Is the 12-twist 223 dead and buried??

[solarpak]

Hi all,
hope your all staying safe.

Many moons ago, one of my first 223's was a stainless sporter Howa M1500 with the Hogue boot and this shot like a demon with 55 grain bulk-pack winchester soft points!! That rifle is now long gone and i have the need to re-invest in a 223 after all these years - but now the 8 and 9 twist are the norm! I know Tikka /Sako make a 12 twist as well as a 9 twist (if my memory serves me well)

For all intent purposes i only want to shoot 55 grain factory soft points in my 223 - heavier bullets are the realm of my 243 Win (55-105 grains) .

Now for the $64 question - with shooting the 55 grains in mind - should i stick with the 12 or go to the 9??

All feedback welcomed folks.

Cheers
C.

[bladeracer]

I can only tell you that mine is 8"-twist and shoots 35gn to 80gn bullets just fine. I have 30gn, 90gn and 95gn bullets to try as well.

[AZZA'S HJ47]

My 222 is a 1-12 and my 223 is a 1-8 and wouldn't have it any other way love those 70g pills and its ability to be a little more versatile.

[Cooper]

I have two 223’s one with 1 in 12 the other with 1 in 9. If I bought another it would my than likely be a 1 in 8 twist.

My 1 in 12 shots the Hornady 62 gr TAP projectiles fine.

Then I saw a CZ 222 with 1 in 14 twist that I liked and bought that. It shoots 45gr and 50gr great. But that’s what I wanted to do with it.

I guess a lot of 223s will come with a Minimum of 1 in 9 twist in future.

[in2anity]

If you categorically won’t be going lower that 55gr then there’s no argument for the 1:12

[Diamond Jim]

I bought a new CZ 527 Varmint after reading they were all 9:1 twist. It turns out mine was "old stock" and I discovered after the deal it was a 12:1 barrel.

Not a big deal, it shoots 50 and 55gr projectiles brilliantly and I have other rifles if I want to shoot heavier bullets at bigger game. I just would have liked to know.

[SCJ429]

There is a theoretical advantage for using a 1:12 twist barrel over a faster twist, you may not notice any increase in accuracy unless you are chasing it. If you are chasing accuracy you would be best served with a 1:14 twist but most manufacturers only offer this barrel chambered in 222.

[SCJ429]

The flip side of this is by increasing the RPM of the bullet with fast twist barrels, you can improve the terminal performance of thin jacketed bullets making the very explosive on small game.

[in2anity]

There is a theoretical advantage for using a 1:12 twist barrel over a faster twist, you may not notice any increase in accuracy unless you are chasing it. If you are chasing accuracy you would be best served with a 1:14 twist but most manufacturers only offer this barrel chambered in 222.

All things equal, it should be the most accurate twist for 40-50gr pills right?

[bladeracer]

The flip side of this is by increasing the RPM of the bullet with fast twist barrels, you can improve the terminal performance of thin jacketed bullets making the very explosive on small game.

To the point that they evaporate on leaving the muzzle
My 8"-twist does limit me to no more than 3000fps (270,000rpm from memory) with 52gn bullets swaged from .22LR brass, but I've had no problems with commercially made bullets. I bought some 30gn bullets specifically to see how fast the .223 can throw them, and whether they stand up to the extreme rpm.

I checked my log, it was 3000fps (270,000rpm) when the swaged bullets stopped disappearing, at 3300fps (297,000rpm) they were 100% disappearing. If I can push a 30gn bullet to 4000fps that would be 360,000rpm.

[Ziege]

Dunno if anyone added it but new barrel from most manufacturers of aftermarket s**t cost between $350 and $600 if not chasing something special, so 1-12 twist onto a second hand action bought cheap could see the whole thing sorted for under $1300 max. Just a thought

[SCJ429]

All things equal, it should be the most accurate twist for 40-50gr pills right?

I am no expert but a keen observer of accurate rifles. I see short range Benchrest shooters of the 6mm PPC use twist rates between 1:15 and 1:13. I would say that the optimal twist rate for a 55 grain bullet shot out of a 223 chamber could be about 1:14 but if you wanted to shoot 62 grain bullets you may need to increase the twist up to 1:12.

Blade mentioned that you can over rev bullets to the point that the jacket comes apart. It is hard to do with a 223 but I have experienced it with a 243 shooting light bullets over 4000 fps out of a 1:8 twist barrel. I am guessing that commercially made bullets have tough jackets that are well bonded to the core, this is probably because they know some shooters will rev these bullets pretty hard.