SmallCaliberCentral

Among factory rifles and custom barrels with a 1-12 twist which, if any, have proven reliable in stabilizing and accurately shooting the 40 grain V-Max?

There are a couple 1:12 barrels out there that will shoot them.

I have a Ruger 77 mk11 with 1-12 twist and it shoots 40's just fine

By 40's are you saying the V-Max specifically?

Have you checked your groups out as far as 300 yards?

My savage 12 VLP doesn't like them. .8" to over an 1" at 100 yds.
My new savage 12 BTVSS will shoot them at under .5" at 100 yds all day.
I have no explanation as to why. It's possible one barrel has a twist that is just slightly over 12 (VLP) and the BTVSS may have a twist that is just slightly under 12.

I shoot the 40 V-max in Howa, Remington, CZ and Cooper. They will all consistantly shoot less than 1/2 inch at 100 and have hit many PD's from 350 to 600 yards with each brand of rifle. I owned a Savage that shot fine for the first six rounds then opened up. Sent it to the factory and had the same resluts with a new barrel. I know Savage makes a good rfile but I could not get it to shoot the 204 ammo. The Savage 22-250 I owned, same model as the 204, was under 1/2 inch shot groups and excellent at long range. Good luck and be safe.

My CZ loves 32 V-max; hates 40 V-max. Loves 40 Ballistic tips; hates 32 Ballistic tips....go figure!

I can't understand why Hornady would develop a new cartridge and get with Ruger and go with a 12 twist and then have the thing on the verge of instabilty. Was the 40 grain an afterthought? Seems like 11 or 11.5 would have been the way to go. Anyone think a factory 11 twist is likely to show up anytime soon?

I only tried 50 yds, but I had pretty decent results with the factory Hornady 40's today in my Remington. Encouraging.

I think you are right about a 11 to 1 twist, but it might "over stabalize" a 32 grain bullet. The big ad for .204 was it was the fastest factory round (4000 ft./sec+)and they needed a 32 grain bullet to do it. I have a Browning, 2 CZ's, 2 Tikka's . The Browning and one CZ doesn't shoot the 40 grain bullets. As had been said a million times, every gun has its likes and dislikes. Some won't shoot anything.
I have found all of my .204's like 39 grain Sierra BK's and 35 Grain Berger's. The 33 grain Calhoun's Bullets are great too.
Think how long it took for the world to realize the .223 needed a faster twist!
I would like to see a 39 grain Barnes tipped TSX bullet in a .204.

crashcarruthers wrote:I think you are right about a 11 to 1 twist, but it might "over stabalize" a 32 grain bullet.

Can someone tell me what happens to a bullet that is overstabilized please .

It must hit the intended target more straighter.

foxwhistler wrote:

crashcarruthers wrote:I think you are right about a 11 to 1 twist, but it might "over stabalize" a 32 grain bullet.

Can someone tell me what happens to a bullet that is overstabilized please .

Some thin skinned bullets will have jacket failure from spinning to fast. I doubt that's the case with the 32's and a 12 twist. Some guns just don't like certain powder/bullet combinations. I've shot 35gr Breger bullets in the .2's all day. Switched powder and shot 8 inch groups
As far as the 40's go. My Savage VLP loved the Hornady factory 40's. The 40gr Berger's on the other hand wouldn't shoot any better than 3 inches at 100 yards.

There's a discussion at 24hrcampfire.com forums under Ask the gunwriters. The idea is that it starts to take a nose high attitude at extended ranges.