RE: BT vs not
The ballistic advantage of a bullet with a very pointed nose is considerably greater than a bullet with a boat tail - at least at velocities above the speed of sound. I like the boat tails because they start easier when seating - and they do offer a slightly higherballistic coefficient.
The folks at Sierra also claim that their flat base line of bullets (Pro Hunter) have less expansion and greater penetration than their boat tail bullets (Gameking).