Optimum barrel for 90 gr VLD .224 bullets

[Paul Arey]

I seem to be in the dilemma of the century, for me....? What to choose..? I am no expert on the mater thus my being here on the forum. Part of me wants a bit of gain in my next barrel. I know people are shooting great with & without. Now I'm just trying to pick the rate of gain for me...? Originally I was thinking of something like a .500 or .750 gain on a 30 inch barrel for the 90 gr vlds. But now I've learned that only a slight .100" or .250" gain has shown to really work good and most of the top shooters in the game are using those rates of twists or something close to them. Right when I was ready to go for the .750 rate of gain I learned this..! These 90s will be pushed out of a 220 Swift Improved so I can get them moving no problem. Now I'm procrastinating between .250" of gain or .750"...? Before I learned about this slight bit of gain working well I was pretty much set on doing something like a 7.500 t0 6.750.........now I'm kind of undecided again. I can develop loads for what works but really don't have tons of time to tinker around with various barrels & gain twist rates. There is a lot of knowledge here that I am hoping will save me some grief getting my choice narrowed down started in the right direction. Here where I am at in Montana my typical shooting I would say is 2900 feet @ 70 degrees, which gives me comfortable stability/1.76 with a 6.8 twist. I am not in a rush on the barrel I probably in all actuality won't pull the trigger on it until this Fall or the following Spring. my stand by gun is still doing it's job just fine with 55 gr ballistic tips! Thanks again for all the help