Crow hunter,
The boattail and crown can be perfect, and the flat-base will still be more accurate at closer ranges--say out to 200-300 yards, where most "short range" benchrest shooting takes place. This is because the boattail allows hot gas from the muzzle to slightly destabilize the bullet. This is why SR benchresters use flat-base or, at most, bullets with very short boattails.
Beyond around 300 the higher BC of boattails results in finer accuracy, due to less wind drift, even in very mild breezes.
MD
So could you take a WOG and venture what a 1/2" deer rifle with a flat base might do with a BT? 3/4" at 100? I'm trying to get a feel for the difference on average for a hunting bullet out of an accurate rifle.
Not MD but I had a Ruger in 270 Win that was a 3/4" or better gun with flatbased bullets and a 3-5" gun with 2 different boattail bullets.
A TC Encore 25-06 that was the same.
My BDL 6mm isn't that bad but shows a clear preference for a flat based bullet. 1/2" with flatbase vs 3/4 or so with the 1 boattail I tried. I could probably live with the 3/4" groups especially if they held up at 300 yards but I see no reason to change.
