bearing length

[Tom Thomson]

What commonly avaiable bullet in abt 160 - 180 weight has the longest bearing length?
tommyt

[BlueDog]

Tommy, I would guess we would need what caliber you are referring to. Unless this is a theoretical question, and if so I would logically say the smallest caliber possible! Lol.

[Tom Thomson]

My bad - it's 308

[BlueDog]

Thanks Tom, if only people knew what I was talking about half the time I wouldn't have to clarify myself. I think the longest bearing surface for a .308" bullet would need to be a roundnose over a spitzer type ogive. And if the denser the material means a shorter length versus the same weight with a less dense material. So my vote is a non lead, solid brass or copper round nose bullet. I don't think they offer them anymore, but at one time Barnes offered their "banded solid" in 30 caliber.

If you don't mind me asking, what are you brewing up over there?

[Tom Thomson]

Blue
Don't mind atall. Starting to reload for my Savage 110 in 308 and I'm having trouble loading out near the lands while still keeping enuf bullet in the case to ensure alignment. Also scratching my head over concentricity and skew of the bullet. The best I've done so far is .005 TIR near the tip of a 160 gr spire point Hornaday. Any advice is welcome.
tommyt

[BlueDog]

This is probably not close what you're looking for, but these bullets from Woodleigh have plenty of bearing surface (strange looking things).

http://www.woodleighbullets.com.au/bullet-lists/hydrostatically-stabilised

[Dennis]

BlueDog, how do you like the Woodleigh's?

[Newsshooter]

Generally the berger VLD's, you might try the 185's.

[FW Conch]

I think you will find the longest bearing surface on flat based bullets.

If it were me, I would cooperate with the barrel that I have, and forget about chasing the lands if the throat is too long. Your better off than the guys that are getting 308 chambers so short they can't chamber SAMMI length rounds. I have a 30/06 (not a Savage) that shoots it's most accurate load with a .160" jump.

Good Luck ... Good Shooting ... Jim

[LongRange]

not sure about 308 bullets but i know on 6.5 bullets that lapuas,hornadys and nosler custom comps are long...using 2 hornady comparators to measure bearing surface...

a 140g hornady is .645
a 139g lapua is .634
a 140g nosler custom comp is .637
a 142g SMK is .581

tangent and hybrid ogive bullets will have the most bearing surface and the secant(VLD)ogives the least...hornady claims their bullets have a secant ogive but compared to a berger they look more like a tangent or hybrid...id try the 168g and or 178g hornadys and or the 168g SMKs.

[Keyhole]

If you are looking to eliminate runout detail your loading procedure and equipment and maybe we can find a weak point. I measure runout on most of my rounds and have noticed little difference in accuracy if it is less than 2-3 thou.

[J.Baker]

Generally the berger VLD's, you might try the 185's.

VLD's and similar bullets have the SHORTEST bearing surface. They have a long stretched out G7 profile cone and a boattail leaving only a short section in the middle that's the actual caliber diameter.

[Robinhood]

Is this a factory barrel? Saami chamber?