.243 Twist rate?

[hornet22savage]

I have come across a smoking deal on a Tikka T3 in .243 Win. However the twist rate on them is 1:10. I see a lot of manufactures are using this rate of twist. Winchester, Browning and even Kimber just to list a few others. I'm used to the faster twist of the Remington's at 9 1/8 and the Savage's a 9 1/2. Will a 1:10 twist stabilize the heavier bullets well enough for longer range shots, also would it stabilize bullets like the Barnes TTSX and the Hornady GMX?

[7mmfreak]

A 1-10" will take care of everything but 105gr or heavier VLD shapes. It will handle any standard hunting bullet out there including the mono-metals from Hornady and Barnes. They design their hunting bullets to work in standard twists.

[hornet22savage]

Ok just checking, that is pretty much the response I got from Hornady last year when my savage would not shoot their 100 gr. Interbond BTSP. My bass pro had some of the Barnes Vortex 80 gr. TTSX but I passed and now it is gone. Ammunition still hard to find here in NY.

[Savage Shooter]

For what its worth:

I got the same reply from Hornady...... but their 100 gr bullets shot really bad. I called and talked to a very knowledgeable Nosler tech who explained the 1:10 twist barrels out there is THE reason they build both the 90gr Accubond and 85gr Partition. The 100gr partition is about as long as a 10 twist will shoot well.

Not all but most 100gr bullets are on the edge of being to long to stabilize in a 10 twist. JBM has the Miller stability program on their website that will open your eyes when you put in variables.......key here is that it takes faster twist in cold temps so be sure and plug in the lower temp ranges you will be shooting in!

At about 1.1" oal bullet length you are getting to the edage of what a 10 twist can really stabilize and only then if the polymer tip is .130" or a tad longer.

At any rate my 10 twist shoots both the 90 gr accubond and the 85 gr partition like a house on fire. ummmmh

[7mmfreak]

I have never tried the Hornady bullets in my .243Win (an old 1-10" Remington 788 that belonged to my dad) but I know it will shoot the 100gn Sierra Gameking and Pro Hunters, 95gn Nosler Ballistic Tip, and the 100gr Partition plus any of the Core-Lokt factory ammo I have tried.

[wilmsmeyer]

I played ALOT in the early 2000's with Hornady bullets. They sucked in my 243 and no matter what I did, I was lucky to get 5 shot groups in 1 1/2" with a few different heads from 75 - 100 gr. A friend of mine can not get good groups in his .280 using the 139 or 154 Hornadys. Put almost any other bullet in that gun and it's a varmint rig out to 400 yds

As soon as I went to Nosler BT's I realized my gun was a shooter. The 55 gr at over 4000 fps were easy to get dime size groups with H414 or H4895. Std primers. Std COL. The Sierra Pro Hunters are also great in 100 gr.

Will never buy Hornady bullets again....except for the FTX's for my MLII in 325 gr .458 cal. Those are awesome.

[hornet22savage]

Well for pretty much the whole summer last year the Hornady American Whitetail 100 gr. Interlock BTSP was all I could get. I picked up the max of two boxes every time I was at the store. Needless to say I'm still sitting on three or four full boxes since my Savage hates them. I think it was around late September I found the Winchester 100 gr. Power Points and the Federal 100 gr. SP. both rounds shoot under an inch from my gun (Which now belongs to the wife) I just wanted to make sure if I bought the Tikka that it would handle the monolithic bullets made by Hornady, Barnes and Nosler, also I not opposed to the 100 gr. Partition. I was not impressed with the performance of the Winchester's at close range. Then since my plans to purchase a Remington in 7mm-08 have fallen through due to the recall I'm back to square one.

[7mmfreak]

Wilms,

I only shoot two Hornady bullets: the .224" 75gn HPBT and the .284" 162gn A-MAX. I only went to those two from necessity. I got the 7mms because at the time Sierras were hard to get hold of and I found them locally. Turns out they are great in my gun but it will eat anything. The .224s were part of a problem solving series. My AR will shoot 69gn Sierra/Noslers with scary precision and 77gn Sierra well but I got a bad batch of 77gn Noslers right before a match. I tried the Hornady because I was in a jam and they will shoot in the .3s to about 300yds and will stay under 1MOA to 600yds.

I guess I have just been lucky with them.

