Lightest bullet from a 1 in 8 twist

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bomberhat

New member
I'm curious whats the lightest bullet that you have loaded in a 1-8 twist 224 cal that still remains accurate enough 1-2moa? I'm looking for high speed vermin load, Thanks for your input
 
With the right powder load, it should shoot 40gr bullets just fine..You are going to need one of the faster powders to get full benefit out of the light weight bullets...Look on most of the powder burn rate charts and in the area of the Hodgdin 332 or X-Terminator area....I've also had good success with Winchester 748 as an all around powder...
 
Ive got a 16" 7 and a 20" 8 twist. Both shoot 40, 50, 53, 55, 68, and 77gr bullets great. Some under .3moa. The worse group is with 68s but i didnt work on that load much since i dont have many of those projectiles...
 
I'm new to reloading and the lightest bullet I've loaded has been a 50 grain vmax with benchmark and it shoots great in my 8 twist barrel. I would love to try the 40 grain vmax.
 
Often there is very long leades in 8 Twist barrels, which is not conducive to shooting 40's, but often when barrels are newish they will shoot well, especially Tikka's.
 
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8 twist barrels will shoot 40's just fine. Load them where you have plenty of neck / bearing surface contact, ignoring how much they jump. A load that is concentric will always shoot better than a load you are trying to touch the lands with. Bullets will shoot when jumped and, even with an 8 twist barrel I would bet your freebore is not that long anyway.

What rifle are you shooting?
 
It's an AR I built a long time ago shoots 69 and 77 grainers awesome, it's a high quality barrel from Rainer arms when they first started selling barrels with their name on them, I also just got a 22 nosler barrel gonna do some testing on loads with that, there's sit of nay sayers about that cartridge but I have to see for myself before I condemn or rejoice it.
 
This is from Shilen barrel's website.
.224 CF
- 7" for bullets heavier than 70 gr.
- 8" for bullets heavier than 70 gr.
- 8" * Ratchet rifled 4 groove
- 9" for bullets up to 70 gr.
- 10" * for bullets up to 65 gr.
- 12" for bullets up to 63 gr.
- 14" for bullets up to 55 gr.
- 14" * Ratchet rifled 4 groove
Here is a twist rate calculator that may help
http://www.realguns.com/calc/riflingtwist?results
 
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I am guessing you are asking about a 223...... depends on the bullet construction...and how many rpms it can take...... SX bullets(light jacket) would spin apart if fired from a 220 swift at max velocity. an all copper bullet you could launch at about any velocity.... if the bullet has a thick jacket it can take a lot rpms.....
ackleyman's comment about the leade was interesting to me.. good info
 
I have shot 40's from a 7 twist in .223 I don't think you can get a bullet in that caliber to spin fast enough to come apart. It is the 22-250 and such that cause them to explode on the way to the target. The Speer TNT comes to mind.
 
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