twist

[KaiserNorton]

Greetings, I am new here, so please be gentle. I have been hankerin for a 6mm BR for sometime now, and recently took steps to fill that void. Having a short Savage action in hand, I impulsively bought a barrel for it off another forum. It is a Pac-nor, Select Stainles match, with a 1-14 twist. My original plan was to go with either a 1-12 or 1-10 twist, but this one came up for sale, and- well, like I said, I am impulsive.

I generally do not shoot to long ranges, though here in ND the oppurtunity is there. Realizing that wind will play a big factor with the smaller bullets this barrel requires, are there any drawback to shooting those bullets at extended distances? I'm not planning to shoot to 1000 yds, but will I be seriously hosing myself out to say, 500? Due to this inability to handle heavy bullets to extended ranges, I'm kinda wondering to myself,ah, that wonderful hindsight) if I haven't bought myself a really expensive clone of a 22/250,but, hopefully, a really accurate one).

Flame on, Fellas.

The Kaiser

 

[WayneShaw]

You'll be able to shoot up to 70 grain bullets fine. And you'll be able to push em quite well. I don't think you will be handicapped at 500 yards. But of course if the wind is blowing hard, any bullet will be tossed around.

 

[stork]

Kaiser,
Merry Christmas from Bismarck.

First off what are you defining as long range. 400-600? 700-1000? 1000+?

I had a Schneider 1-12 243 built By Dan Dowling over 20 years ago. I mistakenly thought to have light bullets with high velocity and that would transfer over to long range shooting,yes, Dan tried to tell me I was wrong. However I am a stubborn Kraut and thought I knew everything back then).

The heaviest bullet I can shoot and still stabilize is the 80 gr Ballistic Tip. That bullet will still shoot in the 4's and occasional 3's even through that old Schneider pipe. You will have a hard time with the 1-14 stabilizing the 80's unless you moly, have a 30" pipe and push the dayllights out of them.

You should be able to shoot the 70 Ballistic tips with really good accuracy and if molyed and pushed to the upper limits you will have a 600 yard prairie dog gun.

My dogging partner had a 6br improved built with a 3 groove Pac-nor about 5 years ago and I have witnessed him taking consecutive dogs at 650-700 yards. He shoots only molyed 70gr ballistic tips at nearly 3400 fps. His longest shot to date is just slightly over 800 yards but terminal bullet performance was very lousy. Just not enough oomph left in that little bullet at that range. To shoot at anything over 400 yds we have to be lined up either with or directly into the wind.

I just had a 1-9 twist 6 dasher built by Dan last summer that shows promise. I only had it out one time, but it shows promise with the 87 Vmax's. Hopefully it will be sufficient out to 1000. So far its shooting bare 87's at 3100 fps in the 2's.

IMHO if you could trade or sell the 1-14 and get a 1-9 or 1-8 that would be a far better prairie dog gun,long range varminter). Just trying to save you some of the expensive lessons learned.

FWIW

Stork

 

[KaiserNorton]

Gentlemen, Thank you for your replies. I do not consider myself a long range shooter, though I'd like to learn. I'm thinking that for the time being, I'll hold on to the barrel. The range I have easy access to only goes to 300 yds. I think I'll use this barrel to become proficient out to that range, then if I decide to step out to longer distances, I'll then purchase a new barrel with a 1-8 twist. Most likely, though, this gun will be shot mostly at paper, and a few coyotes.

As stated, most of my shooting has been under 300 yds, with most under 200. I have taken one deer shot at an honest 375 yds and a fox at a paced-off 429 yds, those being my "long range" trophies. So, I have a lot to learn about even mid-range distance shooting.

Again, thanks for the observations. Stork- do you ever get to Fargo?

The Kaiser