With bullets running from 26gr. to 40gr., is there any reason to be wary of twist rates? Or are the weights pretty close so as not to raise a concern.

Once again the factories trumped themselves by being skeered of twist.

The CZ's run 1:12 and I believe so does Remington. They handle both weights well in my rifles.

Greg

The factory rate is 1-12", but that's "nominal" as a lot of button rifled barrels vary a bit to the slow side. Over on .204ruger.com, several of the guys measured their twist rates, and some of them only made it to 1-12.5", and guess what? Those rifles didn't like the 40gr. Hornady bullet at all. It's a bit too long for those rifles. Some would shoot the 40 Nosler "okay", but most all would shoot the shorter 39 Sierra well. 1-12" is just barely enough for the Hornady 40, if it's a true 12, it'll shoot like gangbusters, if it's a fuzz slower, not very well at all.
The bullet differences are stark, looking at the picture. Longer boattail on the Hornady vs. the Nosler and Sierra, bearing surfaces, etc.

my remington shoots the hornady 45 gr softpoint better than any of the VMAX weird

Well if a slight difference of 1/2" of twist was noticed, then a 14gr. difference in bullet weight and bearing surface would certainly be an issue.

That's cuz the 45 gr sp overall length is shorter than the 40 gr V-max.
The 45's shoot better in all three of my 204's as compared to the 40 v-max.

39s floy out of mine great and i got a 1n10 custom that i shoot 55 gr bergers