Interesting! I too have found that whilst pointing produces improvements with some bullet models, it can have the opposite effect with others. To take two examples - I won't point Berger .30 155.5gn BT Fullbores as it seemed to increase long-distance verticals like Matt says. No scientific tests involved, just the results of many matches in varying conditions. On the other hand I acquired 3,000 180gn 0.284" Sierra MKs at a steal price a few years ago, such is the low regard that these bullets were held in here in the UK. A combination of BTO batching, trimming and mild pointing in a Whidden die has transformed their 1,000 yard elevations, more than halving them and making them into a very good performing design.
HOWEVER, despite what STOMP442 might think about SMKs, my favourite seven for long range is still the long in the tooth tangent ogive 175gn SMK. The way to compare the ballistic efficiency of bullets with different weights isn't the mass / SD affected BC value, but the 'form factor' which for this bullet is an excellent 0.948, so close to the Berger 180gn VLD's 0.946 (both Litz produced values) that they are in effect identical given the testing methodology's accuracy parameters. Unlike the VLD and the secant ogive 180gn SMK, it is very easy to tune and you don't need to worry about jump increasing with throat erosion - get a load that works and it shoots and shoots and ... you get the idea.
Interestingly, or perhaps tellingly, on this issue of bullet efficiency, one of the most efficient 7mm designs around until the Hybrids appeared was the earlier 175gn Berger XLD, a super long missile-shaped secant ogive design with an incredible 26-calibres nose radius and G7 form factor of 0.923 (180 Hybrid is 0.924) putting it into the top five or so 7mm bullets that Bryan Litz covers in Ballistic Performance of Rifle Bullets in terms of aerodynamic efficiency / low-drag. Berger dropped this bullet some years back after a short life. Why? ... it's a pig to get it to shoot well and very barrel dimension sensitive too. If it doesn't group ... who cares about i7 and BC values?
I'll believe the latest Nosler and Hornady BC claims when they are independently tested and think about maybe trying their new bullets when users start to produce winning results on the ranges. The one good example I know of so far is that the competitor who is the current GB F-Class Association FTR league champion used 200gn Berger Hybrids all last season to win the championship and was in the top three in every two-day round (which have nothing less than 800 yard stages, and a couple of 1,000 yard plus and are otherwise 80% plus comprising 1,000 yards matches) in only one one round - when he had switched to the Hornady ELD-M equivalent where he finished half way down the lists. That's why serious competitors look just a little deeper than at the manufacturer's claimed BC figure alone.
