Which is more accurate: heavy or light bullets?

[G-ManBart]

That was an analagy I was trying to make, I don't know how much flight time you have as a private pilot, and you may be more recent on the theory of flight, but as a commercial pilot myself, and the experience I have is what I based my thoughts on and I put over 1000 down the pipe a week. Then again it's a debate nobody wins, we all have theories and opinions, but hopefully we all learn something that works for us.

Yeah, but unfortunately, a bullet doesn't have opposing lifting surfaces (wings and tail) like an airplane so it's totally apples-to-oranges. If we were talking arrows the analogy would be closer.

I am a little worried that a commercial pilot doesn't know it's a fact, not theory, that as the CG moves aft it lowers stability

"As the CG moves aft, a less stable condition occurs, which decreases the ability of the aircraft to right itself after maneuvering or turbulence." (page 9-3)

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/media/PHAK%20-%20Chapter%2009.pdf

I'm far from a high time pilot, but I've had my ticket for 13 years or so and the wonderful thing is the plane doesn't know what your ticket says or what's written in your logbook

Aircraft trivia aside, the thing that seems to be getting missed, is that it's bullet length, not bullet weight that matters. Something seen frequently in rifles (because bullet length is so much more varied)....take an .308 with 1:12 rifling and it might shoot a 165gr jacketed bullet great. Try a solid copper bullet like a Barnes at 165gr and it may not have a fast enough twist to stabilize it. If that gun had a 1:10 twist (more common on newer .308s) it would likely be fine with either. It's the same weight, but much longer...which puts the center of pressure farther from the center of gravity. The larger the difference between those two, the faster the bullet needs to spin to stabilize.

Pistol bullets (excepting oddball stuff) are all pretty short and the range in lengths isn't nearly so great. In most cases our bullets are stabilized to such a degree that even the longest bullets (generally the heaviest) normally used for that cartridge will work, if that particular barrel happens to like them. Now, if we could figure out how to solve that mystery somebody could make a lot of money. R,