AM I WRONG ON IT'S TWIST?

M

MADISON

New member
I have posted about this before but, am I correct?
The rifle in question is a Ruger "Handy Dandy" Ultra-Lite in 223. The rifle has a "pencil thin" barrel and the best group I can get is 3 to 3 1/2 inches at 100 yards. The load is 26 1/2 grains of Winchester 748 behind a 55 grain bullet. The bullets are NOT keyholing.

Does anybody know FOR SURE what twist this lite gun has?

[Edited by MADISON on 12-21-2000 at 09:59 AM]
 
I had a similar suspicion about a very very early Sako 222 Rem. Keyholes in the target were a obvious clue it was a twist problem. I put a double patch on the cleaning rod, marked it, and narrowed it own to something a few fractions more than 1-14 and a few less than 1-16 twist. I dunno what twist the metric folks were using in the early 50's, but it didn't work with "real" bullets. 45 gr would overlap holes.

If you have keyholes or your rod turns 1-12 or more, try lighter bullets. If not look for other problems like bedding or crown job.

Tom
 
keyholing

When I first began handloading for my Winchester M-70 in .223, I tried some W748 loads with Nosler 50-grain Ballistic Tips. I don't recall the charge weight I was using, but it was out of a manual. I did a big NO-NO and started near the top loads rather than starting loads.

I was getting way too high velocity readings on my chronograph (around 3450 fps, IIRC), and I thought it was malfunctioning. The result on the target was keyholing. Reducing the charge weight corrected the stability problem, and velocity settled in at around 3300 fps, like it should have been, and accuracy was very good.

I don't know why it worked out as it did, but I saw it and I know it can happen.

By the way, there were NO other indications that my charge weights were too high, other than the keyholing and unexpectedly high velocity.
 
I made the mistake of buying a hundred of the SS109 62 gr to load for my Daewoo DR-200 (1-12 twist barrel) Prettiest keyholes at 50 yds I have ever seen. They work great in my buddies AR-15's 1-7 barrel.
 
I don't know for sure what twist your barrel has, but it's pretty simple for you to find out, since you have the gun in your hands. Tape a "flag" onto your cleaning rod, and put a tight fitting cleaning patch onto the rod. After starting it in the bore, measure how far you have to push it for the flag to rotate exactly one turn. This is the twist rate for your barrel. Works every time, and takes about 2 minutes.
 
Madison, you stated that your bullet was "55gr." ...but not all 55gr bullets are alike! Are these cheapo exposed lead based FMJ M-193 clone bullets?

There may be also some "bedding issues" you need to deal with!

I need more info!

Regards! DaMan
 
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