 Bullets/Twist?

50 vMax 1 in 12 twist...

What he said - length really does matter

The 63 gr Sierra Semi Point is short for it's weight, maybe a little shorter than a 50 gr V-Max. They're not designed to be a target bullet but they're not bad in my 1-12 Model 70 223 Sporter.

All my varmint rifles now use 1:9" twist for .223 Remington and .22-250 Remington. Good for 50 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade. Photo below 1:9" twist, 10 shots, 100 yards:



1:9" or 1:8.5" for .204 Ruger - shoots 24 grain Hornady NTX and 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenades, 32 grain Nosler BT lead Free, Hornady 40 grain V-Max up to 55 grain Berger HPBT. Photo below shows a 10 shot group from a Hart 1:9" .204 Barrel, rifle is converted from semi-auto with no gas port. Now if I could just learn to shoot!



Below a 10 shot group with the now discontinued Berger 50 grain .204 in a 1:8.5: twist, this barrel shoots the 26 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade in the .25" to .30" range depending on if I'm having a good day. A load of 25.0 Varget is a bit more accurate, but I'm too lazy to scan it.



1:8" twist for everything in 6mm. If it shoots the 62 grain Barnes Varmint Grenade (.975" long) it will shoot any 6mm heavy bullet and most lighter ones too. Group below is 1:8" twist, the rifle is accurate, the shooter a bit shaky.



All my rifles must now shoot lead free bullets, which tend to be longer and lighter than lead core, because I live in California. Although I must admit that the lead free varmint bullets are accurate, maybe more so than lead core stuff.

They expand to different ranges. Off the top of my head, the little ones expand to about 250, the 62 at 325 and the 70 expands to 400.

Numbers from a 20" barrel.