I was aware of the 1-16" barrel, but also aware that most 1-16" twist .22 Hornet barrels seem to do just fine with bullets up to .45 grains. As an example, I get sub MOA accuracy out of a mini-mauser with a 22" 1-16" twist bore with comparatively long Hornady 40 gr V-Max bullets (on average about .687" in length) so I expected no real problems with a 24" 1-16" bore.
On the first range trip I noted that it shot great groups with Hornady 35 gr V-max bullets - producing some very credible groups averaging about 3/4" with this one in particular standing out:
![Image](http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/h470/SDBB57/1c78a185-c948-41e7-9112-fc4c7e072da4_zpsef197643.jpg)
So the rifle itself can shoot well and shoot consistently good groups
However, with 40 gr V-Max bullets it was throwing patterns in the 5"-6" range and I noted some tearing on one side of many of the holes and on very close inspection I noted some slight oval shaped holes in that direction. Obviously, it's not stabilizing the rounds. Velocities are as high or slightly higher than in my mini Mauser, so the velocity should have been adequate.
I checked the rifling twist when I got home - running a fine line marker flat on the table along the side of a cleaning rod to create a straight line on the rod, then aligning the mark with corner between flats on the barrel, marking the rod and going forward until the rod turned 360 degrees to align with that corner again. The result suggests 1 in 16.5" twist.
Given that I have about 1,500 40 gr V-max bullets on hand, it's annoying that it won't shoot them. It's even more annoying given the relative scarcity of .224 bullets right now and an inability to get anything shorter at the moment.
I do have 500 Barnes 30 gr hollow points coming, and they are obviously short enough to work, but I'm interested in the experience any other people may have had with the Browning 1885 in .22 Hornet, specifically in terms of projectiles that have worked well in it.