New 22-250 barrel

[tlshootst]

I finally shot out my factory 22-250 barrel on a Win. 70. I am having a local gunsmith order a Krieger #3 contour 1/14 twist 24" long. I carry this gun alot for calling coyotes. Most shots are within 200 yds. with the 300 to 400 yd. hang up once in a while. My gunsmith and I were talking about what twist, he asked me what grain of bullets i plan on shooting. I said I would stay with 55 grain Vmax bullets. He recomended 14 twist. I do practice out to 400 yds. I have read alot about guys going with faster twist to shoot 75 grain bullets or larger at longer ranges. For my use I think the 55's work just fine. Dead Is dead right? Out to 300 to 350 yards the 55, should be a little flater shooting. I understand I would get my but kicked with this rifle shooting 600 yards and up against a rifle with a 1/8 twist shooting 75 or 80 grain bullets, but I really don't plan on shooting that far with this rifle. I have other guns for longer range.
One more thought. What kind of fps. differance are any of you seeing between 22" vs 24"? The length of a 24" doesn't seem unhandy to me but if there isn't much to be gained with 24" I would have him cut it down.
I would like to hear other opinions on barrel contour, twist, length etc.

 

[Trickymissfit]

I finally shot out my factory 22-250 barrel on a Win. 70. I am having a local gunsmith order a Krieger #3 contour 1/14 twist 24" long. I carry this gun alot for calling coyotes. Most shots are within 200 yds. with the 300 to 400 yd. hang up once in a while. My gunsmith and I were talking about what twist, he asked me what grain of bullets i plan on shooting. I said I would stay with 55 grain Vmax bullets. He recomended 14 twist. I do practice out to 400 yds. I have read alot about guys going with faster twist to shoot 75 grain bullets or larger at longer ranges. For my use I think the 55's work just fine. Dead Is dead right? Out to 300 to 350 yards the 55, should be a little flater shooting. I understand I would get my but kicked with this rifle shooting 600 yards and up against a rifle with a 1/8 twist shooting 75 or 80 grain bullets, but I really don't plan on shooting that far with this rifle. I have other guns for longer range.
One more thought. What kind of fps. differance are any of you seeing between 22" vs 24"? The length of a 24" doesn't seem unhandy to me but if there isn't much to be gained with 24" I would have him cut it down.
I would like to hear other opinions on barrel contour, twist, length etc.

a 14 twist will do a 55 grain Vmax just fine, but if you decide to try the 55 grain Nosler BT's your in trouble. I'd go with a 12 twist from the start, and if by chance your looking at the 53 grain Hornaday Vmax you might want a 10 twist barrel. I shoot 12 twist barrels in 22-250 with several 55 grain bullets, and also shoot the 14 twist with 55 grain Vamx bullets. The 14 twist kinda locks you into a narrower window to pick bullets from.
gary

 

[backwoods83]

hey i'm gonna agree with this guy, odd! Even if you stick with 55s your better with a 12 twist, 24" is ok 26" is better, next time I put another on it'll be 26" 9 twist, you can shoot 55-75grn and still not hurt it, and they love 69grn SMKs with that twist. You may also want a little heavier contour. You might also be surprised what you can do at 600 yards with 40, 50, or 55grn noslers!

 

[tlshootst]

Why would a 53 g. vmax be harder to stabilize than a 55 grain? It must be built totaly differant.

 

[backwoods83]

Different bullet manufacturers usually have a different amount of bearing surface for identical weight bullets, like he was saying you can stabilize a 55grn v-max in a 14 twist but a 55 grain nosler doesn't do very well because it has more bearing surface. If you look at noslers recommendations for a 60 grain ballistic tip which obviously is not much bigger than a 55grn but they recommend a 10 or faster twist, hope that helps.

