I will most likely be rebarreling a rifle soon and am trying to decide what caliber to go with. As I have no bolt action small bores I am looking at that route. One caliber I am looking at is the .260 Rem. The other is the 22-250.

This post is not to help decide what caliber to go with though. This is to help decide what twist to go with if I get the 22-250. I plan to get E.R. Shaw to do the rebarreling. Before anyone knocks their barrels forget it. I know there are better but my budget allows for them. Plus I have one of their barrels on an AR-15 that shoots very well.
They offer 1:9, 1:12 and 1:14 I believe.
I want the rifle mostly for informal target shooting 300 yards at the club I shoot at and for groundhogs. Our range has a habit of being very windy as do the ridges I hunt. I am leaning toward the 1:9 twist so I can use some of the heavier bullets on the market. My AR-15 is 1:9 and shoots 55 and 62 grain bullets about equall. I really have not even tweaked any loads for this rifle so it will probably shoot better than the MOA it is shooting now. I use surplus powder and cheap FMJ bullets for it.

My question I guess is will the 1:9 twist work the best out of the three available choices for what I want? Or for the range I plan to shoot do I not need to worry about the heavier bullets and go with the 1:14 and stick with light bullets and go for speed?

For 300 yards and less, the time of flight (velocity) with the 50-55gr bullets will pretty much equal the 68-70gr bullets- beyond 300 the 69-70 will start flexing their ballistic superiority. One other factor is for the varmint shooting the "splat" effect favors the 50-55gr bullets.
You might find that a 12 twist will work with all the weights you are looking at. Most of the time a 12 twist in a 22/250 will work in warm weather with a 69 Sierra if you can get 3300fps or just a little more.

While I shoot a 1 in 9 myself, I must agree with Duane that the terminal performance aspect should not be ignored. The 1 in 9 will handle bullets to the 77grain area properly chambered, and at 22/250 speeds. The big but is that the lighter bullets are better on flesh.

If one owns a 260 as well as a 22-250 then he has a great caliber for the windy days in the 260.....the 22-250 has worked well with 1-14" twist for ever and will continue to do so.

IMO the 22-250 will do just fine with 50-55 grain bullets and either a 1-14 or 1-12 twist.

Mine is a 12 twist but I shoot mostly 64 grain bullets. I'd use a 14 if I were shooting the lighter ones.

Starting to look like 1:12 is the way for me to go. If it will handle the 60's good that is as heavy as I need to go.

Jacobite
With a 1 in 9 barrel you can shoot bullets from 40 thru 77 grains.
With a 1 in 12 barrel you can use 40 thru 64/65 grain bullets.
With a 1 in 14 barrel you can shoot 40 thru 55 grain bullets.

I have Win 70 HB V with a 1 in 9 barrel. I have had good success with the 40 gr. blitzking. I have also used 77 gr hpbt bullets at 600 yds with good success. I tried the 80 gr matchkings but did not do too well.

muck

Well Muck that sounds like I was on the right track with the 1:9 as I will not be going below 50-55 grain bullets I figure. Well I might try 40 grainers. Like I said I have an AR with a 1:9 and it shoots 55 and 62 grain bullets equally as well.
At least I have decided it will be a 22-250 I build and not the .260.
The sale went through with the guy buying my FR8 so I will be doing this soon I hope.

I have a 1:14 twist and I shoot 55 gr pill's all day long without any trouble. I have had the best luck with B-tips out to 400 yards.

Don,

I have 22.250s with both the one in 14 and the one in 9 twist...

With the one in 9, definitely count on it for the heavier bullets only...it gives too many RPMs for more fragile bullets...

IN my Savage 223, the one in 9 twist vaporizes Hornady SPSXs about 12 to 14 inches out of the barrel... I wouldn't even try them in my 22.250 with the one in 9 twist....

Ballistic tips seem to hold up to the faster rpms, and the Vmaxes depend on how hard they are pushed/ or not pushed in the real world....

A one in 9 twist in a 22.250 makes it more specialized... instead of the one in 14 twist, allows you to just load up most of the more commonly used bullets and go shoot it...With those parameters... that is why I have one 22.250 with the fast twist and the other 3 have the regular one in 14 twist....that was easier for me than having to make a decision...

cheers
seafire

My .22-.250 has a 1-12 twist barrel because I planned on shooting only 55-65gr bullets. My .223s have both 1-14 and 1-12 twists so that takes care of lighter bullets, primarily Nosler and Hornady 40grainers.
Yes, I've had a 1-14 twist .22-250 that shot well out to several hundred yards with 50 and 55 gr bullets, shot OK with 60s, but further out, the heavier bullets keyholed. Out here in Colorado, there are many chances for 500yd+ shots and I want my '250 to be able to take them.

The last one I made uses a 1-9 twist. I was really surprised to find superb axxuracy with 45 grs bullets. Anyone else with similar experience?

Hello,
For some 4 years used a Douglas barreled Rem. 700, 30" long, twist 1/8 and shot the Sierra 69MK and 80grain MK's and out to approx. 4-500 yards the 69's worked fine, but beyond the 450-500 yard area, it was time for the 80's. Did quite well with them even at the 1000 yard range. It appeared to me to give about the same overall performance as the Sierra 155's in the 308 regarding wind drift. The 9 twist will not work well with the 80 grain bullet, but found the 8 works very well indeed. If I drove the bullet over 3200 fps accuracy dropped off and kept it at somewhere in the area of 3100 fps. Accuracy was solid 1/2moa.