What bullet/powder recomendation? 308win, 1in9" twist, 22" barrel

[Ultra25-06]

I got curious about my wifes Remington M700 in 308 win. It is a plain jane m700 barrel is 22" and marking is AX so I am dating it as a 2003. It originally had a synthetic stock. My guess it is a ADL. I checked the twist rate 6 times and it came out as 1 in 9". This seems strange to me for some reason as far as I have found Remingtons 308 win are usually 1 in 10" or 1 in 12". Any how I want to load what would be the potentially most accurate hunting round/target round for her without breaking the bank. So again the specs are 308 win with a 1 in 9" twist and 22" barrel. What weight bullet and what brand would you use for a big game/target rifle? How about powder? I look forward to the replies particularly any shooting a 1in9" twist 308 win. Thanks. P.S. I will also be posting this same question on a couple other forums to broaden my answers.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

Hey Ultra,

I'm guessing that you actually have a nominal 1x10" barrel, but Remington buttons their own barrels. It's not at all unusual for a buttoned barrel to vary by 1/2" or so in either direction from the stated twist rate, hence the 1x9" measurment you're coming up with. Not a problem in most cases, especially here. Just means you can use somewhat longer (heavier) bullets than if the twist had buttoned out on the slow side.

What type of target shooting are you planning to do here? The barrel length is going to limit you to some degree in this, even though it'll make it far handier in the field. Give and take, all rifles are compromises of some sort. Given that your twist will allow the use of heavier bullets, I'd suggest trying some of the heavier offerings out there, say, 185 grains and above for the LR applications. IMR 4064 is a long time standard for LR loads in the 308, and I'd suggest this as a good place to start. You might also try Varget and RL-15, as these are very good choices for bullets anywhere from 150 to 180 grains. In fact, RL-15 is the powder used in Lake City's M118LR sniper/match ammunition. As for bullet selection, there's several the will serve quite well for target applications, and plenty of others that will do the job for hunting. There's a few that will do both. Berger would probably be my first choice for a dual-use bullet. Just depends on what you want to do.

 

[elkaholic]

You could try some of my 260 gr. VLD's but unless you throated the barrel out, the bullet would plug up the flash hole

 

[Ultra25-06]

Thank for your input. 4064 is what I have used before with mostly good results so I think I will try that again. The length is actually closer to 8 7/8th for one full twist which is why I stated 1 in 9" but it just seems plain strange to me as I would have thought it would be 1 in 10" as you stated. I may give the berger hunting bullets a try maybe some smk or amax also. This may prove to be quite a fun light weight long range hunting rifle. The twist on this barrel just has my curiousity going.

 

[liltank]

The 165 SST or GMX Hornady, 180 SST, any of the Accu-bonds, Partitions in heavier weights. Berger make good hunting bullets and at the velocity a 308 will spit them out, I would gather they won't explode. What ever you prefer, I like boattails.

Tank