Rimfire Barrels: 16 or 17 Twist, which is best?
A. Our answer is; we don’t know. We offer our rimfire barrels in two different twists, a 16″ and a 17″ twist. We’ve shot both and can honestly say that we can’t tell much difference, they both seem to shoot very well. Some of our customers seem to prefer the 17″ twists and others say the 16″ is best. The 16″ has been the standard for rimfire barrels for a long time and they are very proven. But the 17″ twist is an excellent choice for BR-50, IR50/50 and NBRSA benchrest competitions. To further complicate the issue, we also offer both twists in two different inside diameters. Our standard dimensions are a .2215″ diameter groove and a .217″ diameter bore. The `tight’ barrels are .2200″ by .215″ diameters. Again, we can’t see much difference between them. We sell a lot of all four combinations and can’t say that any one configuration is a runaway favorite. The 17″ barrels do seem to becoming more popular all of the time though. All four types have shot very well in the competitive rimfire
