Barnes 168LRX tumbling or not?

This is not a "I have to get these bullets to work" situation. We have the bullets and wanted to see if they would stabilize in the 1:8 twist barrel, since that is what Barnes recommends. They were originally bought 2-3 years ago for a Rem 700 LR because he didn't know any better. After he bought the new rifle and I worked up a couple loads for him for it with different bullets and they shot fine he realized just last year, after buying a 30 Nosler in same rifle, that the rifling is a 1:8. So I suggested that we could use the Barnes bullets that were just laying around. Might try a slightly faster powder as well as more 7828 to get the velocity up closer to 3K. We have shot Hornady 162 eldx for a while and now are on 168ABLR in this rifle which are/were both shooting @3k. I'm sure the rifle will handle higher velocity without issue.
 
Question: If I can get these to be stable with increased powder charge and shoot them at around 2900fps+, what happens downrange when the bullet speed slows to the 2500fps range? Will it destabilize and begin to wobble or if once stabilized it will remain stabilized for the full flight?
 
Shoot them at 500 - 600 and see what they do. Personally if a 168 has that much problem stabilizing in a 8 twist I'd shoot a different bullet
 
Shot some more of these today and they are sh**. Still not stable at 3k+ fps. Too hot with 66g 7828, showed ejector marks at 65 @3.350 coal. All showed ejectors at 3.365 coal. Not wasting anymore time with these. Maybe this rifle isn't a 1:8 twist after all. Ah well, I'd rather shoot 150's anyway. Left 3 rounds unfired and will pull bullets.

Just thought I would put the closing statement on this thread.
 
@Philward
If you have some of the 168's left rather than trashing them try pulling the blue tip out of the bullet. This reduces the length of the bullet to 1.415 from the original length of 1.596. Done this with this bullet in my 7/08. For the bullets I had left it worked real good. The blue tip pulls out real easy with wire cutters, and gives you an idea of how the tip effects stabality. JME
 
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