Thread: Bearing length revisited

So I tried the 150gn projectiles in the 7mm and to be fair the shorter bearing length ones shot the best but not that much better than what I'd beeen using. I settled on the 168 bergers as they shot slightly better than the 160 tmk's and are suited to 1 in 10 twist. But while having a look in the cabinet I eyed up a new box of 180 eldm's and thought yeah why not?! so loaded some up 20thou jump and 7gns lower than the 160/162's for a start. Lets just say my theory has more holes in it than the 400bis plate I use which has turned out not to be bis! they were going about 2650 and have held groups up to 2850 where I stopped as getting signs of close to max although I think I could get 2900 but why bother as it's shooting 1/2 -5/8's. Recoil seems less which surprises me and having the longest bearing length of all bullets my theory says it should shoot the worst from my 1 in 9.5 twist. It doesn't even foul like the other hornady's do. Only conclusion I can draw is that the reduced velocity has better harmonics in my barrel( roughly 200fps slower) and with the higher bc I'm going to get a similar curve to the 160/162's. Even the cost is lower than the bergers so haven't found any down side yet. Sitting at about 70gns of 2225 now which is only 3-3.5 less than I use for 160/162's. Should note I have a long mag and norma cases and even at that amount my loads aren't compressed so I would say a good 6-7 gns less is a good starting point especially if using other cases or powder.