So I recently put a McGowen 1-9 twist .223 barrel on one of my model 12's. I assembled this rifle and had never shot it until yesterday. I didn't have any ammo loaded up so I bought some PMC 55gr fmj to plink with. I sighted the rifle in at about 30 yards and things were looking good. Went out to 100 yards and I'm grouping about 3-4" with no consistency. Is the 55gr bullet the wrong weight for the 1-9 twist? I just moved so I don't have all my reloading stuff set up yet so I haven't had a chance to work up a couple loads. Everything is tight and I know the scope is good since I took it off a different 223.
In the world of AR's, I know 1:9 is supposed to be ideal for 55gr, so I wouldn't think the twist rate should be an issue there. I also know 55gr are pretty inaccurate compared to the heavier bullets. I would try 62gr and heavier when you get the chance before you start getting worried. My AR with an 18" 1:8 heavy barrel groups very poorly with the 55gr, but shoots half-moa with 77gr sierra bthp.
PMC 55gr fmj are just for plinking, doubt anyone ever grouped great with these. Try some 55 GR Hornady or 52 GR Black Hills, much better rounds. The HPBT rounds are better 200 yard rounds.
Man I hope it's just the ammo because I am about to pull the trigger on a McGowen 1:8 Wylde. I never use factory ammo only handloads. Like stated by Brasse and Chris I would try another bullet. PMC to me stands for Perfectly Malfunctioning Cartridge.
Your 1:9 twist will stabilize and shoot well with 50-69g bullets. Some 1:9's can even stabilize the 77g bullets depending on length and speed. Also check your crown and make sure it did not get dinged in transit somehow. A nick on the rifling of the crown will cause poor accuracy.
My 223 1/9 twist will put everything in 5/8" or less that I have tried for it. I shoot a lot of 50-55gr bullets out of it. I used 55gr Sierra gamekings for deer and those would shoot .3" 5 shot groups all day long.
Fmj bullets are only designed for 2-4 moa to begin with. If you get better great but they are terrible for accuracy testing. Match bullets from sierra and hornady are not much more and then you will start seeing results.Some fmj's are better than 2-4 moa but truth be known,they are garbage and you shouldnt be gaging any accuracy with these types of bullets.
Willing to give back for what the sport has done for me!
I have those PMC bullets and they will shoot better than 1MOA at 100 yards through my factory 1:9.25 Model 10PC barrel. They are honestly the best "cheap" ammo I have found. That barrel should do better than that. What else changes other than the barrel ? Was the bedding affected in some way ?
Stock is a Choate ultimate varmint, base is a egw, rings are burris signature, and scope is a Leupold vs3 8.5-25. I plan on reloading some ammo in the next couple of days and retrying
For what its worth-and I'm pretty new to rifle shooting, my 110 has a 1:9 twist and I got very good results at 100 yards today with 50 and 55 Gr. ballistic tip / varmint tip. Same session, same conditions, same rifle, the Remington UMC FMJ was twice the size groups! 1"-1.25" with the Remington, .6"-.730" with the American Eagle "Tipped" and the Hornady V-Max Tip, the Hornady @ 55 Gr. edging out the 50 Gr. American Eagle. This held true at my previous session at 50 yards, and then today at 100 yards. Brian
Learning something new, experiencing something new and sharing the journey are reason enough to get out of bed each day!
Looks like I'll be selling the 700 rounds I have and getting the reloading bench up and running in the next week or so
I wouldnt sell those if I were you......stock up....
Life is tuff.....its even tuffer when your stupid
{John Wayne}
I have no use for ammo that won't shoot accurately. I have way to much invested into guns and scopes to shoot ammo that isn't worth a ****.
I'd say the ammo is the problem in my opinion. 1:9 twist will certainly stabilize 55g pills...PMC is just cheap junk, not worth the brass they are loaded in.
