.223 varmint bullet, 1-9 twist, will it fail?

[SBruce]

I too agree that you should be fine shooting the 50-55's out of a 9 twist.

I have a couple of 8 twist 223's and they don't make the 55's come apart. The guns do shoot 60 grn and heavier bullets better though.

9 twist is an excellent compromise for most bullets in a 223 IMO. It will probably shoot the 50's or 55's better than my 8 does, and you just might still be able to stabilize the 69 grn stuff.

[112Savage]

My savage 223 1:9 loves the 53grain V-max. This bullet is interesting on groundhogs. Head and chest shots most of the time are entry holes only with no exit. Stomach shots cause tons of damage with entrails becoming out-trails.

[rash powder]

The furthest one ever went from where I shot it was about 40 yards. He walked away. Didn't even know he was dead.

[Trickymissfit]

Originally Posted by SBruce

I too agree that you should be fine shooting the 50-55's out of a 9 twist.

I have a couple of 8 twist 223's and they don't make the 55's come apart. The guns do shoot 60 grn and heavier bullets better though.

9 twist is an excellent compromise for most bullets in a 223 IMO. It will probably shoot the 50's or 55's better than my 8 does, and you just might still be able to stabilize the 69 grn stuff.

there are bullets that will come apart in fast twist barrels as well as being driven way too fast in a moderate twist barrel. The old TNT and SX bullets from Speer & Hornaday come to mind (I have had the explode in mid air). But bullets like the Vmax and others are fine to shoot in a fast twist barrel. I well remember shooting bullets in one of my 6mm's that literally exploded going thru plain old card board.

I've found that a 12 twist will handle most anything under a .3 B/C, but think an 1:11 would be better. A typical 1:14 twist is going to shoot 55 grain Vmax bullets just fine, but may often not work well with a 55 grain BT from Nosler. I thought my barrel just didn't like them till I found out that most guys were having the same problem due to an increased B/C. A few weeks back I shot a .223 in 1:10 twist. It will shoot 60 grain Hornadays all day long, but doubt it'd shoot the 69 grain bullet. Yet he same rifle (an AR15) shot 55 grain Vmax bullets in the sixes just like clock work with really nice round holes. I think the groups will open up with 50 grain Vmax bullets, but not a lot.
gary

[Trickymissfit]

Originally Posted by rash powder

The furthest one ever went from where I shot it was about 40 yards. He walked away. Didn't even know he was dead.

I don't know what deer look like where you live, but we get 250+lb. deer all the time around here. You'd chase that deer for miles before the coyotes found him first. At 100 yards a 60 grain bullet will have about 960 ft. lb. of energy, and an 85 grain bullet in a .243 will have 1640ft. lb. of energy. These were figured as max loads right out of the Speer manual. The 60 grain Hornaday has a little better B/C, and driven to 3200 fps, it will have 1058 ft. lb. of energy at 100 yards. That's considered to be the minimum power for deer at impact. At 200 yards it's down to 811 ft. lb. The 87 grain 6mm at 100 yards will have 1726 ft. lb. of energy. At 200 yards it will have 1400 ft. lb. and still more energy at 300 yards than the .223 will have at 100 yards.
gary

[SBruce]

Originally Posted by Trickymissfit

there are bullets that will come apart in fast twist barrels as well as being driven way too fast in a moderate twist barrel. The old TNT and SX bullets from Speer & Hornaday come to mind (I have had the explode in mid air). But bullets like the Vmax and others are fine to shoot in a fast twist barrel. I well remember shooting bullets in one of my 6mm's that literally exploded going thru plain old card board.
gary

That's right, I had forgotten about the those bullets. The Sierra Blitz was another bullet that would come apart real easily. If I recall correctly, they weren't supposed to be shot above 3400'/sec even in a moderate twist.

Since they started making the polymer tips, I don't see many of the old TNT/Blitz style anymore.

[Trickymissfit]

Originally Posted by SBruce

That's right, I had forgotten about the those bullets. The Sierra Blitz was another bullet that would come apart real easily. If I recall correctly, they weren't supposed to be shot above 3400'/sec even in a moderate twist.

Since they started making the polymer tips, I don't see many of the old TNT/Blitz style anymore.

I don't know about all the Sierra Blitz bullets, but have pushed the 80 grain 6mm to 3450fps with no problems so far. Most of the time I shot them at around 3350fps. I would also think that a 22 caliber Blitz would have a thinner jacket than the 6mm does, and that's what the problem really is. By the way that 80 grain bullets is extremely hard on big coyotes, and found it killed them better than the 85 and 87 grain bullets.
gary