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Twist Rates?

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ESquared
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Twist Rates?

Post by ESquared » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:45 pm

All this reloading research has me looking at the twist rates of the Henry lineup.

308 = 1:10
30-30 = 1:12
.357 = 1:16

All of the above are with 20" barrels.

Do any of you guys take this into consideration when choosing hunting projectile weights. The lore I picked up out of Henry (now suspect, I'd say) is that the LR 308 prefers <160 gr, but the "data" out there suggests that 170gr+ would be better.

Does it make sense to use the same bullet weight in the 30-30 and the 308?

Or does this only really come into consideration with long distance/competition/sniper-like scenarios?

Just curious...
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by JEBar » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:56 pm

must say that I don't pay any attention to it .... back when my only big game rifle was a 308, I used 150's for deer .... 165's for smaller boar or black bear .... 180's for larger boar, bear and elk .... I did have to adjust the crosshairs a bit but the rifle didn't seem to care .... for the most part, with the exception of elk, I was hunting at fairly short ranges
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ESquared
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by ESquared » Sun Oct 21, 2018 7:00 pm

JEBar wrote:must say that I don't pay any attention to it .... back when my only big game rifle was a 308, I used 150's for deer .... 165's for smaller boar or black bear .... 180's for larger boar, bear and elk .... I did have to adjust the crosshairs a bit but the rifle didn't seem to care .... for the most part, with the exception of elk, I was hunting at fairly short ranges
^^^^^^

I'm going with that. Getting into twist rates to determine bullet weights, for where I am in this process, is definitely overthinking it...

Thanks for getting me off the ledge, JEB!
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by North Country Gal » Sun Oct 21, 2018 7:48 pm

I think the vast majority of popular cartridges have been around long enough to have the right twist rates for their most popular bullet weights.

The one cartridge I see as an exception, right now, is the 223. It's gone through something of a transformation from being a strictly varmint cartridge in the past to currently a dual use varmint/deer cartridge with the option of heavier bullets than weren't available twenty years, back. If you pan to use these heavier bullets in your 223, you do need to know the twist rate of your rifle. A lot of the older guns were a 1-12 for use with the lighter bullets, but a lot of the newer guns can goes fast as 1 in 8, now. That's an unusually wide spread of twist rates for a given cartridge. Our Low Wall, for instance is 1 in 12, while our current CZ is now 1 in 9, though older CZs in 223 were the older 1 in 12.
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by ESquared » Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:03 pm

Interesting, as always, NCG. Henry's two 223s (Single Shot and Long Ranger) are both 1:9, so they're spinning them pretty quickly.
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by North Country Gal » Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:07 pm

The 1 in 9 has worked well for us in our CZ. Does well with the 55 grain bulk loads we like and does a nice job with some, not not, all of the 60 grain + match loads. With the slower 1 in 12 on the Low Wall, groups tend to open up when we get up around 60 grains. It's at it's best with the varmint loads, especially 45 and 50 grain loads. I think 1 in 9 is a great compromise twist rate for a 223. Henry got that right. Even up here in traditional deer country, I know folks who are now using a 223 with some of those new heavier bullet deer loads.
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by Ojaileveraction » Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:45 pm

Bullet weight in this context means bullet length.

In general Bullets of the same caliber and material the heavier will be longer.
It the length of the bullet that causes the in stability.
I don't want to be pedantic, it's just how I am.
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by ESquared » Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:17 am

Ojaileveraction wrote:Bullet weight in this context means bullet length.

In general Bullets of the same caliber and material the heavier will be longer.
It the length of the bullet that causes the in stability.
I don't want to be pedantic, it's just how I am.
Not pedantic, just logical. If the density is the same, and the diameter isn't changing, the length has to, doesn't it? And I'm guessing the physics of it all is that the longer the projectile, the greater the tendency to "wobble" (to use a totally non-technical term), is that it? Or is "tumble" better?

And, the faster it's spinning the more it can overcome the wobble?
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Re: Twist Rates?

Post by Slugnut » Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:25 am

Yea, I do notice/ inquire about that aspect in my hunting/ plinking rifles. For example, I noticed most 308cal. rifles are either 1-10 or 1-12 ROT. But, my Tikka T3, is 1-11, ROT. Go figure ?? I must say, it's my most accurate rifle with factory ammo. (Federal 168g. BT).
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