.223 bullet choice 1 in 12 twist

[jhansman]

Ugh! This was from last year.

True, but the info is still relevant to those of us with 1:12 twist barrels. A friend was badmouthing Sierra bullets to me today, saying I should go with Berger or Nosler, so I wanted to see what others had to say on bullet choice for this twist, hence (and in keeping with Halloween), raising the thread from the dead.

And, as noted, it's not magic, it's trial and error with bullet, powder, and OAL. Google was how I found this thread. It is our friend.

 

[Mobuck]

"There have been numerous posters reporting sucess with 62gr and one even managing stability with a certain 69gr, not sure which."

I've not seen 1-12 produce under 2 MOA with 60+ grainers even from a 24" 22/250. In the past, I used some 63 grain semi-spitzer in the 22/250 with mediocre accuracy.
Fiocchi makes some dandy 40 & 50 grain varmint loads that have given me excellent accuracy from the 1-10 to 1-12 twist barrels.

 

[44 AMP]

The older "slow" twist rates of 1-12 / 1-14" are the traditional twist rates for .22 caliber varmint rifles. Varmint rifles, shooting varmint bullets.

Not deer rifles and not long range target guns, varmint rifles.

Fast twist .22 barrels and long heavy bullets have proven their abilities and value over the last 30 or so years, but many rifles, especially bolt actions are still built as varmint rifles, with the slower twist rates.

The dividing line seems to be bullets in the 60gr+ range. Some of them will shoot acceptably well in slower twist barrels, many will not.

My own experience with this is with my Win Model 70 Varmint, .22-250

55gr and under it shoots like a champ, doing 3/4" or sometimes even better, if I do my part right. The Sierra /Hornady 52/53gr HPs do very well. Shooting Sierria 63gr semi-spritzers, my best loads group around 2" @ 100yds. Good enough for deer, not quite good enough for small varmints at longer ranges.

If you have a .22 centerfire with the traditional twist, simply accept the fact that it is best as a varmint rifle, and cannot handle the long heavy (60+) bullets accurately, or as accurately. Some 60+gr slugs will do ok, some won't and the 70+ gr ones almost never shoot decent groups from 1-12 barrels.

If you have one of the varmint twist rate barrels, your options are simple, use as is, for what it was intended for, or get it rebarreled to a faster twist to handle the heavier bullets. Or replace it entirely.

 

[Stats Shooter]

Most know, but some do not, that weight is used as a proxy for length as it pertains to bullet stability. This is because, usually, as bullets get heavier, they get longer since they cannot get wider and still shoot down the same bore diameter.

Why does this matter? Because it is length that makes stability a challenge, as there is a great deal of pressure on the tip wanting it to tumble. The gyroscopic principles of rotation prevent this. However, the longer the bullet, the more force is applied to the tip relative to the stability of the rotation, and thus more rotation is necessary.

VLD bullets with secant ogives have much longer tips relative to their overall weight as they "kink" into the bearing surface, unlike a tangent ogive (spitzer) that gradually and more seamlessly goes from nose to bearing surface...but they are shorter. Shorter still would be the round nose bullet.

Then you have the fact that the twist of each barrel isn't identical. I mean that some 1:9 twists might be 1:8.5 and others are 1:9.5. Which is why I think some guns will shoot heavier bullets with a given twist and some will not.

Anyway, the 1:12 twist is a varmint type barrel in .223. And actually it would be preferred for varmint shooting over tighter twists as you will get better performance in the varmint weight bullets than you would with a tighter twist.

If it were me personally, I would try and push the lightest bullet I could find as fast as humanly possible. Make it a somewhat unique rifle. With Nosler's 35 gr varmageddon bullets, you can approach 4,000 fps! That would be fun to shoot and would decimate coyotes, bobcats, etc.

 

[603Country]

Mississippi has a good point about the light bullets, and a few other good points as well. I shoot 40 gr Nosler BTs in my 223 (9 twist), and that bullet will destroy a coyote/armadillo/skunk. MV is about 3750 and it’s a laser beam. Not for use on medium to large hogs, however. Last big hog I shot with that bullet didn’t seem to notice.

However, if one wants to shoot heavier bullets in that 12 twist, I have applicable info from trying to stabilize heavier bullets in my 220. Probably the order of ‘will stabilize’ to ‘won’t stabilize’ goes as follows:

63 gr Sierra SMK will
60 gr Nosler Partition - maybe. Right on the edge. Wouldn’t work for me.
64 gr Nosler Bonded Solid Base - also a maybe. Marginal.
65 gr Sierra GK - no stinkin way it’ll stabilize.

Haven’t tried the 60gr Nosler BT. I did, in the dim past, use the old 60 gr Nosler SBBT. It worked fine in the first barrel for that rifle.

 

[kraigwy]

I carried a Remington BDL Var. rifle in a 1:12 223 as a counter sniper rifle when I was in LE. I used the 55 gr. M193 Ball and it was quite accurate in my rifle. Sighted in at 250 yards I had to be able to, and was able to make head shots out to 300 years .

I used the military ball for liability purposes.

However, now I use match bullets of the 52-53 gr. since I doubt I'd be sued for using open point bullets on prairie dogs and coyotes.

I bought a Mann Device in 5.56 from the CMP to develop loads. The Army issues Mann Devices to ammo suppliers to test the accuracy of their bullets.

To test the Mann, the Army developed some hand loads, and it appears the 52 gr bullet pushed by 25 grns. of 3031 seemed to be the most accurate. There are other loads that seem more then satisfactory in 223s. Below is a picture of some to the test they did with a variety of loads.

As others have said, rifles vary in what they like but I did find out that all my 223s (5 to be exact) like the 25 gr of 3031 in the 52 gr. bullets. Having said that, 748 works quite well, plenty good enough for varmint hunting and meters a heck of a lot better then the 3031.