disko wrote:If they're heavier they're longer though, right?
Not sure I understand the difference?
For the most part, yes.
e.g. If you have a .30cal 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip and a .30cal 180gr Nosler Ballistic Tip the heavier bullet will be longer. Because they are the same diameter obviously the 180gr bullet has to get longer to be heavier.
But...
When comparing different kinds of bullets, lighter bullets can be longer and vice versa. See below...
- Sierra Pro-Hunters
- 150gr.jpg (10.06 KiB) Viewed 4379 times
Both of these are 150gr Sierra Pro-Hunter bullets. The left is a 150gr spitzer, the right is a 150gr RN, they are both obviously very different lengths despite being the same weight.
If a rifle has too slow of a twist, it could stabilise the RN round while potentially not being able to stabilise the spitzer round. Not that a 150gr pill is particularly heavy... Just using this as an example to demonstrate length versus weight.
Bullet length usually becomes more of an issue with heavy target bullets where they are designed with long boat tails and narrow tips which make for particularly long bullets. Hunting bullets generally have shorter tails and rounder tips, resulting in shorter bullets.
That's a bit of a generalisation, but you get the idea...