What's the best nose shape for long range shooting?

[rdnck]

The old Sharps designs are really tough to beat. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

You make a very point about the money and prolate designs, they seem to need to be driven hard and/or spun fast to do their best. When Brent first started shooting the 1.520" prolate he uses for long range it was with an 18-twist barrel and it did NOT go well. He very quickly rebarreled to a 16-twist and things went much better until his powder problems happened. He is getting those worked out now and should be back in good form this year with that long prolate bullet. He should do well at Lodi in May.

He also shoots a prolate design for silhouette in his 18-twist high wall, but that bullet is shorter than his long-range prolate and is spun fast enough for mid-range and silhouette distances.

I tried the prolate design in my 18-twist Shiloh .45-90 and I had to keep the length short enough that the bullet barely made 500 grains. When I lengthened the bullet it didn't shoot well at all for me. So I capped the pointed nose with a 1/3 caliber nose radius and that created a shorter bullet (1.440") that weighs 528 grains. With that change it has won a lot of Creedmoor matches for me. It has about the same weight as Brent's long prolate, but in a bullet short enough to be well stabilized in my 18-twist barrels. I think the prolate design is a very good one but it has to be short enough for the twist rate of the rifle.

Matching the bullet length to the twist is so often overlooked by shooters and mold makers that I think it is the major reason some shooters struggle. If they used the same design in a length that was right for their twist rate they would be shocked at how much better their bullets would shoot. It doesn't take being a lot shorter sometimes either, .020-.030" can make a big difference when the conditions are nasty. It's length not weight that is important here. Keep the length short enough for the twist and increase the bullet weight by changing the nose profile. That's what I did.

[Distant Thunder]

Bill,

They are much better than given credit for.

[Don McDowell]

Day in and day out those sharps/Remington bullet profiles are hard to beat

[Kurt]

Jim at the 2016 Montana 1000 I used the BA JIM442525 bullet with a load of 2F OE and ran 10 for 10 at the 1000. Jim Bucholz and I on this day are toe only once that broke 10 for 10 since 2012 that I know of. I actually broke 11 straight counting the sighter. Carolyn said your staying in the white with most don't change anything. I took 3rd that year. It should have been fourth but Charlie Young was first but used a scope that put him out.

Starting that match I used a Danielson prolate like he uses and a load of 1.5 Swiss and I was hitting 5/10 for the first two targets and 4/10 on the forth. I asked Carolyn to get the box of rounds with the 2F OE powder that I had less than 20 rounds left and I used those for the last target with the Jim442525 bullet.

2019 I used that same bullet the Jim 442525 and powder load at the Quigley and it put me in first place for the white buffalo and 9th over all.
I don't like that bullet because it needs to be a .444 instead .442 but it's telling me it's fine as it is and not smart enough not to use it
Twice it went 10/10 at 1000 yards when I switched to it when other bullets failed at the same match on the same day.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt.

Is that kind of a Medford style bullet? Something like that in a .44 caliber would of interest to me.

[Kurt]

Close Jim, https://www.buffaloarms.com/442-525-grai...-jim442525

[Distant Thunder]

I thought maybe it was close. There are a lot of bullets to try, good thing I'm retired and have a little more time for shooting and testing. Today the plan is to put a scope on my Hepburn for just that purpose, testing. I hope to remove as much of the sighting error as possible during load development and bullet testing. I still plan to go with irons for competition as long I can.

[seahawk]

good for you, jim...i'm of the same mind set,...i don't care for scopes, but they come in handy at times,..i'll still compete with irons!

[Kurt]

I been fighting scopes for several years myself. I don't like them either but it's a necessity now for me.
I have a rifle clamped in the vise on the mill right now getting ready to drill and tap the barrel. I wish I had a long Caliper to lay out the block centers at 7.2 or 10.34" it's kinda hard to get it exact using a ruler
My New MVA A scope they say 10.34 spacing but I don't know how to read .340" on the stick ruler