Hello all,
Would I be able to shoot powder coated cast bullets reasonably well out of a .338 Federal with a 1:7 twist?
I am going to start building a bolt action rifle for suppressed shooting, both supersonic and subsonic. I am leaning toward a 338 Federal since there is a lot of established load data, and I can also take advantage of the 8.6 Blackout shenanigans that are afoot, and use some of the LOOOONG heavy expanding subsonic bullets that are being made. I would be looking at a faster twist rate to use those bullets; Maker recommends a 1:6.5 or faster twist for their 350g bullets. I am thinking that fast of a twist rate wouldn't be ideal for cast. I messed around with the Berger stability calculator, and it seems that that 350g copper bullet is still stable at 1:8, but it is getting pretty close to unstable. A 1:7 twist might be a decent compromise to shoot supersonic j-words, super sonic copper solids, and the subsonic expanding copper solids.
I am curious if I could expect to have decent results lobbing coated lead with that twist rate. I would probably like to be able to do 200-220 grain supersonic cast as well 300g+ subsonics.
Is this reasonable with powder coated boolits, or am I trying to make a pony do too many tricks?
Thanks,
-pg