More than 65 years in the past two of the most important rifle and ammunition producers unveiled two almost equivalent cartridges that have been immediately engaged in a titanic wrestle for supremacy. Within just some years, one emerged overwhelmingly victorious, resulting in worldwide recognition, whereas the opposite suffered eventual obsolescence.
Why one cartridge succeeded whereas an equally good cartridge failed miserably has been a subject of debate amongst gun buffs for many years. Naturally, when a capturing matter is way mentioned, and plenty of opinions rendered, myths will emerge. Thus was born the parable of why the .243 Winchester cartridge prevailed whereas the .244 Remington foundered.
The .243 Winchester vs .244 Remington
The .243 and .244 have been virtually ballistic twins. Both have been 6mm caliber (a novelty on the time) and fired bullets of near-identical weights and velocities.
According to oft-repeated standard knowledge (a phrase regularly interchangeable with fantasy), the .244 failed as a result of Remington’s M-722 barrels in that caliber spun the bullets at a price of 1 revolution in 12 inches, whereas Winchester’s M-70 rifle spun its .243 bullets as soon as in 10 inches. As a rule, bullets which can be lengthy relative to their diameter require a sooner price of spin to stabilize than do shorter bullets. Consider abnormal .30-caliber bullets, which are available in a variety of weights. A 220-grain bullet requires a sooner price of spin to be stabilized and correct than does a 110-grainer. Fortunately, most bullets are usually considerably forgiving and ship good accuracy even when the numbers say they shouldn’t, which is why gunmakers can often get away with providing just one explicit price of twist for every caliber they manufacture.
Differing Rifling Twists
I’m advised that the oldsters at Remington foresaw their new caliber as getting used primarily for varmint searching and opted for a 1-in-12-inch twist, which might possible yield finest accuracy with lighter, varmint-type bullets within the 75- to 90-grain vary. The smart heads at Winchester, however, figured that whereas their new .243 can be good for varmints, it additionally had nice potential for larger sport akin to deer and pronghorn. Accordingly, they selected a 1-in-10-inch twist as a compromise that may yield higher accuracy with the 80- and 100-grain bullets they initially provided. Thus, it turned legend that the .243 Winchester succeeded due to its all-purpose designation and the .244 was doomed by comparability as a result of it was good for varmints solely.
Frankly, I by no means purchased into this speculation, and because the legend grew I turned much more skeptical, firmly believing that the core purpose for the success of the .243 Win. was the rifle during which it was initially provided: Winchester’s immensely fashionable M-70. I’ve even caught my neck out just a few occasions with the suggestion that if the calibers had been reversed, with Winchester providing a .244-like caliber, 1-in-12-inch twist and all, it could nonetheless have been the winner due to the recognition of the rifle.
By distinction, Remington’s M-722 was a plain-looking factor with no checkering and a stamped and bent sheet-metal set off guard. Accurate sure, at the least on a par with the accuracy of a typical M-70, however these have been the postwar days, when riflemen tended to dote on Mausers and ’03 Springfields, of which the M-70 was kin and inheritor. Remington’s “new look,” an virtually complete abandonment of its prewar fashions, had but to achieve the widespread acceptance that may come later.
Well, that’s been my principle and I believe loads of old-timers agree, however nonetheless there’s a nagging curiosity about how essential that 2-inch distinction in twist price between the 2 rifles actually was. If Remington provided a .244 loading with a 100-grain bullet, would it not have been sufficiently correct in its rifle’s 1-in-12-twist barrel? If so, standard knowledge as to the .244’s demise would don’t have any strong proof.
Testing the Rifling Twist Rate Theory
There’s just one approach to know for positive, and that’s with comparative testing. Of course, merely evaluating the accuracy of an M-70 and an M-722 of their respective calibers can be basically flawed due to the accuracy potential, or lack thereof, of the 2 particular person specimens examined, other than their differing charges of twist. The extra scientific strategy is to check equivalent rifles differing solely of their charges of twist-or higher but, to make use of heavy, target-grade barrels to additional the objectivity of the testing process.
Accordingly, we had three tuned Remington M-700 short-actions fitted with stiff, air-gauged, premium-grade Douglas barrels in .243 Win. All becoming and chambering was accomplished on the Douglas plant by a chambering specialist utilizing the identical reamer for every barrel so the chambers can be equivalent. In addition to barrels with 1-in-12-inch and 1-in-10-inch charges of twist, we ordered a 3rd barrel with a 1-in-8-inch twist so we may observe the results of even sooner spin on the bullets examined.
During the check sequence the barreled actions have been alternately examined in the identical HS Precision artificial inventory with an aluminum bedding block, as a way to additional scale back the prospect of accuracy variations that may happen with totally different shares. Likewise, the identical Leupold 8.5-25x50mm scope was utilized in all assessments. Ammunition included manufacturing unit masses and handloads with quite a lot of bullet manufacturers, shapes and weights. All handloads have been in virgin brass and every of the three rifles was examined with a sequence of 5-shot teams at 100 yards with every of the hundreds.
