I would agree the old choke rifling of the FX smooth twist is paradox rifling by another name but I’d disagree it’s the same as gain twist.
Gain twist the rifling is the entire barrel sans chamber. It becomes progressively faster at a given rate. Paradox requires a free bore section, which is no present in the X version.
The point here being that the remarked paradox as smooth twist, remarketed a form of polygonal rifling as smooth twist X, and I’m betting smother twist x ver 2.0 will be gain twist. Ver 3.0 will be have cut lands and grooves and have pressed from the outside.
$5 on that bet
IF they were to do that, then they would demonstrate that they don't have the foggiest idea of what really happens when the pressure hits the skirt.
Gain twist rifling " Sort of works" in very few cases of long bullets that want to be driven VERY fast. But the "SMEAR'' that is produced when the angle of the grooves changes would be lethal to the accuracy of any waisted pellet.
If you are thinking, slugs, MAYBE, but there is not enough need for that, and cost is very high to do it right.
TwistX technology for barrel making is a cost-cutting exercise, not a ballistics advantage exercise. Making a TwistX barrel takes less than 30 seconds and costs less than $10.
As a marketing gimmick? Well, everything is possible in that sense.
I am not a betting man, sorry.
HM
Weird that it seems to work best with soft bullets that have driving bands and a “waist”. Moving at sub 2,000 feet. Go figure.
Pure lead at 2000 fps IS too fast; for pure lead I would not advise more than 1,100 fps (the BC starts dropping when you move away from the 1,100 fps line and when you approach 1,400 fps it is close to a minimum, so you might want to stay away from the region, for the BC to come back to the 1,100 fps levels, you need to reach about 3,000 fps.). You would need some tin and/or some antimonium there to harden the lead so as not to strip it. It also tells me that the grooves were too shallow for the lead used.
Many years ago I tested extensively this bullet:
With a ZINC driving band, and made out of "Wheelweight" it could be driven up to 3,000 fps. in a 0.30/338-W wildcat.
Sadly, it was very sensitive to cross-winds, probably because of the very pointed nose.
As you can see, the "modern" Defiant/H&N Sniper shape is not that modern.
If you like shooting dead soft lead bullets and you are using a black powder cartridge, or He driven large bore airguns, try looking for a copy of Mike Venturino's books. There is a lot of good info there on long range heavy projectiles driven at slowish speeds.
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
