Gunsmithing 223 ammo & twist rate

savagehunter44

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 10, 2011
187
0
36
florida
ok I just got a rem 700 sps with the 20in barrel. but you cant find the twist rate anywhere. have been told its a 1in9, I don't know. if it is will it handle the 77 grain smk. if not whats the most it handle?
 
The only way to know if it'll handle the heavier, 77gr pills is to try them out and see, but generally speaking, a 1:9 twist is too slow for that range of bullets. Most 1:9 twist tubes will do well with bullets up into the 68-69gr range.
 
I have the Rem LTR .223 1-9 twist, it shoots both the FGMM 69 & 77gr very well, I've also tried the Hornady 75gr with good results. I knew it would shoot the 69gr SMK but was a little surprised how well it shot with the 77gr also.
 
I just bought a sps tactical 20" as well. I fired some factory ammo through it just to break it in and it shot great with remington 45 grainers. Tonight i loaded up some SMK 69 gr, nosler 80 gr and speer 70 grain all with varget in .5 increments from 22 to 25 grains. I hope like hell it shoots the heavy bullets ,will find out this weekend.
 
You can call remington customer service. They will give you the specs on the rifle, when it was made, what twist it had etc, assuming its original. You can find the number on their web site.
 
1:9 barrel
500' ASL, 29.92" Hg, 59F
2700fps

77gr Nosler CC: 1.48 stability factor
77gr SMK: 1.39 stability factor
75gr Hornady HPBT: 1.39 stability factor

For sea level and 20F, the SMK/Hornady drop to 1.27 stability factor.

I had a Savage 12FV (26", 1:9) that was a legit half MOA shooter for 5 shot groups at 200yd with the 75gr HPBT @ 2860fps, and made easy hits on a 8" plate at 650yd shooting 75gr Steel Match ammo.

In other words, should be just fine, but YMMV
 
I shot a few test rounds this evening and 23.5 varget/ 69 SMK / 2.275 OAL grouped good for me. The speer 70 grainers shot really good too ,i had three nice groups with different charge weights so i will have to load up more and see how they do at longer range,they grouped best with lower charge weights of varget. It got dark on me and screwed up my test on the 80 grain nosler so i am going to try them again with RL-15 but it looked like my barrel will group them .
 
Heres results from today,hot as hell at on top of the mountain.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1371334174.956275.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1371334237.452912.jpg