22-250 1-14 twist light or heavy?

[MOGLEY]

I'm used to loading for the 223 and finding what weight bullets do in the 1 in 9. 55 grain bullets with benchmark seems to be better than the lighter stuff.... by quite a bit. so my question, If the 22-250 NEF has a 1 in 14 twist ( from FAQ) will it shoot the lighter bullets better? I talking 45 grain stuff. The heaviest I have currently is 55 grain midway soft points. I am varmint hunting here nothing bigger than a woodchuck. Longest shot with other rifles is 420yds. I have a NEF 204 with 32 grainers. a DPMS 223 with 55 grainers. Remington 243 with 75 grainers. So I thought this would push 55 grain bullets out there further than the 223 and with more bullet than the 204. The 243 has been the long range shooter and am extremely happy with that. I like long shots with explosive results. Any experiences are welcomed.

[LONGTOM]

I shoot the cheep WINCHESTER 45gr JHPs in my 22" 250. Three shots usually under 1" and sometimes 3/4".
These are the ones in the white box marked WINCHESTER USA VARMINT HIGH VELOCITY 4000fps
CXP1   40 round value pack which cost me $17.99 a box.
They do make a mess of groundhogs when head shot and also do well on body shots to!
They work equally well on foxes.

LONGTOM

[torpedoman]

a 1 in 14 favors lighter bullets

[knight0334]

a 1 in 14 favors lighter bullets

Even though the rifling is "slow" and generally suited to shorter bullets - velocity is the other half of the equation on determining what is needed.

Higher velocities require less twist with the same bullet than slower velocities.  With the 22-250 being one of the hyper-velocity cartridges, slower twist rates are needed to stabilize slugs.  If it had a faster twist and you shot shorter(lighter) slugs for varmint - chances are they would self destruct not far out of the barrel due to jacket failure.

1 in 14" is fine for 70gr+ slugs in a 22-250, 220 swift, 225win, 224Weatherby, 223WSSM.

[Fred M]

knight0334.
It is refreshing that there are a few people that know about twists.
I used a 22-250 when it was a wildcat and called the 22Varminter it had a
1-14" twist. I used mostly 55gr bullets for a steady diat. I bought the bullets from Herters at $1.89 per hundred less when 500 were orderd.

The rifle had a heavy Douglas barrel on a 98 action with a 6-24 B&L scope
and a Canjar set trigger. A deadly rig weighing 13.5 lbs with a Herters laminated varmint stock. Maybe I can find a picture. As I recall the heaviest
bullets at the time were 62gr I never did try them.

The longest shot on a ground hog was over 1.5 sections ( 1320 yrds)  it toke
18 rounds to get the right elevation using the branches of a spruce tree as stadia markers.

[MOGLEY]

I know the faster velocity was a factor . Probably barrel length too. I will experiment on my reloads. I just can't bring myself to pay the price for store stuff. I still pay the same amount of money, just have more bullets for the dollar reloading. I have 40 gr v-max then 50 and 55 grain pointed soft points from midway. I have some spsx bullets but I know they cannot handle to fast a spin. They do at least as good as the plastic tipped stuff when hitting crows! Thanks for the input

[knight0334]

Here's a handy tool to use to figure out if you're in the correct twist rate ballpark.


Just leave the "Constant Value" of 3.5 alone and fill in the other factors that you have like Bullet Length, velocity and Groove Dia.  Then click on the Calculate button under "Twist Length".  ...it'll give you the inchs per twist needed.


http://www.uslink.net/~tom1/twistrate.htm

Example: a .65" long bullet of .224" groove diameter going 3450fps only requires a 1 in 15.9" twist.

[knight0334]

I know the faster velocity was a factor . Probably barrel length too. I will experiment on my reloads. I just can't bring myself to pay the price for store stuff. I still pay the same amount of money, just have more bullets for the dollar reloading. I have 40 gr v-max then 50 and 55 grain pointed soft points from midway. I have some spsx bullets but I know they cannot handle to fast a spin. They do at least as good as the plastic tipped stuff when hitting crows! Thanks for the input

Barrel length is only needed to help build up velocity.  It only takes an inch or two of rifling to impart rotation.  And its only the last few inches of rifling in the barrel that matter.  The only reason they rifle a barrel the whole way is because its more difficult to design a freebore that doesn't allow a bullet to wobble and mis-align before engaging rifling.  Some companies have perfected freebore somewhat - Weatherby and the old Interarms are two of them. 