I plan on doing some reloading tomorrow morning and heading to the range. I'll post up my results
I myself just installed a McGowan 1-7 223 on Wednesday, shot yesterday, loaded up some brass with 77 and 69 smk's, no load development, shot right under 1 MOA, its in a new B&C stock with the accutrigger. The last thing I will blame is the barrel. I read on accurate shooter that 223 brass selection is not as finicky as 308 , but I have to say, I think the load development will be the same as a 308 round. I ordered 200 lapua cartridges and 500 77 smks this morning, I could not find any 80 or 90 smk's. I will bed the B&C stock and install a tuned accutrigger that I have getting done by Larry Racine at LRB. I doubt its the barrel causing the issue.
, Ive seen bunk ammo still give me at least a 2" spread at 100...but 3-4"?........
pmc/wolf/ to name a few in 55/62/gr out of my 1-9 tube havent been that bad....
I guess if your were looking for "plinking ammo?"...you found it...........
good luck.....................one things for sure........you,ll be the 1st to find out
Life is tuff.....its even tuffer when your stupid
{John Wayne}
You are obviously NOT a prepper.Originally Posted by quarterbore
I have a Savage barrel in 9tw that shoots the 60-69grnrs well. never shot anything lighter out of it yet!
I am a prepper, but not a hoarder. I have reloading components I can load my own ammo with, so I don't need cheap ammo that isn't up to my accuracy standards. I would rather sell that to some guy playing with his ar that doesn't care about shooting small groups.
Twist and weight, are only related by a technicality. RPM, which is a function of twist, and velocity is what you care about.
depending upon shape/construction, length changes aside from weight.
a 9-twist will happily stabilize the 77gr SMK, but typically not the 75Amax due to length differences.
FMJ bullets are, as pointed out, designed to be fired, not match grade; thus the term "PLINKING", NOT moa.
Someone with a Wylde, Savage, NATO chamber has a VERY long throat, and if you don't load for YOUR chamber, will have a very large jump to the lands, meaning more chance for crap accuracy.
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi
Use the menu on the left and find your bullet length(if you don't know), then run the stability calc. This will give you an idea of what will or won't be happy in the stability department.
I'm a firm believer in the theory that if it bleeds, I can kill it.
My Stevens build has a Mcgowen 24" 1 in 9 pipe, During my range sessions after I run my 69 gr. match brass, being a budget shooter that doesnt reload I finish the day running American Eagle 55 gr. brass. I think it"s very similar in quality to the pmc stuff, at 100 yrds my average strings run around a inch and a half inch and a quarter.
I shoot 40 gn Noslers for predators out of a 1:9. You just cant push them too hard.
Why so much hate for PMC? I used to shoot it quite a bit when it was available. I could get 3/4 MOA and sometimes better out of my AR with a 1:9 twist.
Have you checked the usual suspects..........action screws, scope base and ring screws?
you,d be suprised what kind of "very small" groups you can get out of a AR in .224.....very suprised (Im here to tell you)...but thats a hole different story.
Im a bit confused here though.......if your interest in "accuracy" is prevelant, then why buy "plinking" ammo?....you are obviously aware that in order to get your accuracy up to snuff, then you know,that I know,that you know.........you gotta roll your own.
Life is tuff.....its even tuffer when your stupid
{John Wayne}
I bought the ammo since it was available at the time and I wasn't going to pay the ungodly high prices that people wanted for surplus brass. I have since come across some once fired brass at a reasonable price, and reloaded some rounds this morning. My groups shrunk down to .5-.75" at 100 yards, I'm fairly happy since the barrel isn't broke in yet.
I'm not knocking AR's. I know they can be extremely accurate. The guys at my range that are shooting them are just messing around with them at 50 yards and don't seem to care about grouping. I realize that there are more than 1 type of shooter that owns AR's, same as rifle shooters. I strive for accuracy, so ammo that won't shoot to my standards isn't acceptable to me.
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