*New* Sierra 168 2200c .024" longer?!?

[TommyD11730]

So I crack open a new 500 count box of Sierra 2200''s (168 HPBT) and they are .024" longer. As measured to the OGIVE vs my last batch of 168s. Or about .008" overall longer.
Is it just me but that seems like an awful lot longer.
Or is this considered "normal"?

 

[nn8734]

.008 is nothing; .024 isnt that much either and is prob only material for those with semis and already loading right to mag length. Just adjust the seating die accordingly if necessary once you load a round w/the new bullets, take a CBTO measurement and compare to rounds loaded with your preexisting 168s

 

[6.5SH]

The more interesting comparison would be against one of the 169's

 

[nn8734]

The more interesting comparison would be against one of the 169's

169s would still be/appear much longer.

Perhaps Sierra lengthend the 168s recently to extract a minor amount of improvement in the back half of its supersonic fligjt envelope or that batch is simply a little longer (just a wild ass guess on my part).

Ive seen similar variations with the 175s and never noticed any difference in how they fly…

 

[918v]

Normal. And btw if you leave your seater alone they will seat to the same coal as your previous lot.

 

[Mike Casselton]

They just look like the tip has been improved like they did with the 107s

 

[TommyD11730]

Normal. And btw if you leave your seater alone they will seat to the same coal as your previous lot.

Negative on that. How could they?

 

[918v]

Negative on that. How could they?

Because they grind the nose forming die to do that.

 

[straightshooter1]

So I crack open a new 500 count box of Sierra 2200''s (168 HPBT) and they are .024" longer. As measured to the OGIVE vs my last batch of 168s. Or about .008" overall longer.
Is it just me but that seems like an awful lot longer.
Or is this considered "normal"?

In my limited experience, it's really not that unusual from one lot to another like that. Normally, I don't fret over projectile length. When I ran a test where I had some 168 SMK's with a .033" difference in bearing surface length that I ran a test with to see what difference on paper that it might make, there was an OAL difference of .012". I'd say it's NOT considered "normal", but it's not unusual.

169s would still be/appear much longer.

Perhaps Sierra lengthend the 168s recently to extract a minor amount of improvement in the back half of its supersonic fligjt envelope or that batch is simply a little longer (just a wild ass guess on my part).

Ive seen similar variations with the 175s and never noticed any difference in how they fly…

Sierra's published OAL's for 168 SMK's is at 1.215" and for the 169 SMK's it's ~.100" longer. I find that since the 169's are tipped, their OAL tends to be more consistent than the 168's.

 

[nn8734]

Sierra's published OAL's for 168 SMK's is at 1.215" and for the 169 SMK's it's ~.100" longer. I find that since the 169's are tipped, their OAL tends to be more consistent than the 168's.

Yep, agree and I say that also applies to the 175s….The 169s are a home run for Sierra IMO (I haven’t tried the 177s yet) but they vastly out perform the 175s and are equally agnostic to jump distance (the 168s aren’t even worth mentioning). I stocked up on them when they were available and shoot them in all my 308s.

 

[straightshooter1]

Yep, agree and I say that also applies to the 175s….The 169s are a home run for Sierra IMO (I haven’t tried the 177s yet) but they vastly out perform the 175s and are equally agnostic to jump distance (the 168s aren’t even worth mentioning). I stocked up on them when they were available and shoot them in all my 308s.

Likewise, I stocked up on the 169's. The did so well after I tested some when they first came out, there's just no going back to the 168's . . . or even the 175's. But, since I still have 168's and 175's, and using them up . . . when it doesn't count. And I agree, the 169's are a home run for Sierra.