.222 Rem twist rate

[wildcatter]

Like has been said, it will work,,,, but how well????? One thing is for sure, 1-14 will work the best for the 50 and 52's. The folks competing in bench rest using 52's were definitely using the 1-14" twist for one reason, they had to have the best accuracy this old cartridge would deliver, and there are many that shot their way into the hall of fame with this cartridge, and you can bet most were using a 1-14 twist barrel.

Your looking for excellent accuracy and might want to shoot up to 60 grain bullet, the 1-12 would be a good compromise, but make no mistake the faster twist you go with over a 1-14 twist you are compromising and the more accuracy you will be giving up with the 52 grain bullets.

But the more versatile it will be as a varmint round using the 1-12 and allowing a bit more bullet choice, and giving good enough accuracy for the 250 to 300 yards it's capable of on small varmints. But I certainly would never recommend a barrel faster than a 1-12 for a 222 if your looking for optimum results with suitable weight bullets to keep it performing at it's most efficient capability.

 

[Matt_3479]

My 1:8 223 hammers with 40gr blitzkings and vmax

 

[wildcatter]

My 1:8 223 hammers with 40gr blitzkings and vmax

Trust me, a 1-12 or 1-14 would turn that hammering into a pur! Not to mention, shoot faster, foul less, clean easier, and put them little 40's in a tighter hole! There is a reason all barrel makers offer different twist, no twist will ever give best results with all bullets weights, just a fact.

 

[RussellJ]

I have 1/9 twist on a 222rem and mainly use 53gr Vmax and 69gr Sierra Mk and 69gr Scenars. Works very well.

Go for the 9-twist barrel. I have shot the 53 grain V-Max bullets in my 7 twist 22BR and they shoot extremely well.

 

[varmintshooter]

Go for it. I shoot a 9 twist for my night hunting rig and like it. I use 40 - 55 gr bullets but could go heavier. Very accurate.

 

[dfrosch]

Last seen: Oct 27, 2021

 

[moorepower]

Last seen: Oct 27, 2021

So, your saying that possibly he already bought a barrel??????

 

[dfrosch]

So, your saying that possibly he already bought a barrel??????

Maybe he did. But he hasn't checked this thread in over 11 months.

 

[Matt_3479]

Trust me, a 1-12 or 1-14 would turn that hammering into a pur! Not to mention, shoot faster, foul less, clean easier, and put them little 40's in a tighter hole! There is a reason all barrel makers offer different twist, no twist will ever give best results with all bullets weights, just a fact.

Never claimed 1 twist to rule all, was just stating my 1:8 shoots everything in the .3’s or better from 40gr to 80gr minus the 70gr rdf’s. Can’t make that shoot to save my life. If his smith has a 1:9 and it’s at a decent price vs ordering, waiting months on months and paying a higher price why not use the 1:9

 

[NZ_Fclass]

My 1-8 Tikka works just fine.

 

[wildcatter]

Never claimed 1 twist to rule all, was just stating my 1:8 shoots everything in the .3’s or better from 40gr to 80gr minus the 70gr rdf’s. Can’t make that shoot to save my life. If his smith has a 1:9 and it’s at a decent price vs ordering, waiting months on months and paying a higher price why not use the 1:9

I just ordered a 1-14 Shilen Select Match for 52 grain match bullets, and got it in less than 3 weeks.

That barrel will be able to shoot in the zero's when I do my part, and should have no reason not to agg in the high .1's. I could no way get that performance out of a 1-9 twist. I think this was the bullet weight the OP was asking about. Just offering advice for the purpose he asked, and pointing out the benefits of waiting a week or two to have an ideal barrel for his purpose. Plus in the 222 he should invest intelligently as that barrel should have no problem going 4 to 6 thousand rounds with normal use.

I agree, about any bullet should do high .3.s for an agg. but with a 222, especially for varmint and match use, anything over 55 grains in my world looses efficiency for varmints. If I wanted to shoot any heavier and expect better results, I'd be turning to a 223 AI at minimum, or a 22BR, I found the 22BR to do anything a 22-250 would do up to 60 grain bullets, for 70's and above, I would use no less than a 22-250 probably AI, or 22-47 Lapua for the realy heavy bullets.

But the 222 does not have the capacity to turn it into a 60 grain varmint round, you give up to much velocity at 250 to 300 yards for the bullets to open up and have nothing but a hole puncher, not my choice for varmints.

 

[5Baize]

Something I don't understand is that looking at stability factor, according to B. Litz bullet library, the 52gr would need a minimum of a 12.8" twist to be stabilized and an ideal twist of 11.4" for optimal stability.

Is it their use at short distance that rule out the need to have them stable?

 

[Tommie]

Me…
My…
I…

In the meantime this thread is a year old and the OP has disappeared.

 

[wildcatter]

Something I don't understand is that looking at stability factor, according to B. Litz bullet library, the 52gr would need a minimum of a 12.8" twist to be stabilized and an ideal twist of 11.4" for optimal stability.

Is it their use at short distance that rule out the need to have them stable?

Most short range Benchrest shooters go with the raged edge for best accuracy at 100 and 200 yards. There me be stability issues further out, but this caliber is an inside 300 yard gun for varmints, past that and terminal bullet performance becomes very questionable.

But the reason accuracy shooters choose these slowest possible twist rates are for various reasons,

less stress on bullets over spinning them faster, that puts more strain on the jacket and can distort the bullet.

It also is affected less in the same wind over faster spinning bullets, as the wind catches the grooves and the faster they spin the more the same velocity of wind can move the the same weight bullet.

In these calibers and chasing extreme accuracy, light bullets are chosen ti minimize recoil, another factor chasing extreme accuracy at these close yardages.

This also creates torque in the bags for target accuracy minded shooters, the faster the spin the more torque needed to get them going, the add more weight and that torque is increased.

one draw back to these extreme accuracy benefits is "cleaning" the borderline twist will suffer from fowling faster than a barrel that uses a bit more spin than needed to stabilize a bullet.

In short range benchrest the tiniest things matter, and everything requires anal tinkering to come out on top, no little advantage can be ignored, but in the field it is sometimes better to give up a little accuracy,,, + or - .010 or so to have some forgiveness in other areas. But this year at the super shoot, that .010" would have cost you 5 or 6 places in the winners list!