After each 10 pictures the barrels have been cooled and ritual-cleaned (which means the identical solvent, numbers of patches and brush strokes have been used for every cleansing). In different phrases, we took nice pains to stage the enjoying area.
The Results
Since the 1-in-12-inch-twist fantasy was the principle object of the experiment, that was the barrel examined first. Beginning with Winchester’s Supreme 55-grain Ballistic Silvertip load, teams have been uniformly small, starting from ½-inch to ¾-inch and at all times properly beneath an inch. That was no shock, because it’s with the lighter bullets that the 1-in-12-inch barrel is anticipated to do finest. Moving on as much as heavier bullets, accuracy was initially encouraging, with handloaded 100-grain Sierra Spitzers grouping just below an inch. I thought of this proof that my rivalry concerning the .244 Remington’s failure was about to be confirmed.
But just a few good teams don’t a complete check make, and so they can simply result in false conclusions. This would possibly very properly have occurred had our check sequence not included 16 totally different masses and bullet weights. As increasingly of those masses have been examined, it turned more and more clear that my principle was falling aside. To put it bluntly, the accuracy of among the heavier bullets within the 1-in-12-inch barrel was terrible. True, among the bullets weren’t anticipated to do properly within the sluggish twist, such because the Berger 105-grain or Sierra 107-grain VLDs (Very Low Drag), which shot everywhere in the goal as predicted. Because of its size and form, this sort of bullet requires an extra-fast spin to stabilize, and teams have been as massive as 10 inches within the 1-in-12-inch barrel. The bullet holes have been the “keyhole” form of unstable bullets not flying point-forward. But extra of a puzzle was the truth that the Hornady 87-grain hollowpoint grouped fantastically, whereas a bullet weighing solely three grains extra (the 90-grain Swift Scirocco) keyholed everywhere in the targets. Obviously, bullet form and development, and never simply weight, have been figuring out components.
With the 1-in-10-inch-twist barrel, accuracy improved throughout the board, and I fortunately conceded that I had been all moist with my long-held notion about Remington’s .244-caliber rifles. Furthermore, the 1-in-10-inch barrel delivered accuracy with bullets as gentle as 55 grains that was virtually nearly as good as that with the 1-in-12-inch barrel, which clearly indicated its all-purpose benefit over the slower twist.
But there was nonetheless extra to be found concerning the peculiarities of rifling twist. For occasion, of the 2 VLD bullets that carried out so miserably within the 1-in-12-inch barrel, the 105-grain Berger now grouped fantastically within the ½-inch vary whereas the 107-grain Sierra lobbed 6-inch teams and made elliptical holes within the goal. Why would two virtually identically formed bullets, each well-made and differing in weight by a scant two grains, carry out so in a different way?
This riddle was solved once we switched to the 1-in-8-inch barrel and repeated the check sequence. The Sierra VLD now grouped fantastically, however the Berger VLD grouped even higher! One of the teams shot with Berger bullets measured precisely .250 inches—the very best of the complete check sequence. Which goes to indicate {that a} 2-inch change within the rifling price can remodel scattered pictures into bug-hole-size teams.
This distinctive accuracy with the 1-in-8-inch barrel was remoted to only some masses, nevertheless, as teams tended to open up with different masses and bullet weights, demonstrating as soon as once more that further spin might be an excessive amount of of an excellent factor. There have been no indicators of bullet yawing (tilting) with the 1-in-8-inch barrel, however the attribute signal of accuracy decay was two or three pictures in a detailed central group with the opposite pictures going large by an inch or two.
Some manufacturing unit masses and handloaded bullets tended to do properly in all three barrels, notably Winchester’s Supreme loading of the 55-grain Ballistic Silvertip, which has a muzzle velocity of three,910 fps and is a wonderful all-around varmint load. Some different masses didn’t shine almost so brightly in any of the barrels, little question because of their fundamental design and development.
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What We Learned
So after days of capturing and reshooting, what was discovered? First the assessments proved conclusively that Winchester knew what it was doing when it opted for a 1-in-10-inch twist manner again on the beginning of the .243. It was additionally clear that Remington made a wise transfer when it modified the identify of its previous .244 to 6mm Remington and switched to 1-in-10-inch barrels for that caliber.
The higher lesson, although, was demonstrating the fickle nature of rifle bullets and the way seemingly slight adjustments in weights, shapes and twists can radically alter outcomes. This is why I (and generations of gun writers dwelling and gone) at all times suggest attempting quite a lot of ammo manufacturers and kinds to find out which is finest in your rifle. And talking of writers, I strive to not repeat myself too typically, however there may be one line I wrote years in the past that’s value saying once more: “Nothing will make you sound more of an expert than a discussion of rifling twist—or prove you more of a fool.”