223 with 1:8 twist rate

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outdoor rebels

New member
Got my birthday present early new ar 15 with a 20 inch barrel and 1:8 twist. My other 223 are 1:9 twist so was wondering if I should load a heavier bullet. My 1:9 like 55 gr a friend of mine has a 1:7 twist and it like 69 gr and up so was thinking of using 60 gr to start with. Was wondering what you guys are shooting out of a 1:8 twist and what should I start with on cooking up a new load for this guy. Planing on setting this guy up for 600 yards target s and yote's .
 
Mine shoots everything from 50 on up with great accuracy. 53 Sierra hp is my favorite but for long range those heavier 60+ grainers might be the ticket
 
My 1/9 loves 62gr. and has shot 69gr.SMK's extremely well also, but back when I was doing load development for it 69gr.SMK's were tough to find. I've also had some really good groups out of 70gr. Bergers but never messed with them a lot.

So I guess what I'm saying is that a 1/8 should have no problem with 69's to 77's.
 
With a 8 twist, you can pretty much run all but the specialty VLD bullets in 80 +.

I would get my hands on some 69gr whatever and go have some fun. The Sierra MK's are my favorite, but other match bullets in that weight range work very well too.

With that extra twist [spin] the lighter bullets at high velocity are voo-doo on PD sized targets. Rippen fun!
 
My wife's 1 in 8 twist AR shoots 40 gr vmaxes lights out. I've also got the 75 grain vld's to shoot good out of it also although I did have to single feed them!!!
 
My pws mk116 has a 1-8" and I have done some load development and shot factory loads with it. It surprised me that some factory Australian outback 69gr smk shot 1/2" at 100 yards but opened up to 2" at 200. Most of the factory 55gr weren't shooting good enough for me to try any farther than 100. I have a tone of 55gr nosler bt so I wanted to find a load it liked with them. I worked my way up from 24.5 to 26gr of varget looking for pressure signs at 200 yards. Surprisingly enough at 26gr I was getting a 1" 5 shot group at 200 and when I moved in to 100 it was shooting 3/4" groups. Lesson learned, sometimes it might not be the best in the world at 100 but still do good farther. I haven't shot it at 300 yet but I dont plan on shooting any dogs past 200 with it.

If your planning on taking it all the way out to 600 then I would def be looking at the 60gr + bullets. Good luck!
 
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