.223 barrel at 1/14?

[Centermass556]

I was looking at barrels for a .223 project and I ran across some 1/14 twist barrels. It stumped me and I was thinking, why on earth would you want a slow twist like that. You would be limited to somewhere around 40-45gr rounds....

Do you guys have any idea on why? any wisdom to this?

 

[HEIST]

Sounds more like a .22 barrel..

 

[The Pitt]

Varmint hunting...

 

[zombieh8r]

the original m16s were 1/14 if i'm not mistaken...but as the want/need for heavier bullets has come about, the twist has gotten tighter

 

[Centermass556]

Yeah the original M16s had 1/14 and that cause tremendous instability in the round during flight...leading to a high rate of inaccuracy at greater distances. The model issued to Soldiers in 1967ish, had the 1/12 twist rate. It was not until the M16A2, 1982ish, that the twist rate tightened to 1/7.

I agree Heist it does sound like a .22 barrel, but the label was for .223 centerfire.

Pitt, I am a specific tool,for specific job guy...but varmint hunting with 45grs is limiting...? If your wind value changes much, you are going to be way off....I know that is true with any round, but with a light one, I would think it would doubly so. Why not stick with a 55gr range and split the difference?

 

[Little Jack]

As stated above,

internet says, ie thats where i read it, original M16 used 20" barrels with a much slower twist. The unstable round moving really fast made for some devastating terminal ballistics. Accuracy was not great.

And the varmint guys like their smaller bullets.

damn.... too slow.

 

[JohnAL]

And the varmint guys like their smaller bullets.

Ain't nothing like smoking a prairie dog or rabbit with a 45 gr. bullet cranking 4000 fps. The dogs look like a red camera flash. Rabbits are skinned, gutted, and deboned in microseconds.