boat tail vs spitzer

[s.forktraveler]

i have a question about b.t.h.p. vs sptzr. --
rifle is a ruger m77 1976 220 swift 26" barrel
target shooter am currently pushing a
fifty grain speer sptzr with 35 grn.4895 -- recently began to shoot some
speer 52 grn. boat tail hollow points with 36 grn. 4895
both loads work just fine however if there is no upside to the more expensive
boat tail it doesn't make much sense to load it -- is there any practical reason or range (yards) where the boat tail will shine over the spitzer ?--
i have been reading about the 223 tumbling after a given distance -- since the 223 & 220 swift shoot 224 bullets will the 220 also tumble and if so at about what range -or bullet speed ?

 

[rcmodel]

i have been reading about the 223 tumbling after a given distance

Not true.

There was a tumbling problem back in 1962 when the first military AR-15/M16 came out.

But it was caused by the slow 1/12" rifling twist used in the first rifles.
That was later changed to a 1/7" rifling twist on the M16A2, and ended any possibility of tumbling bullets at high altitude or cold temperatures.

Your .220 Swift bullets will not tumble either at any range you are likely to shoot at something with it, regardless of bullet weight or shape.

As to your question?
The 35 grain bullet has a much lower ballistic coefficient then the 52 grain BTHP.

As such, it starts out much faster, but slows down much faster.

The heavier boattail will maintain velocity over a much longer range and drop less and drift less in the wind at somewhere past 300 - 400 yards.
I can't pin it down exactly without delving deeply into some reloading manual ballistics tables.
But as a rule, if you shoot mostly at 300 yards or less, the 35's will do it.

If you shoot past 300 yards more, or shoot in the wind a lot, go with the better BC 52 grain bullet.

One other trade off you might want to consider is barrel life.
The 35 grain load at 4,000+ FPS will burn a barrel out faster then the 52 grain at a more sedate 3,600 FPS.

rc

 

[788Ham]

I shoot 52 gr. BTHP's exclusively, I think they shoot more accurately @ 300 to 500 yds. out of my 788 Rem. rifle. I have shot Hornady 52's and 53's, the 53's are flat based, but over time, I feel the BT helps in being more accurate. YMMV. I keep my 52's and 53's around 3200 to 3400 fps, where my rifle is the most accurate.

 

[Otto]

As to your question?
The 35 grain bullet has a much lower ballistic coefficient then the 52 grain BTHP.

Where did you come up with a 35 gr. bullet? He was talking about a 35gr charge weight.

 

[rcmodel]

My mistake.
I need to clean my bifocals.

Sorry.

rc

 

[gamestalker]

A 52 grain and 50 grain projectile are pretty close in weight comparison, even for something of that small caliber, so not much difference to be noticed there. But the BT projectile will experience less drag and provides improved BC out at extended distances in comparison to the spitzer flat base projectile. At short distances you won't notice much if any difference in BC effect. But if your into shooting beyond 200 yds. the imporved BC will help reduce the degree of compensation needed by a pretty fair degree due to the flatter trajectory.

GS

 

[35 Whelen]

Use a ballistic caluclator and find out for yourself. Like others have said, at typical ranges there's not going to be enough difference in the two bullets to matter.
Years ago, using a 220 Swift identical to yours, I fired a 100 yd., 4-shot group using 4 different loads loaded with a 45 gr, 50 gr, 52 gr, and 55 gr bullet. The 45, 50 were flat bases, the 52 and 55 were boat tails. The 4 shots from 4 different loads and 4 different weight bullets grouped into less than 1".

35W

 

[sage5907]

I think the boattail vs. spitzer discussion applies to a particular cartridge, how it is loaded and the individual rifle. For example, I shoot a 25-06 a lot during the summer months and for some reason I have found the rifles that I have like flat base bullets better than boattails. That being said, distance doesn't seem to make any difference. I shoot out to 500 yards with the flat base bullets and accuracy is excellent. On the other hand, when I load for a 270 or 30-06 I load only boattail bullets because they seem to shoot as good or better. BW