Why 14" twist in factory 22-250 Rifles

[Ironworker]

Some rifle makers chamber 223 with 1-9" twist bbls others 1-12" twist. But seems all chamber their 22-250s with 1-14"twist ?

 

[Steve Blair]

Tradition. In ancient times, varmint rifles were barreled to shoot very short bullets at the highest possible velocities. Long bullets in small calibers were unknown and the idea probably would have been ridiculed by gun scribes of the era.

In this age of enlightenment, many gun makers offer faster twist barrels in .22 and 6mm but some still cling to the old ways.

 

[jonbearman]

The slower twist barrels also shoot at lower pressure's and the lawyers may have had something to do with that,LOL.

 

[CanusLatransSnpr]

You can get a Savage Model 12 VLP 22-250 in a 9" twist or a 12" twist. I own one in 9" twist and it shoots pretty damn good. I have two complaints though. One, the barrel doesn't clean up all that easy and two, I can't shoot the cheap 52 gr. bullets because they come apart on the way to the target. Other than those, I love this rifle.

Mike

 

[bheadboy]

few of the 55gr plastic tip varmit bullets will stabalize in the 14 twist some will and some wont, i had mine built with a 13 twist Hart and it handles up into the 60+grers great.


The idea of high bc thin jacket bullets is a recent thing and tradition has yet to wake up at some manufacturers.

Bob

 

[fdshuster]

Like sleepygator/steve said I also believe it's a matter of tradition. In the early days of the 22-250, after Remington began offering it as a factory chambering they were going after the 220 Swift market, in particular the velocities being claimed by Winchester, and they could best meet those claims (or at least come close to them), with 14 twist barrels for the lightweight bullets. It's only been recently that many are seeing the advantages of the large case powder capacity and the ability to use heavier bullets for better performance at the longer distances. Savage and a few others are responding to the demands of the market by offering the faster twists.

 

[RonAKA]

Pure speculation on my part, but it may have something to do with the SAAMI and CIP specifications for the cartridge. My guess would be that when a manufacturer decides to standardize a cartridge, they have to make some decisions on the basic design. As others have posted they clearly had lighter bullets in mind. These lighter bullets would need a shorter throat, and obviously for maximum accuracy a slower twist. So, perhaps when they went forward with the standardization they designed it around light bullets and a short throat.

There is information from Norma that says when they standardized the 6BR Norma changes were made from the 6BR Remington design to make it more suitable for heavier bullets. Neck was increased in length, throat angle was reduced to 1.5 deg., and twist increased. They increased the minimum throat length, as the CIP spec certainly is long and suitable for the heavy bullets. See this link:

http://www.norma.cc/content.asp?Typ=59&Lang=2&DocumentID=251&Submeny=4&Rubrik=Calibers&Title=6 mm Norma BR

But again, just speculation, as I have not researched it in any depth or even looked at the SAAMI specs.

 

[coyoteklr]

few of the 55gr plastic tip varmit bullets will stabalize in the 14 twist some will and some wont, i had mine built with a 13 twist Hart and it handles up into the 60+grers great.


The idea of high bc thin jacket bullets is a recent thing and tradition has yet to wake up at some manufacturers.

Bob

i have a 22-250 in 14 and a 220 swift in 14 and they shoot 55 v-max 55 nosler and 2 others and they shoot one hole at 100 yards..... most of these were made for varmits and you can get more speed with slower twist.... you will get more explosive effect with the faster twist because of the increased rpm....also more pressure and maybe the bullets of that time couldn't handle the rpm's????? I also have a 220 AI 14 that will shoot 60 grain bullets....

 

[Frankr]

Well have to put my 2 cents in, the slowest twist that will stablize the bullet is the most accurate at short range,the 22-250 was a benchrest cartridge at one time long ago.
the second thing is speed kills, I have owned several 14 twist 22-250's and one 14 twist 220 swift. and the high velocity ,super flat trajectory and great accuracry has made them king of the varmit cartridges for along time.now some fellows here recently have been shooting the heavy bullets with faster twist,with great resualts. but many,many,many of us have been shooting 55gr bullets at velocitys @3,850 FPS for along time out of a 14 twist with great resualts, like out to 6-700 yrds or so,some have killed over 900yrds with them. so im not sold on the fast twists,not sure they are needed,but i can see a slight atvantage with the heavy bullets at long range.O and i have shot the hornady 60gr spire point out of the 14 twist 22-250 shot them very well. the more speed you have the heavery the bullet you can stabilize .

 

[dennisinaz]

Neither my 220 Swift nor my 22-250 will stabilize 55 grain Ballistic tips nor 60 grain Partitions. They really need a 13 twist or faster to work well. They shoot OK at 5000' but fall apart at 1200'.

