Boatails need to be bonded or all copper, as the cup and core boatails experienced lead core and jacket separation, causing bullet fragmentation and a potential loss of penetration....like some popular brands. The flat base has a tendency to stay together better as the angle in the boattail tends to eject its lead core and fragment. So under 300 yards a flat base of conventional design would be better over the boatails. Boatails would have an advantage in ballistics past 300 yards and may have slowed enough to stop core separation. Boatails are a relatively new bullet technology for shooters, except in the military. Millions of Buffalo and most big game on the lower 48 were killed and almost all wiped out...with round nose lead bullets...and some at long range... an Indian chief shot off his horse at 1500 yds, by a Buffalo hunter. The winchester 44-40, 45-70, 45 Colt, and the 30-30 all round nose, did the job on everthing that walks in the lower 48. I saw an old Win. Octagon 26" 30-30 that killed more elk than any hunter with boattail bullets. But these old calibers wouldn't be my first choice...usually but there is something about blue steel, walnut, and old calibers...and open sights. No range finders or scopes. Eskimos used the 30-30 and .222 Rem in the old days to kill everything.
Used the. 222 on Polar bears, run the bear hard when it gets tired put two .222 bullets 1in each of the lungs and wait for it to bleed to death. Subsistence hunting for meat and furs, isn't about Sportsmanship, or sport, it's about killing in the cheapest most expedient way possible...no magnums, no boatails, no copper bullets, no scopes. Just a gun, some cartridges, and a knife you're ready. A reminder of simpler times, when hunting was required to eat..more of a skill then a person with the latest new super max cartridge and 2 mile rifle, backed by the latest ballistics programs and electronic equipment, and cell phones. Are we hunting or is it just an electronic shooting a game?