[The Joker]

I stumbled upon some "orange tip" 62 grain steel core tracer bullets. I was thinking about picking them up for reloading but it also says requires a 1:7 twist. Why is that and what happens if I loaded them and shoot through my rifle which has a 1:9 twist?

 

[CampingJosh]

They won't stabilize properly, so you won't have any accuracy.

The twist rate needed for a particular bullet is actually based on the length of the bullet, not the weight. But when you are comparing copper-covered lead bits of exactly the same diameter, extra length means extra weight, so we know that a 69 grain .224" bullet is longer than a 55 grain .224" bullet. It's easier to talk about weight.

However, steel is less dense than lead, so a 62 grain .224" steel-core bullet is longer than a 69 grain .224" lead-core bullet. And the longer bullet needs a faster twist rate to stabilize properly.

 

[The Joker]

Aww perfect. Thank you for the response.

 

[gunboat]

You don't indicate your location but they are not legal in some states -
In california it is a felony to possess the ammo or the bullets themselves --
A felony count for each one --

 

[Snakedriver]

If marked by the military, orange tips indicate they are tracers. Not desirable in most cases. Shoot them at any of our ranges down here and you're out for good. The 1:7 was initially designed especially to stabilize the longer tracer rounds. The backend is longer to hold the phosphorous to give it the red glow.