What bullet weight

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frigate88

New member
What 223/556 bullet weight is the best for a 1/7 twist for accuracy? It's a 16" barrel. For plinking and which for Possible hunting?
 
I have been reloading for my AR about a year now. It has a 1:7 twist and 16" barrel and the 64 grain and 65 grain bullets have been my most accurate past 100 yards so far.
 
Generally something 60 gr or greater will work best with that twist. I've shot 55 gr bullets that weren't bad, but I think you will get better results with heavier. I'd avoid the 45-50 gr
 
From all I've READ (not tried, I don't own a .223 yet) the 1:7 twist likes the heavier bullets (65 gr and up). The 1:9 twist is the do all, and the 1:12 or 1:11 twist is for the light varmint bullets.

According to a very cool fella who knows hands down more than me about the black rifles: the 1:8 is the "do all" twist as it allows acceptable accuracy from the biggest spectrum of bullets. And the 1:11 isn't even 5.56, its that new fangled 6.8.
 
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I own 2 1in9s and 2 1in7s. Both of my 1in7s prefer ammo over 55gr. That said, they both shoot 55gr okay (no keyholeing or anything...) but the groups are about 1/3 bigger than if I'm using 62gr or higher ammo.
 
My best loads are with 69g Sierra MatchKings. I have a 1/7 Colt HBAR.
Oddly enough, mine shoots Malaysian ball ammo almost as well as my target loads. Well enough to keep up my average score the couple of times I shot them at a 100 yd reduced range DCM match.

So while it will probably shoot better with the heavier projectiles, every barrel is an entity unto itself, and you may be surprised.

Conversely, my 7mm-08 bolt gun is very partial to 140 g pills. I can't get it to group well at all with 150s or heavier.
 
I read somewhere (sorry I don't have the link handy) that the 1:7 twist barrels can spin the jackets off of really light bullets. Seems the article I read was specifically talking about varmint loads (frangible).
The Speer reloading book #14 also states pretty much the same thing.
 
You have to try and see. My go-to 100-yard .223 load is a 52gr match bullet with a full-dose of Winchester 748. Shoots well in 1-8 and 1-7 twist barrels, should shoot fine in slow-twist barrels too.

The issue is if you're cranking thin-skinned varmint bullets up to try to match .22-250 velocities. Then the bullets can't take the rotational force out of a fast-twist barrel. Poofff...
 
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