[wilmsmeyer]

7mm,

Did you shoot any of those .308 Marlin 160's yet? They are Hornady's and for what I wanted them for (and still do...the 30-30) I would be happy with 2 inch groups at 100 yds. It ain't a bench gun it's a deer killer inside 100 yds. And you can't find any jacketed bullets in 170 gr bullets for a 30-30 unless you want to buy Nosler partitions or swift A-frames......not needed in 30-30 speeds IMO and expensive.

I have some very old 170 gr HP's that I loaded a few rounds for. They shoot very well. But I only have about 30 more and I want to save them. They made a ragged hole 5 shot group out of my Marlin 336 twice. These bullets are older than I am and were procured via an auction where a guy had 1000's of 30 cal stuff and some of it was RN, FN, FNHP 30-30 stuff. I traded a few 100 rds of 22's for about 300 heads. The 170's and a bunch of 150's. I bet the boxes have collector value! Old Old Old. The 150's are the same type HP but shorter.

Anyhow, just wondering how those FTX's worked out.

[7mmfreak]

Wilms,

I have not shot any yet. I have been waiting for it to get how enough here for me to start coating bullets. I need it be over 100°F to get good adhesion with hBN. This is the first week we have been in the high 90s. I am interested to see how they shoot.

Now that you mention it and I thought about coating, I have shot some 139gn GMX out of my .280 Improved 40° with good success. They don't shoot as good as other stuff but still 1MOA at 300yds. I didn't shoot them any further than that since they were not shooting as well as I expected.

[tarheelpwr]

Berger also makes a 95gr VLD tailor made for the 1:10 twist factory barrel. I'll be testing those out this fall.

[hankinsrfls]

The 95 and 100 grain bullets are on the edge for stabilization in a 1-10 twist barrel. Some rifles will shoot them and some will not. It is something you will have to play around with. Factory barrels are seldom twisted to what they say they are. for example: the factory spec out a barrel as a 1-10 twist when in reality it is really a 1-10.5 or it could go the other way and be a 1-9.5. The 1-9.5 would be a good thing for the heavier bullets the 1-10.5 would be a disaster. The factory barrels made today are a little better than they were 10 years ago but they are still mass produced and button rifled, at one time not to long ago Remington had a total investment in a complete barrel of $25.00. that's a far cry from a custom barrel at $350.00

I shoot mostly Hornady bullets, Seirra being second. I only by Nosler if that's all I can find and I don't like VLD's Jeff.

[slugger]

In my mind your wasting the best part of a 243 using 100 gr bullet of any kind !!!!
Drop down to an 85 what ever bullet and speed it up a bit. The energy and trajectory is VASTLY improved. An 85 gr going around 3000 fps will knock down any thing your hunting short of Bison, moose grizzly and maybe elk....

[hankinsrfls]

And even all of those if the shot placement is correct... Jeff

[tarheelpwr]

Totally agree the 95-100 are on the edge. Only reason I picked up the 95's was that they were designed with the factory twist in mind. I've since then changed my mind. I'm going to make some light recoil loads (for the little ones) with either 87 Hornady SPs or 85 Partitions. I'd prefer the 87's, but I'm not sure I'll find them for a while.

[painless31]

Give me a 105 grain amax and an 8 twist barrel......Blake

[ourway77]

I shot 100 grain Sierra BT bullets and IMR-4831 for as long as I can remember I used my 243 every year and it had a 1-10 twist. I probably shot 500-1000 before it started to loose accuracy I just had it re-barreled in a 243 Brux barrel 28" long 1-8 twist it really shines with Berger bullets 105 and 87 grain

[sw]

This twist problem is a major factor the 244 Rem failed. The Win 243 came out with 10 twist and the Rem 244 came out with 12 twist. These were to be varmint/deer guns. Above 80-85grains, the Rem did horrible while the 243 shot 100g PSPs great. Instantly the 244 met its demise. The next year the 244 was resurrected as the 6mm Rem with a 10 twist. More accurate, 100'/sec faster, twiice the barrel life, yet the 243 had captured the market. For non-semi automatic rifles, the 6 mm Rem is superior in every way: faster, more accurate, twice the barrel life; but the game was over. If I had no rifle, I'd consider a 6mm Rem in 8 twist.

[7mmfreak]

Twice the barrel life? I've also never had precision problems with a .243 Win.