Looking at some rifles in .222, including Sako L461, Anschutz 153 and current production from Sauer and Savage, along with others.

Older European models often have 1:16" rate of twist; newer versions, including current production, tends toward 1:14". 1:12" seems to be out there as well.

Anyone have some experience to share?

Thanks.

Don't know about 1-16 but the 1-14 and 1-12 will shoot 50-55gr bullets (usually) into the same hole.
They went to the tighter twist 1-9 & 1-8 etc to shoot heavier bullets.

My L461 in 222 has a 1:14” twist, it is a 70’s vintage rifle.
Modern CZ rifles have a 1:12” twist.
This twist is now standard in some brands, although new Rem rifles in all 22 cal seem to still have the 1:14” twist.

Cheers.

Thanks for the responses. It seems like either 1:12" or 1:14" will shoot very accurately with bullets up to 55 gr.. So, no reason for me to select one rifle over another based on which of those rifling twists it has.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve up North:
It seems like either 1:12" or 1:14" will shoot very accurately with bullets up to 55 gr.. So, no reason for me to select one rifle over another based on which of those rifling twists it has.

An apt conclusion. Additionally, I've had no trouble with accuracy with most reasonably conventional bullets up to 64 grains in a 1-14" twist.

It is fashionable these days to obsess over twist rates. But unless you intend to use some outlandishly long specialty bullet the twist of just about any standard .22 centerfire barrel will stabilize any "normal" bullet -- typically with better accuracy than the 1-9 or 1-7 twists.

1-14 T has been the "standard" twist for most 224 cals for as long as I can remember. Hornets and Bee's were 1-16 T and there were some odd Euro twists...my XP-100 was 1-12 T.

It's BULLET LENGTH, VELOCITY AND CALIBER that determine what twist is required to stabilize a bullet. If you are having problems with accuracy with the bullet you are trying then check the BULLET LENGTH...MOST 55 gr bullets that run in the 0.700 +/-0.050"class shoot very well in a 1-14 T...as the BULLET LENGTH increases the twist needs to tighten to 1-12 T and tighter...or the velo needs to increase

This is not cast in stone as there are longer bullets that shoot bugholes in a 1-14 T it basically depends on the bullet profile...short stubby heavy bullets, 70 gr Speer SSP's #1053 shot every bit as accurate as the 55's in my 1-14 T Swift and Midd at ~3500 fs and killed anything I pointed at very quickly...as did the slightly faster, slightly shorter 63 gr Sierra SSP.

I've had several 22-243 Midd barrels with twist from 1-14, 1-12 and 1-10 and a couple 220 Swifts with 1-14 T, one that became the Midd and a 22-250 1-12 T that became another Midd and a Douglas .224 1-10 T that became ANOTHER Midd...my latest 220 Swift is a 1-8 t...so far it's not working very well so it might become a 22-6mm...I need to try another case.

I could shoot up to the Hornady 60 SP, #2270 in all 1-14 T barrels at very good accuracy levels but the Horn 60 HP, #2275, is just slightly longer BUT wouldn't group in anything slower than 1-12...the 60 gr Vmax #22281 when it came out needed a 1-10 T..I need a 1-9 T to 1-8 T to handle the even longer, heavier 22 cal bullets. Boat tails also can cause problems as the are slightly longer than flats. I'm just using Hornady as an example as I've shot just about all other brands and bullet weights in these rifles with better or worse accuracy.

There are free twist rate programs online that will help you pick and choose...then it's just testing.

My Remington 700 in 222 with a 14 twist won't shoot anything over 50 gr. well. At least not sub-moa.

the last several years have seen a shift in the desired length/diameter ratio of bullets, particularly in the smaller bores. for years people were satisfied with shooting 50-55 gr bullets in 22 centerfires. then the trend started where the length of bullets was extended with the raise in Ballistic Coefficients in order to improve downrange performance. these longer (relative to diameter) bullets required a tighter twist to stabilize them. So now barrels are made with 1-7" twist, or basically twice as quick at the older 1-14" twists so that .22 cal bullets weighing 90 grains will be stable on their route to targets 1000 yards distant.

The trade-off is giving up muzzle velocity for ballistic shape. If the target is less than 500 yards away the muzzle velocity and lighter bullets have the advantage. If beyond 500 yards a slower but sleeker bullet will prevail. Pick your twist accordingly.

I found a very nice BSA rifle at a gun show that had started out as a 222 and had been re-chambered to 223. For some reason it followed me home. Scoped it and went to the range with a couple boxes of 55 gr factory 223 ammo and it would only do about 4 inch groups. Loaded up some 50 gr Hornady SX bullets and those groups suddenly shrunk to about 3/4 inch 100 yd groups. I little closer inspection revealed a 1in 14 " twist that doesn't like anything heavier than 50 gr bullets.Quite a pile of gophers and crows and even a couple coyotes couldn't tell the difference between a 50 and 55 gr bullet.

quote:

I little closer inspection revealed a 1in 14 " twist that doesn't like anything heavier than 50 gr bullets.

It is certainly possible that your rifle doesn't shoot bullets heavier than 50 grains well, but it would not be as a result of its 1-14" twist. Literally hundreds of thousands of .22 centerfires with 1-14" twist barrels shoot 55 and 60 grain bullets quite accurately.

Blaming "too slow" twist for accuracy problems has become very fashionable, but is a fad that will eventually be overtaken by something else, just as were the fads when everyone had to have a "glass bedded barrel", then "free floated barrel", or the trouble was "scope parallax" and before that it was "too hot primers". There was a time when only "stainless steel" would make an accurate barrel, and a time when "case neck concentricity" was second only to "uneven muzzle crowns" in causing accuracy problems. Any and all of these, including twist that is too slow for a given bullet, can cause accuracy problems. But I've never seen a time when so many good barrels were being discarded just to get a faster (equals "better") twist.