Compatible bullet weights for 1:12 & 1:9 barrels

buckstar

My friend has had a Handi-Rifle chambered in .223 Remington for a couple of decades that he bought used back then. At that time I thought it was silly because being a kid it was not cool looking. He recently brought it to my house and shot a couple holes in paper. He handed it to me and I put my rounds through the holes he made. I was also highly impressed with the trigger and the comfortable balance.

Naturally, I rushed out the very next day and bought me one without doing any research first.

From my post-purchase research and an eventual call to Marlin (who apparently made my barrel) I have a 1:9 twist with the support person stating that my recommended bullet weight would be "55gr and up".

Now my friend's rifle was made by New England Firearms and I believe that has a 1:12 twist.

Me and my friend have gotten into reloading and are enjoying it. One of the things that makes it most enjoyable is that we tend to get the same calibers and so we load ammo that can be used in each others guns. I understand that we won't get perfect, tailor-made accuracy by sharing home made ammo for our different guns. That said, is there a bullet weight that would be happy with either twist rate for good 100-200yd accuracy? Since I order components by the 1000 for additional per-round savings it would be nice to load an anti-coyote round (such as V-Max?) that will do well in either rifle. The cost savings on quantity would make it acceptable for target practice as well.

I appreciate any advice on this.

Mobuck

My 6-8 year old H&R 223 shoots 50&55 grain Nosler BT pretty well in addition to 55 grain FMJ. Nailed a crow at 210 yards with the 50BT last week.
This rifle doesn't handle anything over 60 grains and military spec 5.56x45 is a no-no(after a couple of shots it was obvious that was a bad idea).

jonk

My 1 in 9 Savage shoots the Hornady 50 gr V-max better than anything else, including HPBT 69 grain. You never know if you don't try.

dcs shooters

The military wanted the 1/9 twist to handle a 62gr. bullet.
It's the length of the bullet more than the weight of it that makes a different twist handle them.
Just try some and see what your twists will group better.

Riomouse911

40-55 will work just fine in both.

Rocky Raab

As dcs shooter says, it is bullet length that determines the twist. Velocity is also important, but less so. We commonly talk about twist for bullet weight, but that only applies if the bullets are cup and lead core style. Once you get into monometal or non-lead cores, all those weight parameters are off.

The longer the bullet (and/or slower the muzzle velocity) the faster the twist rate must be to stabilize that bullet. Conversely, the faster or steeper the twist rate, the longer the bullet can be.

You can shoot lighter/shorter bullets than optimal for a given twist rate but you are likely to lose velocity a bit and see evidence of over-stabilization at longer ranges.

sandwarrior

The best bullet I have found for both twists is the 60 gr. V-Max. If that doesn't work well in his or your rifle, then try the 55 gr.

As explained above it's the length of the bullet that determines the twist. Although usually in one caliber to get a longer bullet you have to get a heavier bullet. This isn't true of LD/VLD type bullets as they have a very stretched ogive. They are disproportionately long compared to standard type bullets.

buckstar

Ok, thank you for the help. From the comments I'm learning that I should probably simmer down on the bulk components for a second and get a sample of projectiles from 40-60gr and find the mutual winner among them. For some reason I had read this over and over for single rifle ammo matching but failed to apply this to my current situation. A newbie mistake I guess. [:o)] I was wrapped up in "what is the proper sized bullet range for each twist and where do the sizes cross" instead of just trying it out since the guns will choose their own favorites.

Thanks again!

sandwarrior

quote:Originally posted by buckstar
Ok, thank you for the help. From the comments I'm learning that I should probably simmer down on the bulk components for a second and get a sample of projectiles from 40-60gr and find the mutual winner among them. For some reason I had read this over and over for single rifle ammo matching but failed to apply this to my current situation. A newbie mistake I guess. [:o)] I was wrapped up in "what is the proper sized bullet range for each twist and where do the sizes cross" instead of just trying it out since the guns will choose their own favorites.

Thanks again!


No problem. What you're getting from the posters above is not industry or Gubmint statistics. Rather, information from folks who've been there, done that and certainly want to set you on the right track. There is "a bullet size" that works best for this twist, cartridge combo, etc. But, what you have will work great in this configuration.
-good luck