Keith bullets, flat nosed or not flat

[J Miller]

I have been shooting Keith "type" bullets for many years now and have recently noticed a slight nose design change.

Here are some examples:

My own 70s vintage Lyman 454424 casts bullets with a dead flat nose.
Bullets I've bought cast from the RCBS 45-255-SWC mould cast a dead flat nose.
Beartooth 265gr Keiths have dead flat nose.
Black Rivers 255gr Keiths, cast from a newer Lyman 452424 mould have flat noses.
Leadheads 270gr Keith has a flat nose
Another casters Ohaus 45222K 268gr mould casts a flat nosed bullet.

However;
The Lee 454-252 SWC (older version) has a slightly convex nose.
Black Rivers 265gr Keith has a slightly convex nose,
Some of Dry Creeks bullets were flat, and some had a convex nose.
The 6 cavity Lee copy of the Lyman 452374 mould has convex noses.


OK, enough examples.

Personally I prefer the dead flat nosed bullets for two reasons.
A> ( I say this from my own experiences loading them.) The flat noses help the seater punch in seating the bullets straight.
B> The flat noses look better to me.

BUT .... when it comes right down to the nitty gritty, does it make any difference in the way the bullet works on real live game animals?

I can't say from experience, as the only game animal I killed with a Keith bullet was a javalina some 20+ years ago. That was IIRC with a Lyman 358429 bullet out of my Mdl 28.

So could anybody with hunting experience that's used these slightly convex nosed Keiths on game please comment?

Thanks,
Joe

[jtaylor1960]

I believe the bullets with the convexed nose are true to the Keith design.Most more modern molds some of which are called Keith type have a straight sided nose.It is said the convexed nose bullets tend to be more accurate.If I had my choice I would take the straight sides with a wider meplat providing the bullets shoot well.Good luck! Jeff Taylor.

[44man]

It makes no difference on game at all.

[fatnhappy]

I believe, and I'm sure someone will have a slightly different take on the matter, what you're seeing isn't so much a design difference as a manufacturing/production difference.

Lee and several others lathe bore their mould cavities. The convex meplats that I've seen have simply been nose draft, the most conspicous of which was a 3' draft on the WFN group buy .44 we did, which was definately not part of the spec sheet.


http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/lhsjfk3t/270373-big.jpg




I haven't seen nose draft on cherried moulds, not that I think it matters. With all the minutia we casters agonize over, it's a wonder we kill any deer. [smilie=1:

[45 2.1]

Well, someone has noticed. LEE gets "creative" on several things we have sent in, including nose draft on the above mold and at least one other that was sent in. Nose draft is supposedly to help it drop out easier, something that I have yet to see be effective. LEE is not the only mold maker that uses this at times either. A solution to a none existant problem in my opinion.

[opcon4]

isn't the lyman 429421 a keith style?