Long bullet Phenomenon

[82boy]

I heard the other day from an old time benchrest shooter that long skinny bullets like 140 gr 6.5 berger may be less accurate at 100 yards than 300 yards plus because the bullet is not fully stabilized at close range and has to "get it's legs under it" . Is this true or complete BS? It doesn't make sense to me. I have a 6.5 that is having accuracy problems and wondering if I'm shooting myself in te foot doing load development at 100 yards.

I am not a ballistician, nor do I play one on TV. There is a basic accepted theory on this, and it is called "bullet yaw." Basically the bullets is spinning, but not fully stabilized. This is common for VLD style bullets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pF8W5liSRc
Brian Litz, is a known expert on this issues.

The thing is I have seen funny things, some barrels and calibers stabilize bullets very quickly, and some don't. It may also be that the yaw is consistent, and the bullet follows the same path over and over, fooling me thinking that it is stable. I have had a few barrels where I could get .200 and smaller 5 shoot 100 yard groups with long VLD bullets. It may be that some barrels may have issues keeping the yaw consistent, and causing shots to go unpredictable all over target. Generally I would not pick this style of bullet for 100 yard use, but in sighting in times I may print a group or two for amusement. I have also done this over periods of time, as I have changed scopes on a fairly regular basis, and shot groups over the life span of the barrel. The thing I have found out is a barrel that does well in the early stages will continue to do so through out its life.

I have also see barrels that will spray VLD bullets all over the place at 100 yards, shoot smaller groups out further. So just because it doesn't shoot well at 100 yards doesn't mean the gun is not in tune, or that it will not shoot good out further. with hat said I have seen barrels that could not keep 5 shoot at 100 yards under 1 1/2, shoot 2 inch area groups at 600 yards. Barrel harmonics has nothing to do with this, as barrel harmonics, deal with tuning of the load.

Something else which is a miss conception; is that a boat tailed bullet will not stabilize under 200 yards. This is a total wash. I often wonder if this was not started because most VLD bullets have boat tails. It is the design of the front of the bullet, not the back of the bullet. Many 100-200 yard Benchrest shooters have gone to using Boat tailed bullets. The have found that they work very well. there is different thoughts on how to optimize them, but many like to drive them hard, and it work for them.

For the most part the "Old Benchrest Shooter" has told you right. Generally speaking a long pointed VLD style bullet is designed for long range, and is not best suited for 100-300 yard shooting. But there is some exceptions to the rules, sometimes it is possible to get a consistent good accuracy out of these bullets at short range.