Howa .223 Varmint doesn't shoot straight!

[John Gunn]

Well that was a surprise for me..
I part exchanged my Southern Guns AR15 for a Howa. Took it to the zero range at Bisley to sight it in. Oh dear.
The factory ammo I had been using in the AR was keyholing at 25yds. FCA with plastic cases 69grn SMK. Worked fine in the AR up to 200yds.
So I tried some 53 grn factory that came with the gun.
Perfect. Same hole.
Only then did I find that as the AR has a barrel twist of 1 in 9 it will handle 69 grn.
I hadn't realised the Howa was 1 in 12 and wouldn't work with anything above 55 grn.
Ho hum... A lot of dismantling to do and full length resizing of my homeloads.....
Never occurred to me the Howa might have a different twist rate. I didn't make any difference when I was reloading for pistols.

[20series]

Yes sadly not the first time I've read a similar thread. Hopefully it won't spoil your enjoyment too much.

Alan

[1066]

That's unlucky - I believe Howa does a 1:9 and more recently a 1:8 in .223.

[Daryll]

My shooting buddy had the same experience.. he bought a Remington 700 .223 and the RFD sold him some 69gn ammo.

First time out at 25yds the bullets were keyholing. I checked the markings and found it was 1:12, so bought some 55gn from the club armoured and they worked perfectly.
Surprising how the wrong bullets tumble at even short distances.

[Pete]

I'm surprised that anyone would actually buy a rifle without checking the twist first...........it only takes a minute with a cleaning rod, patch, ruler, and a bit of cardboard, wire, or a cable tie.
Savage stamp it on their barrels.

Pete

[Blackstuff]

With the cost of ammo and the component parts it might not be a bad thing that it prefers the lighter/cheaper stuff!

I've had a 1 in 7 .223 and it would only perform with 69gr and higher which was quite expensive for the high round count type shooting I was doing with it. Saying that if I ever get around to getting another .223 I will likely be going for a 1 in 8 as that gives the best range of bullet weight stabilisation.

[Mauserbill]

Hello
Found this item very interesting, as I too did not realize barrel twists and bullet weight effects.

[1066]

My CZ 527 .223 with a 1:9 shoots the 69gn SMK's very well out to 600yds.

[1066]

Hello
Found this item very interesting, as I too did not realize barrel twists and bullet weight effects.

It depends what you want to do with it - foxing out to 2-300 yds, a 1:12 with a light, fast, flat shooting bullet does the job. Targets out 600 yds or more then faster 1:7-9 barrels and heavier bullets like 69-77gn will be better.

[dromia]

It is not actually the weight of the bullet that causes the instability but the length, weights are unfortunately used as a proxy for length.

Some heavier bullets can be shot in slower twists depending on their design which keeps their length down.