So I emailed Alan, he got back with a nice write up but it was still missing a couple pieces of info I asked about. Here is his reply.
“.308” 212 gr Bore Rider bullet
A normal barrel has what are commonly referred to as lands and grooves…..or….bore and grooves. The grooves are the deep part and the lands or bore are the high or raised portion. The grooves diameter is .308” thus a 30 caliber bullet has a nominal diameter of .308”; a very tight fit. The lands have a nominal inside diameter of .300”. This means each groove is .004” deeper than the adjoining bore or land.
A nominal 30 caliber bullet, again, has a diameter of .308”. As a .308” diameter bullet enters into the throat of a barrel, each land engraves .004” into the side of said bullet. The land “grabs’s the bullet and imparts spin. This spin is what stabilizes the bullet, in flight, like when a football quarter back throws the football.
A Bore Rider bullet has two diameters; .308” and .300”. When looking at the Bore Rider bullet, starting at the bottom and moving up or forward to the tip. The taper portion is the boattail. Next, is the .308” full bore diameter section which rides in the bottom of the .308” diameter grooves; approximately .27” long. This is what is grabbed by the lands to spin the bullet. This is a very short section of the bullet. It is also the portion that MUST be in the neck of the cartridge case when the bullet is seated in the case. Too far forward or rearward of the neck the bullet will either fall out of the case entirely or fall down into the case, rattling around, so to speak since the powder inside would limit how much it drops into the case. This limits bullet seating depth and the ability to fit a loaded cartridge within the confines of the majority of rifle magazines. Forward of the full bore diameter section is the “bore riding” section; long and sleek at .299”; .001” less than the barrel’s lands. This portion of the bullet is not designed to grab any portion of a land or groove. It rides on top of the lands, thus a “bore rider”. It is there purely to give the bullet more mass. Finally, is the ogive; the forward portion of the bullet that gets pointy.”
I’ve loaded the 212 LRX in my 300 PRC to see what would happen. In my extra long 3.850” CIP mag there is barely enough to bearing surface for the neck to grab hold on. It works but there is zero ability to adjust seating depth to tune accuracy. It is what it is. I know that Jon Wemple of Choice Ammunition custom loads that bullet in the PRC. I’ve never talked to him about it so I don’t know what he is reporting back from his customer base. Some folks will single load one round at a time when seating the bullet out to the nominal 3.960” COAL.
Performance on game is phenomenal! We have here at Barnes Bullets several employees who run it in their long action rifles chambered for 300 Norma Mag or 300 WSM; a combination that allows feeding from a magazine. You can see a video on our facebook page (Oct 2023) where an employees son takes a nice 5-pt bull way out there. DRT! The employee went to Africa several months back and, again, the 212 gr performed spectacularly!
