Winchester Mod. 70 Varmint

[Donald R. Newcomb]

Does anyone know the standard barrel twist rates for the Winchester
Model 70 Varmint rifles in: .223, 6mm PPC & .308 Win. ?

--
Donald R. Newcomb * University of Southern Mississippi
dnew...@whale.st.usm.edu * "The God who gave us life gave us liberty
dnew...@falcon.st.usm.edu * at the same time." T. Jefferson (1774)

[david.fu...@nt.com]

(This article written by Daniel Chisholm)

In article <2rlq5q$l...@whale.st.usm.edu> dnew...@whale.st.usm.edu (Donald R. Newcomb) writes:
#Does anyone know the standard barrel twist rates for the Winchester
#Model 70 Varmint rifles in: .223, 6mm PPC & .308 Win. ?

Standard .223 twist rate is 1 in 12". Standard .308 is also 1 in 12".
I don't know the standard for 6PPC, but for benchrest use (68 or 70
grain bullets), 1 in 14" is used.

Winchester's "Model 70 Heavy Varmint Stainless" (which is different from
the "Winchester Model 70 Varmint", BTW) has a 1 in 9" twist rate, and
a 26" stainless steel barrel. This will stabilize 68/69 grain match
bullets (Sierra/Hornady), and (in above-freezing weather) Sierra's
excellent 80 grain Matchking, and JLK's 75 grain VLD (but not the
JLK 80 grain VLD).

Winchester makes a "Heavy Varmint" rifle that has a non-free-floating
wood stock with a skinny hunting-style forend. They also make a
"Synthetic Varmint" rifle with a non-free floating black plastic
stock with a skinny forend. Relatively new (introduced last year,
I believe) is the above-mentioned "Heavy Varmint Stainles," which
features a free floated black plastic (err, Synthetic ;-) stock
with a very wide forend with a flat bottom, and a gorgeous, super
heavy 26" matte finish stainless barrel with a proper 11 degree
target crown. Placing the .308 version next to my 30" barreled
Palma rifle makes the barrel _on my target rifle_ look positively
skinny! ;-)

For shooting long range (600 yards and beyond) with a .223, being
able to use the Sierra 80 grain bullet is a lifesaver. I was in
the target butts marking targets last Thursday, and a friend was firing
80 grain Sierras from 900 yards. They were very accurate (easily
holding the 25" DCRA bull), and a very audible "crack" indicated
that they were still supersonic.

This particular rifle (Winchester Model 70 Heavy Varmint Stainless,
in either .223 or .308) is very desirable for use in the Ontario Rifle
Association's Practical Rifle matches. They are also exceedingly
difficult to find. I am told that Winchester will be starting 1994
production of these rifles in June - in the meantime, you'll have to
get lucky and find someone who has it in their inventory.

All new production .22 caliber centerfire rifles made by Savage
now have the 1 in 9" twist barrel (.223, .22-250, etc), but their
is no way to differentiate such models from older 1 in 12" twist
versions.

The Remington 700 PSS in .223 comes with a 1 in 12" twist barrel. A
very poor choice by Remington - this rifle can't be relied upon to
accurately fire 5.56 NATO ammuntion! This effectively disqualifies
the factory Remington .22 centerfires for use as long range rifles.

- Daniel