"Over spinning" a bullet can have just as harsh effects as under spinning them.  An over spun bullet(assuming it doesn't self-destruct) will maintain a nose pointing towards the horizon even though its flight path, "arc", is on the the downward path.  In effect, it would be flying dog legged and the wind resistance on the side of the tip of the bullet will cause it to tip up even more and cause keyholing and tumbling.   A properly spun bullet's nose will point into the path of the arc.

[swiss7.5]

interesting link but I am not sure with the information required you can determine required twist rate....

I tested it on 55gr vmax(.815) at top velocity from Varget of 3600fps out of a .224 22-250 and it resulted in a twist of 12.9............

I know these bullets perform very well out of a 14twist moderately loaded 34-3500fps.

i think the tool may help get you close but it should not discourage good old fashion trial and error.

[knight0334]

I did say ballpark. lol   

If you look at the hyper-velocity 22 rifles built over the year you see that 1:14" is pretty much the standard for them.  I would never go any faster than 1:12" with them even with the longest slugs.

I'm with you though, trial and error..   Its the best way to know for sure a given slug will work.

[swiss7.5]

Knight,
My Savage 22-250VLP is at a 1in9 and she spits out 50gr vmaxs at 39-3950fps like crazy and last weekend she piled up some prairie dogs out to 450. The faster twist should be ok as long as the bullet construction is good. I am not sure it would be worth trying a Varmint Grenade out of a 1in9 but i will try them eventually also. These hyper velocity varmint rifles are the funnest and potentially the most accurate rifles i have ever reloaded for.

[Ironwood]

I have been shooting a Remington 700 ADL in 22-250 for about 45 years.  The rifle has a 1-14 twist.   Over the years I've found the 52 grain Sierra to be the most accurate, one hole or near one hole three shots at 100 yards.  The 55 grain bullets have rolled lots of Woodchucks.  Since I've been back home in Texas I've used the 70 grain Speer for deer and hogs.  I'm getting 1 inch or less three shot groups at 100 yards.  The 70 grain bullet has to be loaded at the very max to get good groups.  Just my results... your results may vary!  

[knight0334]

Knight,
My Savage 22-250VLP is at a 1in9 and she spits out 50gr vmaxs at 39-3950fps like crazy and last weekend she piled up some prairie dogs out to 450. The faster twist should be ok as long as the bullet construction is good. I am not sure it would be worth trying a Varmint Grenade out of a 1in9 but i will try them eventually also. These hyper velocity varmint rifles are the funnest and potentially the most accurate rifles i have ever reloaded for.

Yeah, Varmint Grenades - thats the biggest concern with too fast of a twist.

My 22" 22 hornet rechambered to 225Win pops 50gr's out close to 3900fps MV.  I think it has a 1:12" - super accurate enough for me.   Never tried heavier slugs though in it.

My cousin uses some 70+ gr solid copper slugs in her 1:14" twist Remington 222 for deer, accurate enough within 100yrds to take head shots.    However, she(we) have yet to test them for tumbling any farther than 100yrd. 

[NFG]

It is bullet LENGTH not bullet weight that determines which twist works best, but because most heavy bullets are longer, the length portion gets lost...bullets like the Vmax and BT's are longer than a "standard" bullet with a lead tip....go measure some if you are an unbeliever.

And...a 1-14 twist was calculated to stabilize most bullets in the 50-55 gr range when the 22-250 and Swift were first designed.  It worked so the makers never changed.  You should know all factory twists are compromises.

Pick you bullet, then pick your twist...1-14 for 50-55, 1-12 for 60-65, 1-8 for 75-80 for all around good performance....all argumentatively of course...you can't please every one all the time.

I like 1-14 for .223's with 40-50 gr bullets,  1-10 or 1-12 for my 22-243, Swift and 22-250 for 40-60 gr, or 1-8 if I decide I want to shoot the 75 or 80 gr exclusively.

If you like to experiment take a Swift or 22-250 or AI at 1-14 twist and shoot some 60 gr Hornady lead points and hollow points with the same load parameters.  You will get an idea of where bullet instability starts happening.

Most twist calculating programs also have some built in compromises, but they work surprisingly well anyway.

'Njoy