Originally Posted by
charlie b
Try the 'regular' barrel folks. They all will fit barrels to Savages these days. Shaw, Krieger, McGowen, etc.
The shorter twist allows you to stabilize the longer bullets. What you want is a bullet that will stay supersonic out to the distance you want to shoot.
You should be realistic here. Shooting these relatively light bullets at longer ranges is more of an exercise in shooting than the rifle. The slightest amount of wind will shove these little bullets around a lot. If you feel you are up to that kind of challenge then go forward. If not, then you might want to stick with the proven long range cartridges. Mine is a .308 (Savage 12BVSS). I reserve my .223 for shorter range shooting, around 400yd.
And, yes, there are plenty of match shooters using the .223 for longer ranges. If you check, most are using 1in7 twist barrels and 77gn SMK or heavier.