.22 twists

[Lee D.]

Does anyone have info on the twist rates on the various brands of after market barrels for the 10/22?  My stock barrel will not shoot the 60gr Aquilla subsonic & I wondered if one of the other barrels might work.

[jh45gun]

Lee, Most 22 LR barrels are a 1 in 16 inch twist. that is standard for the 22LR. Barrels can be 3 to 6 grooves so that may make a difference on some being able to shoot the 60 grain bullet better than others but I am just guessing on if the number of grooves make a difference, I know a faster twist is required usually.  Lajla makes a special 9 inch twist special order but it cost  at least 310 bucks pretty pricey to shoot a heavier bullet. It may cost more as that is what their standard barrels were priced at I am sure special order may cost more.  I do know that the heavier the bullet the faster the twist required to stabilize it. I do not know if it would be worth paying he extra money to stabilize that particular bullet as since you cannot reload rimfires what happens if you pay a large amount of money for a barrel and they discontinue that particular bullet? It could happen and then you would be stuck with a barrel that would overstabilize the other standard brands of ammo. The largest problem with this is that you could have a friend that has a X brand barrel for the 10/22 that shoots the 60 grain bullets well so you buy one and find out yours does not sounds goofy does'nt it but that is how 22's react to ammo each particular gun (barrel) will shoot the same ammo differently. Each gun (barrel) has its own likes and dislikes so buying a barrel might not solve your problem. Like I said before a fast twist like a 1 in 9 might do it but I would not take the gamble as who knows how long they will make the 60 grain ammo also since it is not made here who knows if there ever might be importation problems ect in the future you never know. I hope this helps, I for one would not spend the money for a barrel to shoot a specialty bullet that may or may not be available in the future. I am going to buy a box to shoot in my Romainian 69 just to see how they work in it but I have not done so yet but will post the results when I do maybe this weekend. If you still want to do this I would do a search on the internet and contact the companies that make aftermarket  10/22 barrels and contact them and ask thm what they think most have contact info so you can email them. Jim

[Lee D.]

I agree buying a barrel for one bullet style would be foolish.  I wondered if any of the barrels are more along the lines of 1 in 14 or so which would be okay for most ammo and maybe work with the longer bullets also.

[jh45gun]

Lee, I have no idea on that, you would have to contact a barrel maker probably to find out. I can point you to an example though that might give you a idea on twist rates. Look at the twist rates the Military used for the M16 (AR15) the earlier ones shot the 55 grain and lighter bullets fine but when the military wanted to go to the heavier 62 grain and above bullets they had to use a faster twist. Now you can buy AR15 barrels in sveral twist rates depending on what you want to shoot.  the 22 LR would not be exactly the same but close enough to give you a idea I would think. Jim