 

[Trickymissfit]

Why would a 53 g. vmax be harder to stabilize than a 55 grain? It must be built totaly differant.

weight has nothing to do with stabalizing a bullet in flight. It's all in the ballistic coefficent. The 53 grain bullet from Hornaday (v-max) has a .29 B/C, while the 55 v-max has a much lower number. The B/C on a Nosler 55 grain BT is much higher than a 55 grain v-max, and this is why they don't do as well in a 14 twist barrel. I shoot 55 v-max bullets with a 14 twist barrel all the time, but a Nosler BT is all over the place. Yet a Nosler 60 grain partition will shoot very well. The difference is in the B/C

Under perfect conditions (never gonna happen) the 53 gr. v-max will work in a 12 twist barrel, and be very ragged in a 14 twist barrel (1:13 twist is the perfect number), but when you throw in the factor number it can't get there. At something like 95% you can make a 12 twist barrel work, but it really needs an 11 twist barrel to be safe.
gary

 

[roninflag]

both of mine are 26 inch barrel . both shoot the 50 baltip extremely well. both can shoot 55 and 60s no problem. you can go to a different rifle for heaviser stuff, if you need to . the 1-14 twist will do all you need it to . +some.

 

[sinarms]

I would of went with a 1/12 just to make sure

 

[tlshootst]

I googled 22-250 barrel twist and had plenty of info to read. I believe I have 2 choices.
#1 Stay with 14 twist and 55 g. vmax bullets, which has proven to do everything I need to 400 yds. with decent barrel life.
#2 Go with a 8 or 9 twist and shoot something like a 75 g. vmax and extend the range but with shorter barrel life. Also not as flat out to 400 yds.
Remember this is a walking rifle for called in coyotes. When its bellow 0 deg. and I'm dressed like an eskimo wearing snowshoes I don't want to carry a rifle built for 1000 yd shooting.
Still deciding.

 

[backwoods83]

As I stated earlier you can still use 55grainers in a 9 twist and not hurt the barrel anymore than a 14, the throat is always the first to go not the rest of the barrel, and that gives you options for heavier rounds if you may need them, I run 40s through a 12 at 4220 and it doesn't hurt it, when the throat starts going start chasing it out with your seating depth.

 

[Trickymissfit]

*in a 14 twist barrel the v-max seems to be about right for it's twist. But on the otherhand a 50 grain bullet from Nosler will work as well. Most all 60 grain bullets are out of the equation as they are too long for the slower twist.

*in a 12 twist barrel the perfect bullet seems to be a Sierra #1365 (a lot of folks have came to this conclusion as well). But the 55 grain Hornaday and Nosler BT works very well. The faster twist will do some 60 grain bullets to a certain extent; with the 60 grain Partition being one of the best. The 60 grain Hornaday will work as well, but not quite as well as the Nosler due to a lower B/C on the Nosler. Yet the 12 twist will also do 45 and 50 grain bullets just fine.

* a nine twist should do about anything, but groups will open up with lighter weight bullets due to over stabalization. If I were using a nine twist barrel, I'd be using 60 grain and longer bullets
gary

 

[Iron Worker]

Get a 5R 12" twist . Easier to clean and some think a velocity increase

 

[joejo]

i did my 22-250 in 9 twist. do yourself a favor and do the same. you can stretch that guns legs and see the 22-250's true potential. shooting a 60-75 grain bullet in these allows great long range capability but still delivers excellent short range results. i feel its better to be able to shoot long even if you don't because there will come a time when you will want to. my gun shoots in the .3's and 4's at 100 and just about .5-.6 moa at 800. its by far a true custom but it is a very good shooter for my first long range build.

edit: as for the "flatness" of traj at 400 yards it drops 3.5 moa at 60 degrees F with a 200 yard zero and 17.5 at 800.

70 grn bergers at 3265fps

 

[Iron Worker]

I ordered a BRUX bbl in the fall, 8 weeks later it was in my gun smiths hands.Now my completed rifle is in my safe. Kreiger said it could take up to 6 months to get a bbl.