Good Idea? Bad Idea? 1:8 Twist

[Mo_Zam_Beek]

I am thinking I know what I want but I think I should run this past others that know more.

*This will not be my primary barrel*

I think I want a 16" / 1:8 / .308

I will primarily shoot this subsonic with 220 / 240 grn SMKs. However, I am thinking that with 190 SMKs (somewhere between 175 - 220)this would still be pretty good at supersonic speeds as well.

Thoughts?


TIA

 

[gstaylorg]

Re: Good Idea? Bad Idea? 1:8 Twist

If you want some idea of what a 16", 1 in 8 twist .308 barrel is capable of, look here at the DTA Covert thread about a third of the way down the page:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2099144&page=13

Pretty impressive, huh?

 

[Mo_Zam_Beek]

Re: Good Idea? Bad Idea? 1:8 Twist

Awesome.


Thanks.



Good luck

 

[bohem]

Re: Good Idea? Bad Idea? 1:8 Twist

Yes and no. The bonuses of having a fast twist 308 vs. a 300 Whisper include:

Brass and dies cost, capacity for shooting regular ammo if/when the need arises, much easier to find bolt face, magazine availability.

Almost anything that you can do with a regular 308 you can do with a fast twist 308 but that can't be said for a 300 Whisper. The shortfalls of the fast twist 308 would be if you were shooting very light bullets very fast, but then again, what's the point in doing that for a 95%+ subsonic ammo rifle?

Not to say that building a 300-221 Fireball variation of some sort won't do the subsonic thing really well, but the higher costs associated with the brass, support equipment, non-standard bolt face can add a substantial chunk to the initial overall cost of a rifle.

 

[bohem]

Re: Good Idea? Bad Idea? 1:8 Twist

I meant that it's much easier to find a 308 bolt face short action than a 223 bolt face short action for projects it seems. I supposed "non-standard" is a poor way to say it, the 308 bolt face is just more prevalent.

ETA: The stuff that's based on a 0.440 bolt face like the PPC's and the variations of them are even harder to find so they usually end up having a bolt nose opened up and a new extractor installed. This in turn ends up to more gunsmithing costs involved with the project that's already getting several hundred dollars of added expenses added to it. That's why I'm not particularly "on fire" for the idea of a 220 Russian based subsonic rifle either.