22-250 twist

[roysha]

If you were going to rebarrel a 22-250, would you use a 9" or 12" twist for best results with the usual weights of .224 bullets, say from 50 to 65 or so grains? I know what I'm going to use and that there is no absolute answer but I'm curious what most of you would use and why.

[george1980]

i have very limeted experience with smokless rifles but i do have a savage mdl 12 in 22-250 with a 12 twist barrel it shoots bullets up to 55 grns remarkably well with the 50 grn nosler being my fav but at anything heavier than 55 grns bullet weight stability seems to becomes a issue , so i guess a persons choice would be what he's going to use the rifle for , for me just shooting groundhogs with 400 yds being my absolute outside range the 12 twist barrel and 50 grn bullets work great

[Doc Highwall]

The standard twist is 1-14" so I would go with the 1-12".

[AZ Pete]

Well, I rebareled mine to 1:7, shoot mostly 75 g. but it shoots 55's just dandy. I suspect that if you are going to shoot 65 g. you might like a 1:9 or 1:10. The tighter twists might become more relevant as more bullets become "non leaded". I just don't think that a tighter twist is as big a problem as one that won't stabilize the bullet, whether it be because the bullet is longer, the weather colder, or you load to a lower velocity for some reason.

[John Taylor]

One of the problems with the tight twist is the bullets may come apart if you try for max velocity. Factory twist is 1 in 14", if you are planning on shooting the 70 grain the 1 in 12" should do fine. If you are planning on light loads then go to a faster twist. It's a little hard to say one twist will work for everything but the factory rifle seem to do good with most factory ammo.

[flounderman]

I have a cheetah with a 1 in 9 twist and wish it was a little faster. you won't have bullets disintergrating unless you use the sx type bullets. you might blow a 40 grain but the more normal bullets will stand up to 220 swift velocities. there is nothing wrong with a 1 in ten twist. I had a 22-06 with 1 in 10 and shot 63 gr sierras in it back when that was the heaviest 22 available. the 69 gr sierra hp bt is a good bullet and wil stabilize in a standard twist. if you want a faster twist, it could cost you more, but that being said, some barrels made for 223 go down to 1 in 7 so faster twists may be available as standard.

[AZ Pete]

One of the problems with the tight twist is the bullets may come apart if you try for max velocity. Factory twist is 1 in 14", if you are planning on shooting the 70 grain the 1 in 12" should do fine. If you are planning on light loads then go to a faster twist. It's a little hard to say one twist will work for everything but the factory rifle seem to do good with most factory ammo.

John, I have yet to see a bullet come apart due to tight twist in my 22-250 (1:7). I looked for one that would, for a while. I thought it would be a hoot to have one of my friends, that's a good shot and proud of it, have a three shot group that didn't make it to the paper. Then shoot three of a sturdier bullet into a nice tight group for him. Would have been fun, but never found a bullet that fragile. They are probably out there, but I wouldn't let the few of them that are scare me away from a tighter twist, if I wanted it.

[felix]

Not only the twist rate, but the sharpness of the lands for the jacket to withstand the acelleration. I've smoked them at circa 3800, and keyholed them at 3600. Estimated velocities. ... felix

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I have a 22-250 with the standard 1-14 twist. I love the caliber, but on several occasions I have hit the limits of the twist even with 55gr bullets! If you are a varmint shooter where little light bullets at high velocities is your thing, then I would go with a 1-12 or 1-14. But if you can legally hunt medium sized game with a 22 in your area I would go with the faster twists. One of these days I think I’ll put a fast twist barrel on my 22-250.

[John Taylor]

I don't have a 22-250, just going on what customer tell me about it. I did see one that would leave a smoke trail to the target, guy ( brother-in-law) was loading it way to hot. One of the draw back to a twist that is more than enough is that it draws some off the velocity. When I was playing around with the 300 Win mag at long range I was using a 14 twist instead of the standard 10. The 180 grain bullets were chronographed at 3400 (31" barrel). It would be a little hard to get that out of a 10 twist. I have heard arguments on twist rate for years and I still hear them almost every day. If there is a problem with the 1-14 for the 22-250 then the factories would be doing something ells. Look what happened to the 244 Remington when some writer said the twist was to slow. The factory came out with a faster twist and called it a 6MM ( also loaded with a heavier bullet) The 244 has a twist of 1-12 and the 6MM is 1-9. Sure the 223 has a faster twist ( factory is 1-12) but that is more likely do to the lower velocity which spins the bullet slower. If you want to shoot low velocity out of a 22-250 then a faster twist is required. I believe going to a 1-9 or faster is overkill and robs velocity. A 1-12 should be more than adequate for the 70 grain bullet. The factory twist of 1-14 seems to work with it as long as the velocity is around 3300.

[Larry Gibson]

John

Very well said.

Larry Gibson

[hiram1]

roysha.there is a lot of good guys here to help you.thay do me a lot .so you come to the best place to find out what will work or not work

[flounderman]

I have a cheetah with 1 in 9 and wish it was an 8, had a 22-06 with a 1 in 10 and shot the 63 gr. with no problems. I shoot a 65 gr at 3600 from the cheetah and it would do more. I have a middlestead with a 1 in 14 but I havent experimented with it. you can get a 223 barrel with a faster twist and chamber it and it won't cost extra. otherwise, faster twists usually cost more. you won't have any problems with a 1 in 9 barrel and you will find that the 55 gr bullet will shoot flatter at longer ranges and have less wind drift. there is no sense burning a barrel up driving 45 gr bullets at max velocity to shoot something at 100 yards. I really like the 69 gr sierra bt hp.

