223 bullet weight considerations

[Brad Y]

I shoot my remington action as a 223 (it can be othe cals as well with different barrels) and it has a krieger 8 twist match barrel shortened to 26 inches. Chamber has been cut to suit 80gr bullets.

Ive been shooting varmint bullets with it as I wasnt happy with the performance of 80gr SMK's. At 100m the 40 and 50gr nosler BT's have shot some cracker groups. But for some reason at shots out past the 200m mark things just get erratic. I noticed it more last weekend when shooting the 40gr bullets.

Just wondering if anyone has had troubles with light bullets in the 223 hitting a "brick wall" out past 200m? Im going back to the 50's for now, but will be getting a 1:14 twist for the next barrel to get rid of the extra twist factor out of the equation.

[aaronraad]

I'll go out on a limb and say anything under 69gr will be significantly over-stabalized in a 1:8".

I'd also suggest if you're not exactly happy with the performance of the 80gr SMK's, try the Hornady 80gr A-Max's before swapping out the barrels.

[Brad Y]

Trying the JLK's next. But still getting a 1:14 for varmints.

[Ned Kelly]

G'day Brad,
try the 75gn Amax's absolutely devastating out of a Rem700 1:8t, used the same load in FO and hunting very successfully.
Hope this helps
Cheerio Ned

[macca]

Ditto on Ned's post. I found the one in eight caused 55/50grainers to do weird things the further out you went. Sometimes with a one in seven they just turned to dust. I have hits out to 400plus with 50's in a one in nine.
Cheers

[Plowboy]

Hell I don't like 40s in my 1/12 barrel! Not so much for distance accuracy but the crappy terminal peformance. I got skin splashes on foxes at 50m requiring a follow up. I love 50s but I am just using a factory rifle. I find they give the best performance for my shooting.

[marcopolo]

Hmmm... its strange how so many people can have sooo different experiences on the same subject.
Im running my old fclass omark/Mab 1-8 twist pipe at 27".
Im not an expert on physics, but my own testing has told me this...
The faster the twist the more balanced the projectile needs to be.
I've tried a few pills and the 53vmax bt is as light as it gets for me.
At certain speeds the rotational force can bring out any balance imperfections in the projectile. the harmonics change with the speed in the same way a spinning coin will start to 'wobble' when it slows.
I've been shooting 55vmax for quite a while with good results.
I've started shooting the 53vmax for better bc and they seem to be as accurate but no better .
Id try something a bit heavier and see how you go.
I've never tried any 50grn pills... too much wind drift due to low bc.
What speeds are you getting with the 50s ?
The 55s chrono @ 3350 with 27grains of 2206h (hottish load)
As for the heavy AMax's I've found them to be great on paper with the 80Amax being my bread and butter, however as a hunting round I've found them mostly useless! No expansion and usually pinhole 50% of the time from a 223. Imo...
Just my findings, no disrespect to anyone else's theor.
Cheers Marc

[Brad Y]

Will just wait for the 14 twist to arrive so I can shoot the 50's without too much overstabilising. The 40's and 50's are all I want to shoot for varmints. Have a 6 dasher to shoot 80gr BT's for heavy varmint bullets.