Several years ago I made 30 caliber bullets for shooting NRA HP competition and sold them commercially. Matter of fact I probably am the 'jasper' that provoked Sierra and another present manufacturer into making the present day 175 gr. bullet for 30 caliber as I made a 176 gr. in VLD design with a rebated boat-tail that would remain stable for 1000 yard shooting using the M-14 Service Rifle without over boosting pressure! Prior to introduction of my bullet, Service Rifle shooters were attempting to use the Sierra 168 gr. bullet, which was required at the time and it was always possible to tell which shooters were shooting on what targets in that category because the bullets would key-hole into the target paper! Prior to having my bullet dies made I contacted Robert McCoy, (deceased) who at the time was in charge of all projectile testing for the US Army up at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and I asked him about how I should have my dies made. McCoy told me that of all the projectiles that he had fired through his spark-graph laboratory that those with a rebated boat-tail base showed a minimum of a five percent increase in flight performance! That doesn't sound like a very wide margin but if two shooters fire a 200 from 1000 yards...a five percent increase in X count is going to win the event! On another site a posting was made regarding rebated boat-tail bullets vs flat-based bullets it was mentioned that few companies make the rebated design. I can only assume that the reason is not because the design isn't better; rather it goes to cost because the base die which forms the rebate has to be formed with a 'feather-edge' and the die doesn't last as long as a normal boat-tail die. On one particular year I made and sent several thousand of my bullets at the request of the USMC Rifle Team at Quantico, Va. and they used them in the long range events at Camp Perry and whipped the Army Team to a fair you well shooting them!
The rebated bullet is not an inferior design; just a little more finer tooling requirement is needed!
The rebated bullet is not an inferior design; just a little more finer tooling requirement is needed!
