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.223 twist rate


tikkasuper

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Hi guys

Looking for some advice for a mate who is about to buy his first centrefire. He's made his mind up on a supervarmit t3x, the question is 1in8 or 1in12 twist? He's wanting to shoot out to around 400yds and doesn't home load as yet, so factory 50-55gr loads will be used. Any advice greatly received.

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Definitely go for the 1-8 twist. As Alan says it will future proof your friends gun if he takes up handloading in the future. Plus the 1-8twist will stabilise the 50-55gr factory rounds easily. You can also but hornady tap ammo which is the same bullet as the 75gr bthp in factory rounds which are great bullets and hit very hard indeed. I have personally taken rabbits with these to 670 yards.

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Is the 8 twist as accurate as a 12 twist with lighter loads? Or do they come into their own with a heavier and longer bullet

From my own experience with a 1-9 twist there is no discernible difference between the 1-12 and the 1-9 with lighter bullets. I have shot from 53 - 75 in my rifle with very little difference in accuracy. I've actually settled on the 69gr tmks. But if I had the 1-8 it would stabilise the 75amax and the 77gr tmk. My friend has a 1-12 twist howa and it changing it to a 1-9. A 1-8 twist is a no brainer imho.

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Probably a bit late, but i have a 1 in 8 Tikka T3. I've shot from 40 to 75 grain bullets, and managed 1/2" groups at 100 yards with both. And have even better results from the 50 to 55 grain bullets.

Cheers

Chaz.

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I'd go with the advice already given. A 1 in 8 may suffer marginal MV loss due to the tighter twist, but gain with flexibility of choice of ammo. I have shot 55gr factory ammo no problems with mine sub moa, and my standard do-it-all round of 69gr works very well to the ranges your friend wants. I've even found flat base 60gr V-max shoot well to 400 yds (but not much beyond) if driven pretty hard and is devastating on fox.

 

Home loading is worth consideration. It's one of the things that make the .223 such a great little round to use, due to the cheapness of re-loading and the wide choice of bullets and propellants available.

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tikkasuper,i'm with the 1in 8.

In essence,the 1/8 will usually shoot light bullets (lighter than 50g) as well as the 1/12,for all practical purposes.My Sako 75 shoots 40g int sub .3 at 100y (I don't know quite what a 1/12 would do,or just what I would do with it exclusively IF it shot .25.

 

But the 1/8 shoots heavier bullets way way better at 400y and beyond,esp if there is some wind. My super accurate 22 and 6PPCs have a slower twist and lose out after 300y,but sub .1 at 100y. The 1;8 is way way more flexible,and really has no short range deficit.

 

Factory ammo offers soe choice-not even counting european loads,there afre over 90 US ones,and half are 52-55 g loads. Not all available in UK, but thee is enough choice that something will shoot as well as the rifle can shoot.Meanwhile,it's quite interesting to do a proper pricing for factory and reloaded ammo-like for like,the difference is not as large as some estimate-top ammo does not come chap either way. Of course russian steel case ammo is a lot less than Norma Match ammo-and it shows.Reloading saves the brass costs,and not much more (offset,if you will,by the capital costs of the equipment,but also the hobby pleasure aspects of reloading-time/pleasure can't really be costed).

1/8 Tikka super varmint T3x is a serious 223,unlikely to disappoint within the limits of the 223 cartridge.400y is realistic,at least for moa size targets in good conditions. Rather few cartridges are 100% when it gets windy,and targets get smaller :-)

 

gbal

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Got the T3 tac 1in8 and could not get 55 grain bullets to work, looked like a hailstorm. Upped to 69 grain bullets and it shoots hole in hole.

 

This complaint is not uncommon as over the years I have heard of a few T3 1:8"s only able to shoot 55gn bullets and above or even over 55gn only. For sub 400 yards as per the OP I cannot see the advantage of of shooting heavy target bullets if after vermin.

I had the same decision and went for a 1:12" as it will certainly work with lighter hunting bullets. That said I would have been better off with a 204 for similar velocities but better BCs.

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I have had 2 Tikka T3 Supervamints with 8" twist tube fitted.

 

I had two loads sorted - first was using 55 grn SKB. This was the standard fodders for the rifles and used for all foxing and vermin out to 400 yrds ish. ( about 75 % of my shooting)

 

The second load was using 75 grn Amax - The was used as my long range vermin or target load.

both the bullets shot superbly well.

 

I also tested 40 grn Vmax in both rifles - no load developing just selected a recipe that had worked previously. Again the 1-8 produced reasonable groups - ( 0.5 moa)

 

I currently have a 12 twist Tikka 595 which is amazingly accurate, so don't want to pull the barrel.... But when it comes to re-barrel - I will have a 7 or 8 twist fitted.

 

ATB

S

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There are rather a lot of 223 options-here are a few SAAMI ones relevant to the discussion about compromised performance(or not!) with lighter/heavier bullets,with the alleged common transition 55g for example,with different twists...and the '400y' range; all with Hornady Vmax bullets,to be broadly comparable on terminal effects (clearly all varmint bullets): drop/drift " at 400y,200 zero,10 mph wind 24" barrel:

 

Hornady 40g Vmax @3800fps 400y 17.6/22.9

Black Hills 50g Vmax @3300 400y 21.1/21.9

Hornady 55g Vmax @3240 400y 21.4/20.8

Black Hills 60g Vmax @3100 400y 23.5/20.8

 

OK,any shorter barrel,warm mvs etc,apply to all the above more or less equally,pro rata,as do rifle differences etc.

So pretty comparable.

 

GIven that by 400y some fair dialing in is indicated with any loading,is there really much effective difference-and note slight advantage in wind,helps offsets the slight disadvantage in drop,especially as it's wind that can't be measured accurately?

 

The faster twist,heavier bullet compatible rifles will do considerably better beyond 400y,so are more 'flexible'.Given the choice of bullet s available,it's unlikely they can't show at least adequate varmint accuracy over sub 400yards, comparable to the slow twists.

Seen thus,not a lot in it!

 

gbal

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