In my experience, the shape of the front end ofa bullet makes a lot more difference, at least at normal hunting ranges, than the base. A pointed tip really increases the ballistic coefficient, while a boat tail increases it only a little. Main advantage of the boat tail seems to occur far down range - at sub sonic velocities.

That may be because you don't have a bullet to try where the "front" (nose) has less taper than the back.

First of all lets get it straight that fluids consist of both gasses and liquids, (air is a fluid as is water). secondly, a pointed nose is always going to have an aerodynamic advantage over that of a flat nosed bullet OF EQUAL LENGTH and DIAMETER. Suprisingly, bullet LENGTH is usually the biggest deturrent to an efficient BC. A longer bullet creates larger amounts of drag. That is where the boat-tail comes along, (usually bullets of a higher weight for that particular calibur). They cheat the length down if you will, by tapering it at the end hence reducing drag allowing for a better BC. One other thought to mention is that turbulance is not always a bad thing. A golf ball for instance, those dimples are there for good reason, turbulance! Buy disturbing the air flow around the ball it effectivly becomes more aerodynamic. a golf ball w/o dimples would drive HALF as far, no lie.

ReDot,

For the sake of discussion only, I wantto challenge a couple of things.

"a pointed nose is always going to have an aerodynamic advantage over that of a flat nosed bullet OF EQUAL LENGTH and DIAMETER."

If two bullets are of the same diameter, how can you make one more "pointed" without making it longer, unless you sacrifice mass. If you sacrifice mass, then your advantage gained may have nothing to do with aerodynamics.

"bullet LENGTH is usually the biggest deturrent to an efficient BC. A longer bullet creates larger amounts of drag."

Not if you vary diameter. Would you rather have the BC of a roundball, or take the same mass and reshape it?

"That is where the boat-tail comes along, (usually bullets of a higher weight for that particular calibur). They cheat the length down if you will, by tapering it at the end hence reducing drag allowing for a better BC."

You are getting closer, but if you curve the edge of a cylinder without altering the mass,I think you have tolengthenan edge. The advantage is in the departure of air behind the bullet; longer and cleaner.

In the golf ball example, the dimples work because they shift turbulance from behind the ball to the front and sides, in effect "lengthening" the aerodynamic shape of the ball, reducing the vacuum behind the ball.

What I have suggested is that the trailing edge of a bullet is more important than the leading edge. The leading edge is important as well. If you allow diameter to change, lengthening and tapering the front and back, the back more so than the front, your BC would skyrocket. Torpedoes are shaped the way they are for a reason. Bullets are too. But with bullets, there are manufacturing processes, established norms, appearance, buyers' preferences all entering the equation. The little yellow polymer plug in the nose of a PB has no measurable affect on performance, but it's there.

Your thought?

Yes i do agree in some respects, as far as the boat tails, their main advantage is sub sonic speeds i beleive (long shots), they hold stability better. as far as the golf ball, basically there are two types of fluid flow, laminar and turbulant, laminar flowhavin the least coefficient of drag of the two BUT it separated easily from the projectile creating GREATER drag. turbulant flow (golf ball dimples) has more drag to start out with but it better adhears so to speak to the ball. i agree with youon the trailing edge. and as for the polymer tips, they look pretty and thats what people buy i guess. on low velocity muzzle loading bullets the make little differance out to 150yards,