Boat Tails!!!

[lngstrt]

No no! Not the 'will boat tailed ammo destroy my barrel' question. Well, not really. Well maybe just a vague passing reference to it

Prvi Partizan ammo gets high grades on all of the forums. But its all boat tailed, isn't it? All I see listed says FMJBT or SPBT.

And it works well ... no?

How about Wolf Gold? Out of the same factory room. Is it BT as well?

Just looked at the empty boxes and ... yes, all the Wolf G is labeled BT.

Rats Now I gotta go back and read all the threads on Boat Tails again.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[gunner]

Why the problems with boat tails ? I never shot a other bullet than BT and after thousands of rounds out of all my rifles ( including all my milsurps )there will be no problem. The PRVI ammo is the one that i use in my M1917, and the bore is shiney and looks like new.

Regards

Gunner

[rayg]

Just repeating from what I've read on various sites regarding boat tail bullets and throat wear if I remember right. Apparently a boat tail bullet will not bump up into the rifling like a flat based bullet will and if the boat tail bullet is undersize vs the bore, there is hot gas blow by causing undo wear in the throat. Apparently it's not as big a problem now days with modern powders and from what I understand from the articles, if the bullet/bore fit is good, there no problem, Ray

[gunner]

rayg,

one of my comrades had once a problem with his long swede. He used only the original swedish ex military ammo and his bore became a look like it had dandruffs. The steel was destroyed and the experts said it came from the very hot ammo. Not from the bullets, they fitted exactly. So my opinion is similar to yours, the powder is the bigger type of trouble.

Regards

Gunner

[bradtx]

That's been my experiance with two and five groove barrels, Ray. I have also read that two groove barrels are more sensitive to a BTs.

Brad

[gunner]

I shoot two of the two grooves. Till now i have no problems. I give my older milsurps once a year for a check to my gunsmith and he said the last time ( February of this year ) they looking much better than the hunters rifles he become for service. Hope that they will stay long in this condition.

Regards

Gunner

[Brian Dick]

Let me put the boat tail thread to rest. I learned this first hand shooting a Mk.1 Vickers MMG. If your barrel has been broken in and fired extensively with cordite ammo, the hot burning cordite will erode the throat or leade making the use of boat tail Mk.8Z, (boat tail bullet, Nitrocellulose powder), bullets unstable. I had a barrel obviously shot quite a bit with Mk.7 and when I switched to Mk.8Z, the bullets were ALL key holing at 100 yards. I installed/packed a new barrel and broke it in with Mk.8Z and it shot perfectly. The point being that many LE service rifles have been shot extensively with cordite ammo and the flat base Mk.7 bullet is simply going to perform better than the Mk.8 because of the wear present in the throat/leade from cordite. If boat tail bullets are unstable, switch to flat base bullets and the performance will improve.

I've always had good performance from Sierra Pro-Hunter 180 grain soft points, (FB), as I have their 174 grain Match Kings, (BT). The extra expense of the Match Kings simply isn't warranted unless you're shooting an excellent to new condition barrel. Just my 2 cents so take it for what it's worth.

[Parashooter]

The basic problem with the anti-boattail faction is that the "blow-by gas cutting" theory of barrel erosion sounds logical but just isn't supported by the extensive tests made over the years by some respected organizations with the resources to fire thousands of rounds through many barrels under controlled conditions. These tests uniformly demonstrate that erosion primarily affects the lands. Grooves remain largely unaffected long after the lands are seriously eroded.

If gas cutting were a significant factor, we would see more erosion in the grooves and less in the lands where the bullet is in full and early contact. Doesn't happen!

The actual mechanism of barrel erosion is well known. Bullet friction and, especially, hot gases following the bullet heat the surface of the barrel interior, causing microscopic cracks and flaking. Subsequent shots carry away little bits of steel, primarily where stress is most pronounced - on the lands close to the chamber.

[fishb01@yahoo.com]

The Boattail shape is meant for the round to have better stability at longer ranges and shouldn't have an effect on the barreling. Its an aerodynamic thing.

[Edward Horton]

The British Mk.8z was a rebated boat tail design and it was designed and chosen by the British for a reason.





Corbin makes rebated bullet forming dies today for a reason.



Lapua rebated boat tail bullets are preferred by shooting experts for accuracy and loooong barrel life………………

Now go the the shooting range and fire a flat base bullet and a boat tail bullet made by the same manufacture, shoot them both and then recover the fired bullets from the shooting mounds.

Examine these recovered bullets with a high power magnifying glass, the flat base bullet will be a tight fit and seal around the entire base and a perfect fit of the bore. The boat tail bullet will be “pinched” or smaller at the very base compared to further up the bullet body.

The tapered section of the boat tail bullet has more surface area than the flat base of the boat tail, guess which way the base of the bullet is also being pushed besides “down the barrel”.



The rebated boat tail forms a much tighter seal at it base and seals the bore tightly.



American Politicians get paid by health insurance companies to be “anti-health care”

And gun writers get paid by bullet manufactures to write stories about boat tail bullets.

If a boat tail bullet does not fit the bore exactly you will have gas leakage, there is a reason why boat tail bullets shoot poorly in some barrels, where a flat base bullet shoots just fine.

When shooting pistol bullets and larger caliber rifle bullets you can actually see the once flat base of the bullet become concave or bowl shaped at its base as pressure distorted and pushed the base of the bullet outward to seal the bore.

You and I with a newly manufactured hunting rifle will probably never see a difference between a flat base bullet and a boat tail bullet and barrel wear. BUT, also remember the rebated boat tail bullet was designed for a reason and the British military used it for a reason.