Not sure this is the right forum for this, but what the heck, you guys participate in most of the forums

I'm looking at a barrel for my R93 in .223 Rem. This is not the "match" barrel, rather it is a "hunting" type contour (~.67" muzzle diameter at 22" barrel length). Blaser specifies a 1-10" twist rate. That is slightly unusual for a .223 - I believe Remington uses 1-12", don't know what other manufacturers produce?

In a .223 Rem, 1-10", can I expect to be able to shoot all the way down to 40 grs bullets with good accuracy?? I have never worked with a gun where "over stabilization" (I believe it is called?) was an issue. Do you think this will work, or should I expect the lower end of bullet weights to be closer to 45-50(-55) for best accuracy??

The 1-10 should stabilize the slightly heavier bullets (e.g. Nosler Partition 60 grs) just fine. That is actually quite nice, as I'd like to try out the .223 barrel on roe. But it would be nice to be able to shoot the 40 grs as well.

What gives??

- mike

A friend has a new Savage #10 in .223 R. and it shoots the 40 gr Nosler into very small groups at 100 yds.

Too fast is better than too slow in particular when a barrel wears.

With a 1 in 10 twist you will be able to shoot the 69 gr. Sierra MatchKing on down to the 40 gr. bullets with no problem. I have a 1 in 9 twist barrel in on my 223 it shoots 50 gr. bullets very well. I have never had any desire to use 40 gr. bullets. But a friend of mine shoots 40 gr. VMax bullets in his 9 twist with good results. Don't worry about over stabilization. I would think the 60 gr. Nosler Partition will be fine for roe deer. I have seen that bullet used on whitetails with out a problem. I would try Varget or N540 with the 60 gr. partition. The same powders work very well with the Sierra 69 gr. MatchKing.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight.......RiverRat

Great stuff guys!

Indeed it seems like manufacturers other than Remington use a faster twist rate in their .223 barrels. Since I posted my question, I have come across statements maintaining CZ, Savage (and Sako?) use a 1-9" twist. Don't know if this is correct, but if it is, that certainly also points in the direction that a fast twist rate does not necessarily exclude the use of light bullets.

Thanks for your input!
- mike

ARE YOU SHURE OF THE TWIST?
How to tell the twist of a rifle.
Put a snug fitting patch on the jag and insert the rod in bore. Make a mark
@ 12 o’clock on the rod at the muzzle. Pull rod out slowly until the mark is
@ 12 o’clock and measure the distance
from the mark to the muzzle. The resulting measurement is the twist of your
rifling, ie.
1 turn in ____”.
There could be some slippage between
patch and rifling, but this is close enough for government work.