barrel twist and bullet weight

[Karl Peterson]

In general, is a heavier wt bullet more accurate in a 14 twist barrel or is a lighter weight better?

Example: In a 22-250, 14 twist barrel would a 40gr bullet have more accuracy or would it be better to go with a 50 55 or 60 wt bullet?

If some one can explain all this to be, I would appreciate the education.
Thanks,
Karl

[PJgunner]

Not too sure about how accuracy would be affected but stability would be the main problem.
When the AR-15* first came out for the military, it had a 1 in 14" twist as I recall. Worked just fine in warm weather but in Arctic cold bullets tumbled badly in the denser cold air. i think the change was to a 1 in 12" twist and I believe current versions use a 1 in 7" twist.

* The rifle was called the AR-15 by the Air Force and the title was later changed to the M-16 when adopted by the rest of the military.

Personally, I think going to a 1 in12" twist would be better than 1 in 14" and maybe even a 1 in 11" or 1 in 10" if one wanted to be able to use heavier bullets in or near the 70 gr. weight class. Just depends on what you want to use the rifle for.
Paul B.

[Catfish]

Actually the weight of the bullet has nothing to do with the twist require to stablize it, it is the lenth of the bullet. If we are talking about bullets of the same material then the heaver the bullet the longer it would be, but if you compair a 40 gr. copper bullet to a 50 gr. lead bullet the 40 gr. bullet will be longer. The longer the bullet the faster it must spin to be stablized. The 1 in 14 twist in .22 cal. is great for the liter bullets, up to about 55 gr. where it starts to get shakey. If you go to the heavy end of the .22`s like the 80 gr. Sierra and Bergers you need a 1 in 8 twist to stablize them and if you want to try the 90 gr. Bergers they say you need a 1 in 7 twist. If you want a quick lesson and ready refference go to www.bergerbullets.com. They give the recomanded twist rate for all of their bullets.

[Pre-64]

Exactly what Catfish said. It don't get explained any better than that.

[Karl Peterson]

OK, got it. Thanks to all. Also, thanks for the reference on bullet weights.