Courtesy of Sierra Bullets

Even heavier match-grade bullets, such as the Sierra MatchKing, Berger VLD, and Hornady A-Max, are commonly used for long-range competitive shooting, most commonly out to 600 yards but more and more frequently out to 1000 yards. I also know a few groundhog shooters who shoot the heavy match bullets in quick-twist rifles. Then comes the rifling twist rate issue.

The first M16 rifles built by Colt many years ago had barrels with a rifling twist rate of 1:14 inches. While that was quick enough to stabilize 55-grain bullets at what we consider normal ambient temperatures, bullets became unstable when the mercury plummeted well below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This prompted the Army to switch to a slightly faster 1:12-inch twist, and then later when the 62-grain SS109/M855 bullet was adopted the specified twist became an even faster 1:7 inches.

The typical factory varmint rifle in .223 Remington has a rifling twist rate of 1:12 inches. This is a good compromise since it is quick enough to stabilize the long 60-grain Nosler Partition and Hornady softnose bullets of the same weight as well as those weighing a tad more, with the 62- and 64-grain bullets from Berger being excellent examples. And yet the 1:12 twist is not too quick to deliver excellent accuracy with various 40-grain bullets.

There are, however, flies waiting around to drop into the handloader's bowl of soup. Through the years I have worked with several 1:12-twist .223s that refused to deliver decent accuracy with any bullet weighing more than 55 grains. The only way to know for certain is to give it a try. If I were to have a rifle rebarreled specifically for use with bullets in the 60- to 64-grain weight range I would hedge my bet by specifying a 1:10 twist. Then there would be no question of stability with those bullets, and the barrel should still deliver acceptable accuracy with bullets as light as 50 grains and probably those weighing 40 grains as well.

BULLET(type)

Super-Accurate .223 Handloads
POWDER		VELOCITY (fps)	OVERALL LENGTH (inches)	DATA SOURCE
(grs.)
Speer 52-gr. Match BTHP	W748	27.5	3397	2.240	L. Simpson
Sierra 53-gr. HP MatchKing	TAC	26.0	3219	2.240	L. Simpson
Hornady 55-gr. V-Max	Varget	27.0	3344	2.240	Hodgdon
Nosler 55-gr. Ballistic Tip	Reloder 7	22.5	3284	2.250	L. Simpson
Sierra 55-gr. BlitzKing	VV N-130	24.0	3300	2.250	Sierra
Nosler 60-gr. Partition	Benchmark	22.5	3048	2.260	Nosler
Sierra 60-gr. HP	VV N-133	24.0	3100	2.250	Sierra
Berger 64-gr. HP Match	H335	25.0	3928	2.250	Les Baer
Hornady 75-gr. A-Max	W748	23.3	2600	2.390	Hornady
Hornady 75-gr. A-Max	H4895	24.5	2861	2.273	Les Baer
Hornady 75-gr. BTHP	BL-C(2)	24.4	2600	2.250	Hornady
Swift 75-gr. Scirocco	Varget	23.0	2714	2.270	L. Simpson
Sierra 77-gr. MatchKing	Reloder 15	24.0	2648	2.260	L. Simpson
Berger 80-gr. VLD	H4895	23.7	2744	2.350	Les Baer
Hornady 80-gr. A-Max	Varget	24.4	2752	2.230	L. Simpson
Nosler 80-gr. J4 Comp	H335	22.5	2719	2.450	L. Simpson
Sierra 80-gr. MatchKing	Reloder 15	23.8	2600	2.550	Sierra
Berger 90-gr. VLD	Reloder 15	22.0	2611	2.635	L. Simpson
Berger 90-gr. VLD	VV N-550	23.0	2574	2.635	L. Simpson
Berger 90-gr. VLD	IMR-4320	22.0	2561	2.635	L. Simpson
Sierra 90-gr. MatchKing	H4895	21.7	2600	2.550	Sierra
Sierra 90-gr. MatchKing	IMR-4064	22.4	2600	2.550	Sierra
NOTES: All loads with bullets up to 80 grains delivered sub-MOA, five-shot accuracy in the Les Baer Super Varmint with most averaging either close to or less than half an inch at 100 yards. The Berger and Sierra 90-grain bullets are too long to stabilize in a 1:8 twist and are shown for reference only. Winchester cases and Federal Gold Medal 205M primers were used in all loads. Velocity is the average of 20 or more shots measured 12 feet from the gun's muzzle. Maximum overall cartridge length for the AR15 magazine is 2.275 inches; loads shown with greater overall lengths are intended for single-shot loading directly into the chamber of the AR15.
NOTE: All load data should be used with caution. Always start with reduced loads first and make sure they are safe in each of your guns before proceeding to the high test loads listed. Since Shooting Times has no control over your choice of components, guns, or actual loadings, neither Shooting Times nor the various firearms and components manufacturers assume any responsibility for the use of this data.

Match rifles in .223 Remington, the AR15 in particular, are available with barrels in a variety of rifling twist rates. Making proper choices among the various bullet weights boils down to a simple matter of how slow or quick the rifling pitch is. As a rule, optimum twist rate for bullets weighing 40 to 55 grains is 1:12 inches--although as previously mentioned, some rifles with that twist rate will handle some bullets as heavy as 64 grains.

Moving on up in weight (and more importantly, in length) the Sierra 69-grain MatchKing requires no less than a 1:10-inch twist while 1:8-inch is the slowest twist that will stabilize the 77- and 80-grain MatchKings and the 75-grain Swift Scirocco. The incredibly long 90-grain MatchKing and the even longer 90-grain VLD (Very Low Drag) from Berger require a 1:7-inch twist, and some long-distance competitors are shooting them in barrels as quick as 1:6 and 1:6.5 inches. The rifling twist rules-of-thumb I have mentioned also apply to other bullets of similar lengths available from not only Sierra and Berger but from Hornady and other makers as well.