Thread: Flat base .308

Hey anyone shooting a flat base .308 round? Just curious as I heard they are more accurate at closer ranges. And because I’m curious. And did I mention I’m just curious. I’m shooting 168 ELDMs right now which seem to work just fine but I’ve just got it into my head that I’d like to develop a flat base round, maybe for bush hunting. Just because I’m... you know. Curious.

You have hit on a fact that seems to have been lost in the fashion for boat-tail bullets. I could quote you multiple sources, but can't be bothered. Its enough to know that flat-base bullets are often more accurate at the shorts due to the bullet having a cleaner exit from the crown, and not having to pass through high-pressure gas that has bypassed it.
Until a bullet slows to approach the speed of sound, the shape of the point of the bullet has more effect on lessening drag than the base in slowing the Bullet down. For most standard calibres this is around 8-900 yards. Again the bullet point has the most effect on this. The pointier the better.
A boat-tail comes most into effect in prolonging the bullets flight as the bullet approaches the speed of sound and at subsonic speeds.
Supersonic, you want a sharp point; Subsonic, you want a boat-tail.
Because FB bullets are simpler to manufacture they are often cheaper than a BT of the same weight and construction. Another plus.

If you want a reason to muck around go for it. Flat base Round nose pills are cheap and work.

Why do people suddenly think that now we have Boat Tail Ballistic Tip bullets that Flat Base Round Nose or even Flat Nose projectiles suddenly are no longer accurate or their killing power is some obsolete.
I have a bunch of assorted 140-160 grain projectiles that i was give. Most are Flat Base RN pills. load tested all of them. POI is within 2 MOA of my SST load, most within 1. So i use those assorted loads for goat hunting. inside 100m everything is dead.

180grn round nose flat based hornady jobbies are my bush round...preformance so far is outstanding.

For up close to 250 yards “flat base pills” are ideal, & generally easy to get to shoot tight groups. you’re spoilt for choice - Speer hotcor, Hornady interlocks, Corloks, Nosler partitions, Sierra prohunter or GKs. Pick a 150 or 165 gn pill and go knock yourself out

Awesome! Thanks guys and cheers for the suggestions. I think I will do just that.

@WillB, the Sierra ProHunter 150gr (2130) and 180gr (2150) have both been excellent for me. I’ve gone back to the 180gr recently and can’t really work out why I stopped using it in the first place, suckered by the hype probably!

Yes there is so much hype in this hunting and shooting thing.

tell ya what...buy a box of factory winchester 180grn boring old power points and try them out at bush ranges...that is the reason Im using the hornadies,they appear to be closest I can get preformance/softness wise.... they dont boot if you dont try to push them at silly speeds.... I like big blood trails that dont lead very far and have dead animal at end of them. so far the .308 with 180s is doing that just fine n dandy...my last animal with them went possibly 50 yards down hill and that shot was say 3" too high from ideal.it went through the shoulder BLADES rather than main bones,both lungs stuffed....yip they just work.

Boat tail designs were invented to stop me swearing while trying to balance flat base projectiles on cases and having them fall off. This problem is made even worse with smaller diameter cartridges. To put it simply, God made boat tails for easy loading and the devil made flat base to wind you up. Other than that I agree with what is said above. Bit like bc isn't really that important until past around 300yds with most calibers or in other words past ranges most game is shot at

Buy a Lyman M die will solve your problems I use them on all calibres I load best expanding tool ever made

Just had a look at them and they look good. Better than me over chamfering case mouths to get them to start. A lot of .22 projectiles are flat base but I've avoided them because of the hassle getting them in the case mouth. The M die could be just the answer. Thanks

I am able to source them if you want some, not sure of price I haven't bought any for a while.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

tell ya what...buy a box of factory winchester 180grn boring old power points and try them out at bush ranges...that is the reason Im using the hornadies,they appear to be closest I can get preformance/softness wise.... they dont boot if you dont try to push them at silly speeds.... I like big blood trails that dont lead very far and have dead animal at end of them. so far the .308 with 180s is doing that just fine n dandy...my last animal with them went possibly 50 yards down hill and that shot was say 3" too high from ideal.it went through the shoulder BLADES rather than main bones,both lungs stuffed....yip they just work.

Hi MD I now have a 200 grain HP .30 cal mould can do FP and cup points as well, It has taken me a while to learn how to drive the bastard it's very temperamental

WHEN I get my .45/70 sorted there will be an order coming your way for some pills for her....(really cant get thought out of my head to try one of the hollow base ones backwards r87mm thats a big boat tail) might just have to chuck some big hp 200 grn .308s in bag too....