[MtGun44]

I have definitely seen bullets come apart when driven to hard for their design. In the old
days, bullets were poorer quality and trying to spin them faster than necessary often
reduced accuracy. Today's better bullets are such consistent pieces of art that spinning
them faster seems to have far less impact on accuracy. But you sure can make the weaker
ones (typically thin skinned varmint types) come apart in a puff of blue smoke.

Bill

[jwmprock]

All mine are 14". For jacketed I shoot 40 gr V Max @ 4200 plus, for cast with gas check I shoot linotype Lyman 225438 44 gr roundnose (actually closer to 40 grains w/lino), maintain accuracy up to about 3,000. For milder ammo I have a .218 Bee, use the same cast bullet, softer alloy, gas check, good accuracy and efficiency with several "sweet spots", one down near .22 LR velocities, a couple in the 2,000-2250 range. Twist in the B is 16". shoot mostly 2400 because I have a huge quantity of the stuff and it works well in both rounds.

[Willbird]

Just one minor point, 1/12 is the factory twist in some factories :-). Some polymer tipped 55 grain bullets are apparently marginal at 1/14 twist, the Seirra Blitzking was the first I heard that about.

[DCM]

I have definitely seen bullets come apart when driven to hard for their design. In the old
days, bullets were poorer quality and trying to spin them faster than necessary often
reduced accuracy. Today's better bullets are such consistent pieces of art that spinning
them faster seems to have far less impact on accuracy. But you sure can make the weaker
ones (typically thin skinned varmint types) come apart in a puff of blue smoke.

Bill

+1 I have proven to be a perfect example of what not to do more than once. The occasion that this brings to mind was shooting a rifle match after sighting in my varmint rifle with some V-max ammo. I thought I grabbed my A- max ammo to shoot the match with my 7.7 twist only to have my scorekeeper tell me that I was not hitting the target because my bullets seemed to be exploding! At first I looked at him as if he were from a different planet, then I started cussing at myself! :evil: After I retrieved the correct ammo I shot much better [smilie=w: DOLT!

To find the minimal twist rate you need see
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=107867

Hope this helps.

[GabbyM]

You do not state what quarry you are seeking.

With center fire 22’s there is no one twist fits all. You state 50 to 65 grains and that’s simply to wide a spread, IMHO.

Standard 22-250 twist of 1-14 is optimized for the 50 grain bullet at 3,800 fps.
If it were mine and I was drawing a bead on coyotes I’d run a 1-12” twist to use 60 grain Sierra flat base HP’s to 55 grain SBT bullets. My believe is if all you want to shoot is a 50 grain bullet you may as well shoot a 223 Rem. Then the tight twist 22-250’s to shoot the heavy 22 bullets have shown to be harsh barrel burners. Which leaves you with the better option of jumping up to the 6mm bore calibers like 6mm XTC which is a blown out 22-250 case. Then down loading it from max potential to save bore life. Or if you can shoot a single shot use the 6mm BR. A few factories sell tight twist 22-250’s but I’m not very fond of the idea over just going to a 6mm or 25 caliber. Other peoples opinions of course vary.

I’ve shot P dogs next to shooters with 22-250 ad 243 Win using the light for caliber bullets and they didn’t reach out much farther than my 223 Rem with 50 grain bullets. First two years I shot P dogs I used a 243 Win with 55 grain Nosler ballistic tips at a tad over 4,000 fps. . It was deadly out to 440 yards but started to wander out past that. With heavier bullets the 243 is an 800 yard gun. My later acquired 223 Rem varmint rifle with 1-12” twist and 50 grain Sierra Blitz - Kings at 3,350 fps only falls twenty to forty yards short of the 243’ 55 grain bullet at 4,000 fps. But the 243's barrel will not last near as long as a 223. Cost per shot is far greater in bullet, powder and barrel life. The 243 I shot those 55’s out of was a Ruger VT with a factory 1-12” twist. That action has an ER Shaw 1-10” barrel now and only shots 87or 90 grain J bullets and cast boolits now. What I’m getting at is you are not going to turn a 22-250 into a 243 Win or even a 6mm XTC. That is unless you are willing to re barrel your rifle at five hundred rounds. But what would be the point in that?

Be satisfied with your 22-250 out shooting a 223 Rem or get ready to spend some large bills.

If you want to shoot past a quarter mile my sugestion would be to jump to a 6mm bore.

On varmints with 50 or 55 grain bullets the 22-250 has a very short elapse time which is forgiving in lead guesses and unpredicted animal movements. Any advantage in flat trajectory or windage over a 223 Rem is minimal since a great portion of that advantage is negated by the shooters judgment. My 243 AI will easily reach out 350 yards farther than my 223.

[HARRYMPOPE]

My Stevens 200 and Savage 12 22-250 with 1-12 are very good cast shooters and fine with 40g Jako' hornet bullets as well.it is my most flexible 22 caliber over the Hornet the Bee and 222.

George