22-250 1/12 vs 1/14 Twist Help

GooseGrease

GooseGrease

New member
I need a little advice from all of you 22-250 experts. I will be purchasing a 22-250 after the end of the month. While I was doing a little research on which brand of rifle to go with I stumbled upon something I had not give much thought. That is twist. My primary purpose of the 22-250 will be Coyote eradication! However I wanted to leave the option of smaller pry open as well. As I learn more about barrel twist I find out that heavier gr bullets do not do as well in the 1/14 twist. What is the drawback of shooting lighter gr bullets in the 1/12 twist? This will help me decide which barrel to go with and keep all options open. Thanks.
 
There won't be any problem shooting "lighter" bullets in the 12 twist. Go with that and you may be able to push up to 60's. BTW, any bullet spit from a 22/250 will "eradicate Coyotes". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh, welcome to PM.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Ken Wateres' a name we should all know did an "Pet Loads" article on the 22-250 with a 1-10" twist and as per his writings the 1-10 worked great with 60 to 70 gr.bullets but lost about 1/2moa with the 55gr. and lighter and also noted that the vel. was down alittle with the lighter bullets. He noted that the 1-12 would handle the light stuff as well as the long 68gr Hornady and the 69gr Sierra HPBT.
My vote would be for the 1-12.

AIRBORNE
 
IMO you have touched upon the quandry of the 22-250. Remington offers their rifles in a 1in14 twist. This is a bit slow IMO. My personal 22-250 is a 1in8. However it will stabilize the 55 grain bullets(in my rifle). Each rifle is different. However you touched upon the main idea.

What matters is what bullets you are generally going to shoot. You need to decide which bullets you want to shoot, before you buy your rifle. Then buy a rifle with the apropriate twist.

You will read a lot of posts. And there are a lot of guys here who know what they are talking about.

When I had my 22-250 built, I had one bullet in mind. The Hornady 75 grain A-Max. And I had a target velocity of 3300 fps. So I called the Krieger factory and asked a technician for their referral on barrel twist. Krieger recommended a 1in8. So that is what I bought. I bought a 28" 1in8 twist barrel. This barrel will also stabilize the 55 grain V-Max. It shoots the Hornady factory ammo in the .3's, I got these group before I even started to reload. Tom.
 
First, welcome to the board.

1-14 should do fine for any up to 55gr and some say they do O.K. with 60gr bullets. The majority of factory rounds for it will be 55gr or less, so again you'll be o.k. there. Do remember you've got to be careful with fast twists on frangible bullets (if you choose to shot them) as the higher forces can cause the bullet to fall apart. It depends on what you want to shoot in the end. If you reload the options are wide open. As said, any load from it will kill a yote!
 
Mine's a 1-in-14 (Remington 700 VLS) and the 55-grainers I shoot out of it have no problem killing coyotes. I think your options are pretty wide open - get whatever gun you like.
 
There have been several shooters on this and other forums, including myself, who have had problems stabelizing the 55 grain plastic tipped bullets out of a 1/14" twist barrel. I really don't understand the reasoning behind the majority of gun manufacturers using this twist rate as the standard? remember, it's not the weight of the bullet, it's the length that counts in bullet stabelization. Look at the two most popular 55 grain plastic tipped bullets, the Hornady V-Max and the Nosler Balistic tip. They measure .815" and .81" respectivley. Now look at the Hornady 55 grain soft point at only .70" or the Berger 55 grain Match at .775" Heck, even the Sierra 60 grain HP, .775", the Hornady 60 grain HP, .80" and the Nosler 60 grain Partition, .785, are all shorter than either of the 55 grain plastic tipped bullets. 4 years ago I built a 22-250 AI with a 1/12" twist and so far I've been able to shoot up to 64 grain bullets with no problems. I just don't get the 1/14" twist in the 22-250?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif Given a choice' I'd pick a 1/12" twist every time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I think the 12 twist is the right twist for the 22-250 especially as most guys will not be shooting anything lighter than a 50 grn bullet. I have a 14 twist with my ruger and can shoot the 60 grn vmax decently. however if I was to get a custom barrel, 12 twist would be my choice
 
get the 1-12; my factory 1-14 wont stabelize a 55grainer, but is a one hole wonder with 45grain pills. He he all the more reason for me to rebarrel!!!
 
My 22-250 has a 1-14 twist barrel on it, and it shoots 55 grain Sierra HPBT bullets extremely well. In fact, it's my most accurate sporter rifle. It shoot 32.6 grains of Benchmark, with that bullet, and Federal 210M primers into a 1/4" group at 100 yards.
However, it will only shoot 60 grain bullets at entry level powder charges, so velocities are very low. Above starting level powder charges, groups open up like a shotgun pattern.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Martyn
 
The standard twist for a 22/250 is 14. The standard bullet wieght is 55 grains. If your barrels will not shoot them you have more trouble than twist rate. My 22/250 are 15 twist and shoot 55's fine.
 
Longer barrel meor FPS, less handy. Short barrel more handy less FPS. It's your choice. For Coyotes I like a short skinny barrel. For PDs and Rock Chucks a heavey fat barrel.
 
1:14 is "standard" and it will normally shoot 50-55gr very well. To shoot heavier (longer) bullets you'll need to go to a faster twist but there is (of course) a trade-off...barrel life.

22-250's aren't particularly long lived barrels in the first place and putting a fast twist barrel on it will significantly shorten what many already consider a short life. I shot out a 1:8 twist 250 barrel in 2 (hellaciously fun) weekends of Pdog shooting.

1:12 is probably a good compromise, especially if you roll your own.

Longer barrels allow more room for gas expansion so you can get a higher muzzle velocity (with the right powder). Longer barrels also have more "whip" and will be inherently less accurate, all else being equal.
 
Some true 14 twist barrels will not stabilize a 55 grain Sierra Blitzking according to Paul Box @ Sierra. He recommends a 12 twist in 22-250 & 220 swift for the heavier bullets... this twist can also be used for the lighter pills as well. Get a 12 twist and have the best of both worlds.
 
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