Why all the new heavy bullets?

[powderbrake]

The post on the new Sierra bullets got me thinking. Why are there new heavier and heavier bullets coming out every year? What has Changed to allow this?

What has changed are:

1) Laser rangefinders now give us accurate ranging
2) smartphone ballistics apps
3) more higher BC bullets.

No longer is the "flat shooting cartridge" the answer to the lack of ranging ability and not knowing bullet drops.

Now you can pick the biggest and best BC bullet, shoot it as fast as you can, accurately. Range, check ballistics, shoot, hit target.

 

[284winner]

I know the barrel makers must be going "YAYYYY" as shooters throw out all their old barrels and replace them with faster twist barrels, and the endless fiddling as they try all the new configs, poders, reamers, wildcats, then eventually abandoning 90 percent of it all the while getting beat by the guys shooting proven rigs... haha

Yep and the range of all these toys gets wider and wider every year. That's the best part.

 

[dcali]

Where are we going to be in 5-10 years?

Probably right about where we are. It’s not like people just figured this all out. It’s just the trend in demand. Took a little while for the manufacturers to accept it as real but once they did they knew what to do.

There’s a bit in an old Bob McCoy paper about an “experimental BRL low drag bullet”. It looks pretty much exactly like the stuff hitting the shelves today. Maybe even a tad more on the edge. What was old is new again.

 

[ShootDots]

I, for one, like to fiddle around with new cartridges, bullets and powders. I like to "experiment" with various cases and powders to see if I can achieve something worthwhile using. Additionally, if we do not use new products and only use "proven" products, we would still be shooting Black Powder and Ball! Hell even that was new at some point! Look at the new Alliant powders, RL-16, RL-23 and RL-26. They are a substantial improvement over the "tried and true" powders we currently use the most of. Does that make the "old" powders useless? No! It will just force them to make advancements, which ultimately helps us shooters. The same with bullets. Will ALL the bullets pan out and remain? It is doubtful. Will ALL the new "heavies" make all the OLD bullets obsolete? No.. BUT could they force other improvements to be made in the other "tried and true" bullets in order to stay competitive? YOU BET!
It is MY opinion that all these "New and Improved" bullets, powders etc.. should KEEP COMING! Some may fall by the wayside, some will excel! BUT we will ALL be the better for it because they will FORCE competition! You never know what may be on the horizon due to the competitive nature component manufacturers face in order to fulfill OUR wants and desires. If they succeed, WE WIN! But so do they as they will make a fortune on a winning component!

 

[boltman13]

I shoot the Berger 185 Hybrid in my 1:10 twist, 308 Win. F-TR rifle. I wish I could rebarrel and afford to retire a perfectly good Kreger barrel before it's time and move up but i can't. Also my tolarence of recoil in an 18# rifle will probably rule out the 130's. I do plan to try some 200 gr Bergers when I can to see if my barrel can stabalize them.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

I shoot the heaviest highest BC bullets my barrel can spin and my rifle will shoots. My Range Finder and scope dials make up for any drop and all the LR comps I shoot I know the distance to the X, if they made a 140gr 6mm bullet id start looking for a 1/5 twist barrel