Thread: Optimal barrel twist on ar-15

I have been considering purchasing an ar but am curious about barrel twist. Not sure how it affects accuracy and the type of bullets it can shoot. If someone could shed a little light on this it would be great. Thanks

on an ar15, the lower the twist rate, the more accurate youll be able to shoot heavier grain rounds. for instance, an 1/9 twist wont be able to shoot a 62 or 67 grain bullet as accurate as a say 1/7 twist. also take into account what you will be shooting and what bullet weights you will be shooting as well as how far out you will be shooting as well

Depends entirely on what the gun's for, and what kind of ammo you'll be shooting. For a varmint gun, you'll want a slow twist- 1/9 - 1/12. For a defense gun, you'll want a fast twist - 1/7, 1/8 at the slowest. If you're not sure, and just buying an AR because it's the cool thing to do, faster is better. 1/7 will fire everything from 80gr down to 45gr. The only stuff you can't put through a 1/7 are some hot/light varmint loads... some will just explode a few meters in front of the muzzle.

+1 to all of the above. You need to know what you're gonna do with it and what weight bullets you prefer to shoot.

Originally Posted by Blackelk

I have been considering purchasing an ar but am curious about barrel twist. Not sure how it affects accuracy and the type of bullets it can shoot. If someone could shed a little light on this it would be great. Thanks

That's like asking, what's the best tire? A "mudder" is gonna suck on your Corvette, and a high performance road tire is gonna suck on your Jeep Wrangler.

Been posted before, but here goes again.

Use the chart as a general guide. It's not exactly "bullet weight" it's the bullet "length" but longer bullets are heavier so everyone goes with bullet weight. For a general purpose rifle a 1/8 twist well handle about anything it can feed.