Thread: Projectiles for a .223 with a 12 inch twist.

Greetings All,
Following some Olympic grade procrastination on my part, fortunately tempered with the help and components from friends, my portable bench rest is now ready. One of the uses intended for this was to have a crack at FTR shooting. A look in the rifle cupboard revealed a likely candidate is a Remington VSSF in .223 with a 26" heavy barrel and a 3-12 scope. The fly in the ointment is that it has a 12" twist. I have a few Hornady 60 grain VMAX projectiles to test for stability at 200 metres but thought I would ask the brains trust to see what people have found to work with this twist at range.
All contributions would be gratefully received.
Regards Grandpamac.

short 60s may work..sierra make a semi point 63grn??? any 50-55grn will work. federal 62grn factory work.

60gr Hornady SP used to work okay in my 223 (25+ years ago so pre Vmax)

What are you intending to shoot with it ?
Rabbits , Deer ...other ?

Originally Posted by viper

What are you intending to shoot with it ?
Rabbits , Deer ...other ?

Greetings @viper,
I was hoping to shoot targets. FTR is a target shooting discipline where supports are allowed. It was set up for older shooters, for which I qualify, and is shot over 300, 600 and 1,000 yards locally and hopefully a portable bench will be OK. I suspect it may.
Regards Grandpamac.

I had good success with 52g bthp in nosler and sierra with some 2206h underneath. Without too much fuss either I might add

My original Howa .223 loved 55 gr Belmont and Aussie Outback ammo as it was 1:12 twist. I see Huntshop in Whakatane is selling bulk s.p. 55 gr projectiles suitable for 1:12 reloading.

The Hornady 55gr soft points work well in my 223. CZ 527 (currently for sale) I can send up a score and 1 if you want to trial some before buying a bag of 500?

Originally Posted by Joe_90

The Hornady 55gr soft points work well in my 223. CZ 527 (currently for sale) I can send up a score and 1 if you want to trial some before buying a bag of 500?

Greetings @Joe_90,
Have been using the 55 grain soft points for years and they shoot well at closer ranges but was wanting a higher BC for 300 yards.
GPM.

I suspect yo uwill be fine to 300 but 600 is a stretch and 1000 is beyond capabilities of .224
happy to be corrected.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I suspect yo uwill be fine to 300 but 600 is a stretch and 1000 is beyond capabilities of .224
happy to be corrected.

F class is 223 and 308. 223 does ok at 1000. Pretty much the same drop as 308 depending on projectile, just more affected by the wind. I've been well outclassed by an 80-something year old with a 223 (though with my talent it probably doesn't say much)

Originally Posted by feratox

F class is 223 and 308. 223 does ok at 1000. Pretty much the same drop as 308 depending on projectile, just more affected by the wind. I've been well outclassed by an 80-something year old with a 223 (though with my talent it probably doesn't say much)

In F-TR, you can choose to shoot a .223 rather than a .308 but it requires a fast twist once you get past 500yds. In the distant past at Roy's hill, I shot a few possibles with light projectiles out of my slow-twist 700VS at 500 but they got murdered in the wind at 600. 1000 is DEF out of the question Neil.

If you changed to a fast twist 28"+ bbl and shot 77-80 grainers, you could have a play at 1000 but it wouldn't be very competitive. Stu would still be caning your butt..

Just for an experiment, you could try some 53 VMax at our next 600yd shoot. They have one of the best BCs in their weight class

You might find this of some use.

https://bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

You might find this of some use.

https://bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/

Greetings @Oldbloke.
I ran the 60 grain VMax through a different calculator which gave me a stability factor of 1.3 which is marginally stable. @Cigar above found the 60 grain SP to be stable so this is a good indication. I have loaded some of the few VMax I have and will test at 200 metres over the next few days.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Oldbloke.
I ran the 60 grain VMax through a different calculator which gave me a stability factor of 1.3 which is marginally stable. @Cigar above found the 60 grain SP to be stable so this is a good indication. I have loaded some of the few VMax I have and will test at 200 metres over the next few days.
Regards Grandpamac.

The 60gr SP was a flat base bullet, which is more likely to be stable than a boattail of the same weight.