What's the best bullet design for accuracy?

[mugsie]

OK guys - gimme your thoughts. What's the best design for target shooting accuracy? HP? SP? FMJ? Boat tail? What, in the vast amount of experience included in THR, have you found to be the most accurate? I'm talking rifle, not pistol.
Thanks....

 

[enfield]

6.5mm BTSP.

 

[Jim Watson]

What range?

The leading bullet for 100-300 yd benchrest is a 68 gr flatbase hollowpoint 6mm.

Most bullseye shooters working at 200 - 1000 yards will use the highest ballistic coefficient boattail hollowpoint available in a given caliber. The emphasis is on minimizing wind drift. Bullet and barrel qualilty is such that calm air accuracy is pretty much a given.

 

[USSR]

Have to agree with Jim, depends upon the application (range). However, in any case (no pun intended), the hollowpoint bullet will provide more accuracy than a full metal jacket bullet due to a more uniform base.

Don

 

[Slamfire]

Hollowpoint. Don has it right, the back of the bullet is more important than the front.

 

[jwr_747]

also depends on the rifle,some rifles like BT bullets and some like flat base bullets.some like flat base out to 200 meters and boat tale from 200 to 1000 meters. jwr

 

[mc223]

6mm Rebated Boat tail hollow point.

 

[Walkalong]

6MM Flatbase HP.

More taste / Less filling!

 

[Art Eatman]

I'd find a benchrest website, myself, and ask there.

For my own personal use, I've never seen any difference between flat-base and boat-tail. At least, none that I ascribed to the shape of the base. But, anything averaging 3/4 MOA or better has always been plenty good-enough for my hunting use.

Art

 

[GunTech]

Boat tails are only important if shooting long range. Beyond that, it depends on the cartridge and application. Since I shoot tactical matches out to 1K, I've standardized on Lapua Scenar 155 for my 308. JLK has some fine bullets with high BC. Sierra is very consistent and more forgiving of seating depth than most of the secant ogive bullets I've tried. The there a whole range of custom bullets.

 

[The Bushmaster]

The one that works best you your firearm for the service you wish to use it for...How the h*ll should I know! Experiment just like the rest of us have done...What works for us and our firearms and required service may not work for you...

 

[Walkalong]

Bushmaster is right about this one.

That said. Flat base for shortrange and Boat tail for long range. Try a couple of match grade bullets from big name bullet makers and see what your rifle likes.

 

[Grumulkin]

Well, I'm going to disagree with several of you. I believe the way the bullet is constructed like concentricity, jacket thickness, uniform weights & uniform diameters have much more to do with accuracy than the particular shape of the bullet. I can think of several instances in my reloading where round nosed bullets beat the pointy ones in the accuracy department by a good margin.

Sierra and Berger bullets have a great reputation for accuracy and yes, they're boat tailed hollow points but their construction is also very precise.

At ranges over say 200 yards, the boat tailed design has some advantages because it doesn't slow down as fast as a flat based design so will tend to be more stable. Also, there is the belief that when the bullet goes from supersonic to subsonic, the boat tailed design will remain more stable.

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, The Bushmaster is correct, he is just not very helpful.

A Sierra Match King boattail hollowpoint in the appropriate caliber and weight has been accurate in EVERY rifle I have shot them in. Some thing a little better turned up in a few cases, but at least I had the SMKs to shoot while I fooled with the less common stuff. (My best .223 gets VLDs, I can't tell any difference between JLK and Berger; my .308 may well get Scenars the next time I buy bullets, but they both got off to a decent start with Sierras.)

 

[ranger335v]

As Bushy suggests, if there were a clear answer to "What is the best...." of anything, we would all be using that instead of chaseing the rainbow.

 

[peterotte]

Round nose hollow point or long shanked spire point. Both designs keep mass away from the tip and put it at the circumference were maximum spin stability is derived and keeps bullet jump into rifling to a minimum. Match bullets are hollow point (but too strong to expand for hunting, though).

Peter