My 22-250 won't even shoot the 52 grain Amax bullets! I think the 14" twist is a waste. When I rebarrel, it will be with 12 twists for sure.

 

[Frankr]

Wow! that does not seem normal dennisinaz, im at 900-1200ft, and i have shot all the 55gr bullets even some 57gr custom boattails, 60gr hornady spire points. with out any trouble and i have several friends who shoot the same thing so ??? i have no idea why you would have problems, my new nosler book they test fire up to the 60gr partition in the 14 twist, and the 69 to 80 gr's in the 8 twist.So even nosler says the 14 twist is ok for the 55NBT.???

 

[Rem06]

i have a sako and ruger 14tw and am wondering if it would be worth trying the 60gr noslers. I will be shooting groundhog matches at 100-300-500yds and was wondering if anybody found the 60NBT to be better than the 55NBT?

 

[Frankr]

I dont know about the 60 gr NBT, but a bullet you might want to try is the bruno 57gr BT
i have had good luck with them and a hot load of H414.

 

[Ackman]

few of the 55gr plastic tip varmit bullets will stabalize in the 14 twist some will and some wont,
Bob

The longest plastic tip 55 is a 55Blitzking. The one that internet people say won't stabilize in a 14 twist. They shoot very nicely in my 14twist .223 even at 3400+, the starting load with that particular powder and about as slow as I've shot them.

 

[dennisinaz]

Wow! that does not seem normal dennisinaz, im at 900-1200ft, and i have shot all the 55gr bullets even some 57gr custom boattails, 60gr hornady spire points. with out any trouble and i have several friends who shoot the same thing so ??? i have no idea why you would have problems, my new nosler book they test fire up to the 60gr partition in the 14 twist, and the 69 to 80 gr's in the 8 twist.So even nosler says the 14 twist is ok for the 55NBT.???

When I was living in Prescott at 5500', I shot several 1/4" groups with the 55 grain plastic tipped bullets. When I tried the same loads at the range at 1300', they opened up to over an inch. I am shooting 40 grain Vmaxs into 1/4-3/8 MOA everytime. This tells me they are on the ragged edge of stability.

I tried to take some 60 grain partitions to Montana to hunt antelope and they were keyholing out of my 220 Swift. (pre-64 mod 70). I gave the rest of them to a buddy up there and used my 260 Rem instead.

Just like the 250 Savage- it is very marginal with 115 grain Ballistic tips et al with a 1-10" twist, a 9 would be safer.

I shoot a lot of prairie dogs with 40 grain Blitzkings as they shoot really well out of my 22-250 and blow up good. I wish I could shoot something better for windy days. Gonna build a 6mm for the windy days I guess.

 

[Frankr]

well dennisinaz everyone has their likes and dislikes and their own experiences.
I dont shoot the 22-250 anymore in faver of a 14 twist 6BR.
but my faverorite load in my last 22-250 a cooper 22 14 twist,24" barrel
was the 55gr SBK with a hot load of H414,cant tell ya the powder charge but i
remember the velocity was over 3,850FPS and a few 26" barrel savage guys were kind
of up set that i was getting more out my 24" tube than they were and it would conistantly
shoot .350" 5 shot groups at 100 yrds. 1/4" groups consistantly out of any 22-250 is asking for more than its capable of.A good shooting 22-250 is capable of sub 1/2 moa consistantly but 1/4 moa in the very best of the best built 22-250 is asking alot.(conistantly)!
I know from what you are telling me that you were in to a tuneing problem and not a rate of twist stability problem. the 22-250 can get out of tune and spit out some big .850+ groups very easy, i have seen it happen a bunch and at the same time i have seen a boy shoot groups in the high .170" range with one.But i love the 6BR and will never go back to the 22-250 but i cant doubt its the KING of varmit cartridge.

 

[Rem06]

The longest plastic tip 55 is a 55Blitzking.

i am eyeing that too, i really like the blitzking in 223

 

[coyoteklr]

i've shot antelope in montana with swift for 35+ years.... anything from 40 grain to 60 grain mostly 52 grain and no problems.... my newer swift is AI and i still shoot the same grains..... i've killed several deer with it..... i have several friends that shoot 22-250 and swifts all with 14 twist and most shoot the 55 grain nosler bt....mostly for coyotes...... i haven't heard any of them complain about groups or problems.....my swift with 14 twist will put 52 and 55 in one hole at 100 that is a factory barrel 26" chambered to AI, but would also do it before i rechambered it....
not sure what else to say..................................

 

[AckleymanII]

For the vast majority of shooters, 300 yards is a long shot.....

intenet makes everyone want to shoot 800-1000 yards...then you are cool.