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which barrel twist for 338 lapua

veeramani

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Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 26, 2013
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Nevads
I have an AI AWSM 338 with the non CIP length mag ( 3.625"), that I want to get rebarreled as the barrel is quite eroded. Which is the best twist to get for this system ? Stick with 1:11 , or go for 1:10 or 1:9.375 ?

I'm intending to stick with the 250 grain bullets due to lack of seating depth options

thanks
 
The 250s are pretty tolerant of either 1:10 and 1:11. It's the 300s that start to get picky.
 
I am running a 1:9.4 Benchmark barrel on a 338 Edge with the 300gr Berger OTMs, it really comes down to what bullet you plan to shoot. 1:10-1:11 is fine for 250s, 1:10 will do 300s but if you plan on running the 300s exclusively, run a faster twist
 
I'd say run a ~9.5" twist that way if you get a wild hair to shoot some 300's it will do it very well. It will spin the 250s just fine also. I leave some room for improvement, that way you have it if you want it.

xdeano
 
so the 9.35 twist won't cause over pressure with the 250's ? Why didn't a reputable company like AI just go with that in the first place ?
 
The faster twists have been slowly evolving in popularity as we've been moving to heavier bullets in recent years. I personally found that sometimes 1:10 doesn't shoot 300s well and sometimes it does just fine - no rhyme or reason. A factory gun from a company with lots of military contracts may be less keen to adopt a faster 1:9.4 twist for example and instead try to hit a middle road "best of both world" twist like 1:10. There's a great barrel maker here in NZ who offers a 1:7 twist .338 barrel, but that's designed specifically for subsonics.

ETA: if we see .338 bullets get longer (most likely from CNC solids), expect faster twist rates like 1:9 to become more common.
 
I shoot mainly ELR so I use 300 gr. Berger's / SMK.
I went with a Bartlein barrel with a 1-9:35 twist / 30" on my new SAC build.
 
I vote 1/10. you may plan on only shooting 250's but I've learned that unless I buy a lifetime supply of something sometimes you can't find what you planned on using. (I haven't seen H4350 in a long time for example)
 
If you can get your rifling cut to any specs, and you intend on using a particular weight for the most part, then what I do is use the twist rate formula. It's pretty simple, just search for that in google or wikipedia. If you intend on using a certain brand and weight, it may be good to also call the bullet maker and ask them what they have best results with too.

That'll theoretically optimize it to the weight (the formula uses geometry, but you'll determine the geometry of the bullet by choosing the weight you intend on shooting and measuring that with calipers). It'll give you a good hard number to work with. Just know from experience, that some bullets of different weights work just as well, while some of the optimized weight may not work well at all. So it isn't a catch all, solve all, but it is a good place to start. In physics, we'd start with that, and then run tests to collect data that may point to a tweak in the twist rate, for example.

The formula works with just about any, if not any, small arm out there. Even if you go by anecdotal evidence as above (which with shooting isn't such a bad thing really, since the science of it has so many variables as outlined by the physics experiments we'd run) it's still good to know what number is theoretically optimum, and you do know that you want to be somewhere around that number, give or take.

Cut rifling may give you the most latitude with selection of custom twist rates due to the process. I like 'em for other reasons too, but that's certainly one of them. Good luck with your barrel!