Best Twist in .350 Rem?

[lgm270]

What's the best twist for the .350 Rem mag for Heavy bullets?

[JesterGrin]

 A 1-14 twist should work fine. But with the 350 Rem Mag I do not think you will be able to use too heavy of a bullet due to the Magazine size and throat of the rifle.

 So since the 350 Rem Mag is pretty much a ballistic twin of the 35 Whelen the 1-14 twist will stabilize Bullets from say 200Gr up to the 300 gr without much problem. 

[lgm270]

A 1-14 twist should work fine. But with the 350 Rem Mag I do not think you will be able to use too heavy of a bullet due to the Magazine size and throat of the rifle.

 So since the 350 Rem Mag is pretty much a ballistic twin of the 35 Whelen the 1-14 twist will stabilize Bullets from say 200Gr up to the 300 gr without much problem.

Many thanks.  The rifle in question is being built on a 30-06 length action, so that magazine length will not be a limiting factor.

[bigswede]

How about some details about this rifle.  What kind of rifle are you building it off of, what length of barrel, and anything else interesting?

[lgm270]

How about some details about this rifle.  What kind of rifle are you building it off of, what length of barrel, and anything else interesting?

Thanks for asking Big. 

There are two prospective donor rifles.  One is a Yugo intermediate length M-48 mauser and the other is an M-70 CRF  post 64 "problem child" .338 Win that produces large groups and oppressive recoil.


  A "long throated" .350 Rem is more to my needs and liking than  the .338.  It's almost as powerful as the .338 and has noticeably less recoil.  The problem with most factory .338's is that they build them with the same configuration as regular 30-06's.  This is OK for std calibers and the comparatively mild 7mm and .300 magnums, but insufficient for medium calibers.   Every .338 I've ever had kicked like Hell, but all others shot well and I was willing to put up with the recoil in light of the good performance. This M-70 problem child is both  inaccurate and miserable to shoot.  Hence, I'm contemplating a simple re-barrel.  It's already a belted magnum action so this conversion will pose no unusual problems.

Over the years, the official .338 ballistics have been reduced and the more research I do the more people I see who shoot reduced loads in the .338 and other magnums too for that matter. One thread on another site was devoted to reduced loads to  obtain 338-06 ballistics from hard kicking .338 win mags.   Years ago I helped a guy load down his .300 Win Mag to 30-06 levels so that he could shoot it.  The dirty secret of most magnums is that most people don't shoot them very well. 

  JJHack wrote that  .338 Win Mags kick harder than .375's because of their light weight.  He also said that a .338 Win mag with 210 TSX bullets at 2,700-2,800 would be a good African  plains  rifle.  Zounds!   Those are basically 30-06 ballistics.  I used to have  a long throated 30-06 that easily got  2,750 with 200 grain Nosler Partitions and this from a handy,  light 22" barrel!   Looking back, I probably should have kept it.

I like the .350 Rem Mag with a 22" barrel and a 30-06 length action.  You can use heavy bullets and get  2,400 with the 275 Grain Woodleigh, 2,600 with the 250 grain Noslers, A-Frames,  2,700 with the  225 grain TSX, Nosler, etc.,  and 3,000 with the 180/200  grain Barnes TSX. These ballistics are reported in manuals and other sources from 20" barrels.    A more sensible rifle for me than a hard kicking .338 that prints shotgun patterns.

[cwlongshot]

I agree the std twist of 1:14 will work just fine.

I have a Whelen and shoot 280g lead and 250 Speer RN all the time accuracy is better than I would hope. Mine is 1:14".

If its avail me go 1:12 if your worried. But I really don't think you need to worry.

People get too caught up in this with the popularity of the AR platform and fast twist barrels for heavy bullets. Look at these 80g .22 cal bullets.... They are TWICE the length of the std 40-50g bullets. There is. Ot another caliber I can think of where there is a heavy bullet that even approaches 50% longer than the std weight bullet for that caliber. Suffice it to say sure you could Taylor a twist for a spec bullet but the work would be largely unappreciated. Std twist rates are really very good for all calibers above say 25-27 cal....

On the other hand, I do not believe its possible to OVER stabilize a bullet....

CW

[bigswede]

lgm270,
  I like your thinking about ousting the 338 and building a 350.  I almost built myself one several years back but instead traded into a 350 in a rem 700 classic, of course the barrel got cut back to 20", and the walnut got put in the closet and it wears a rem synthetic I painted with Krylon Fusion paint.  It is fast becoming my favorite elk rifle.  Mine likes the Sierra 225's.  They come out of that short barrel at 2660 fps, if I remember correctly.  Going with that longer action as you plan on doing should make a huge difference if you want to shoot the heavier bullets.  Mine being the Remington short action, the Sierra's, Speer 220 grain, and some old Herters 250 round nose, which are a lot shorter than a comparable Hornady, all fit the bill for a good compromise of length without suffering on velocity because of seating depth.  I have heard, never tried any myself, that the Nosler 225 Partition is about the perfect bullet for a 350 mag.  Too spendy for my blood though.

[crash87]

In all honesty I dont think your going to notice a difference in a 1:14 or 1;16 twist, but, with that said, building new go with the 1:14. of course it "all" depends on the bullet your mainly going to use. FWIW, I have a 358STA that has a 1:12 twist, shoots all things equal. 220's thru 280"s.
CRASH87

[RevJim]

 I too think the 14" twist is what I would do if rebarreling. I played with a Mod 700 350RM Classic last year. I was curious about the cartridge, having been a fan of the 35 Whelen ( I love the Ackley Imp better!) since about '95. It shot the midrange weights well, but that short action/short throat didn't work for me with heavier bullets of course. I realized that I would never hunt/use either the 350 or a nice 358 BLR I had because of my love for my favorite rifle; Mod 700 35 wheln Classic reamed to the Ackley. Interestingly, its 16" twist works swell with the Barnes 200X, 200TTSX, the old 250X and the Woodleigh 310! It may be because I can get an honest 2400 with the 310 out of the Ackley, I don't know.
 I've used many 338WM, a couple 340W and a couple 338 RUMS, and one 338/280 wildcat,  loved them all, but I found they didn't do anything my Whelen could do to 250yds or so on the big stuff and about 350 on the medium stuff.
 As I get older, I finally realized that if I shot him "way over there", I've got to "hump way over there" and hump him back,ha.  I think you are on the right track and will "love" that 350RM. I wonder if it will feed OK in the longer action? It "should" work well if your bullets are seatd out to where you want them. Keep us informed, and yes....LW 338's kick like "Hades"! ha