Savage Model 12 .223 Caliber

[Treetop]

I just bought a used LH bolt Savage mod. 12 in .223 caliber. This rifle has a 26" heavy barrel with a 1 in 9 twist.

What weight boolit mold should I buy for this rifle. I'm not interested in velocity unless I have to have velocity to stabilize the boolit.

Would it be practical to shoot a sub sonic boolit with acceptable accuracy using this 1 in 9 twist, or am I going to have to rebarrel it?

NOE lists several boolit molds in various weights as available now, so I would like some suggestions from those of you who have experience with the .223 in a 1 in 9 twist barrel. Thanks! Tt.

[Daveb6332]

I shoot the NOE 55g with an aluminum gas check out of a Savage Axis with 1 in 9 twist. I'm using 10g of Accurate #9 and I'm getting about 1.5 MOA with the occasional flyer.

There are numerous threads on casting for the .223 on this site plus an excellent article by Beagle here: http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/223cast.htm

[Treetop]

Thanks Daveb6332, what lead alloy are you casting? Wheel weights or...? Tt.

[Daveb6332]

I'm using a half and half mixture of linotype and range lead for a BHN of around 16. The range lead has been testing at about 10 BHN and the linotype is 22 BHN. Sized to .225 and .008 alum gas checks applied with the Lee sizing die. I lightly tumble lube the bullets prior to sizing and another light coat after the gas checks are applied.

Some people sort their bullets by .1 gn but I don't bother. Most of mine will run 59.4 -59.7 gn with gc and lube. I'm only plinking with these. Low cost, low recoil, low noise, max fun.

[Bullshop]

NOE 70gn RNGC amazingly accurate from a 9" twist Savage barrel even at subsonic velocity.
I have several other NOE 22 cal molds as well as many others from other makers but the one that has been outstanding for me specifically in 1/9" twist Savage barrel is the NOE 70gn RNGC.
Oh and I should add that for the lower velocities it has worked just as well without the gas check.

[wallenba]

I have one with a 1:7 twist, it's the model 12 VLP. 53 and 69 grain J's & Varget = sub moa @ 100-150 yards.

Cast is something I have not tried in this one. I do know that backing down on charge and velocity opens up my groups. These fast twist rates tend to slow the bullets down fast.

[Treetop]

NOE 70gn RNGC amazingly accurate from a 9" twist Savage barrel even at subsonic velocity.
I have several other NOE 22 cal molds as well as many others from other makers but the one that has been outstanding for me specifically in 1/9" twist Savage barrel is the NOE 70gn RNGC.
Oh and I should add that for the lower velocities it has worked just as well without the gas check.

First of all, Thanks to all who took the time to reply to my question!

Bullshop, this is exactly the information I was asking for. I will order an NOE 70 gr. RNGC, based on your reply.

A couple more questions, please:

1) What alloy were you casting?

2) What boolit diameter did your Savage like?

I think I'm going to have lots of fun casting for and experimenting with this little cartridge. Tt.

[Bullshop]

"""1) What alloy were you casting?"""
An alloy I use for most of my 22s is 6 parts coww to one part monotype. It yields an alloy that will air harden in 24 hours to a BHN of 15 and quench harden in 24 hours to BHN 24. Over a long period of time both the quenched and the air cooled get harder. After a couple years the air cooled seem nearly as hard as the quenched but I have never tested to see. I quench nearly all my 22s accept for special purpose loads and for those I often use pure lead.


"""" 2) What boolit diameter did your Savage like?""""
I opened up a .224" die to just a tad over .226" maybe .2262" and that is what I run all my boolits intended for .224" groove barrels through.

[brown bass hunter]

I shoot the NOE 55g with an aluminum gas check out of a Savage Axis with 1 in 9 twist. I'm using 10g of Accurate #9 and I'm getting about 1.5 MOA with the occasional flyer.

There are numerous threads on casting for the .223 on this site plus an excellent article by Beagle here: http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/223cast.htm

Just picked up a used Savage Axis in 223, I will have to try out some of those little NOE 55's.