Light .224 Bullets in Fast Twist Barrels

[South Pender]

I'm wondering what kind of accuracy you guys running fast-twist .224 barrels are getting with light .22-caliber bullets. I guess I'm thinking of 1-8" barrels and bullets of .40, 45, 50 grains. Is there anything to "over-stabilization"?

 

[Mark M.]

Sako 85 varmint 1-8. 50 gr VMax 1.25" @300yrds

 

[K22]

With my Tikka T3, 8" twist, I couldn't get the 50's (lightest I tried) to group under 1".

The 55's about 3/4" but I had to slow the velocity down to about 2900 ft/sec.

Best group to date is with 60 Vmax = .445"

 

[McFred]

I've got 50gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in a 1:9 under an inch at 200yds pushing more than 3500fps, and 50 Sierra Blitz Kings at 3475fps about the same at 200yds with a 1:8.

FWIW, the 1:9 and tighter will blow up the old 50gr Sierra Blitz lead-tip flat-base thin jacketed bullets at .223 Remington rifle velocities, but that should not be surprising given their design parameters.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Shooting 50 gr SX out of 1/8 AR 18" barrel. Suppressed--shots touch at 100. Haven't had the range weather to check at 300. I did head shoot a couple sleeping coyote from 151-165 yards with it,so I suspect bullets are still stable. This was a stout load of Benchmark.

 

[Beau]

Older Hornady SX blow up out of 9 and faster twists too. I don't know about newer ones.
Seems like the newer, tipped bullets are much tougher than those old .222 varmint bullets.

 

[Mark W]

Hornady 50 grain V-Max shoot good out of my 1:8 twist AR.

 

[Texas10]

For excellent accuracy the ideal spin rate seems to be one that is just enough to fully stabilize the bullet, but no more. Once the bullet leaves the barrel, any difference between the bullets center of gravity and center of rotation will lead to in-flight wobble and is exacerbated by increased spin speeds. So less is better than more when it comes to spin.

I shoot an 8 twist 223 and find the 53 V-Max to be an excellent choice. Also the Sierra p/n 1400 HP. But for distance the 53 V-Max is hard to beat in my 8 twist loaded well below max velocity. Look towards lower velocity nodes with light bullets in fast twist barrels. You may find something that works really well.

 

[Dale264]

I have shot Hornady 40 vmax up to 3700fps and 50 vmax up to 3500fps out of my 1-8t barrel. Best groups for both bullets were safely under an inch.

 

[wkdickinson]

I have a Colt AR with a 24" 1:9 barrel that shoots 50gr V-Max bullets on top of 26.0gr of H335 at about .5 MOA (5 shots at 200 yds). I assume the MV to be about 3,300 fps. If I shoot that same ammo in another AR with a Krieger 26" 1:7.7 twist barrel, about 2/3 of the bullets never make it to the target at 200 yds., they shed their jackets somewhere along the way. However, the ones that do get there, group similarly.

On the flip side - I had a M70 match rifle in 308 with an Obermeyer 1:8.5 twist barrel that shot 168gr. and 200gr SMKs great, but would not shoot 155gr Palma bullets at all.

"Over-stabilization" - maybe, maybe not?

 

[mic2377]

No issues with 40 V-Max out of an 18" 1/8 twist barrel in AR, over a stiff load of 8208-XBR. Shot very well too (to what can be achieved with an AR-15 and a 4x scope, albeit it was still under 1").

 

[fyrewall]

The H 53 Vmax is longer than many 55's and 12 twists are preferred for the 53 VMax. I get reasonably good accuracy with 7.7 & 8 twist .22-250's like .75 @ 100. Apparently this bullet is tough enough to handle the high revs and well balanced enough to minimize wobbling. About 3,700 plus. The 53 VMax is a good light bullet selection for a fast twist .224. Spin like crazy but have not blown up (yet) - barrel ?

 

[xswanted]

I’ve shot 53 vmaxs to 3900fps from an 8 twist barrel and they shot great to 300 yards. I didn’t pursue it farther than that.

40 grain vmaxs to 3650 from an 8 twist with no issues.

64 grain Bergers went poof at 3600 from an 8 twist.

 

[duanehunter1]

I use 52g Amax in a 24" 1-7" with outstanding results.