The boat tail is a fancied attempt to make a bullet tapered in the back like a displacement (slow) boat, or the tail of an airplane. Putting that rebate on the back changes the front of the bullet. A taper on the back of a bullet is rarely put on perfectly straight. Some of our preference for a simple flat base has to do with the secondary step that must be taken when the so-called boat tail is added. Think of the core as being made of Jello and it will be easier to understand. Indeed, if the forward part of the lead core is too thin and not supported by the bullet jacket it too will flatten out under supersonic acceleration forces during the first inch or two of travel. If the base is not flat the sides will not be supported by the barrel, and will often mash crooked. Some of the accuracy increase or decrease with subsonic bullets has to do with the way a powder charge obturates or mashes the base of a bullet forward. Jacketed bullets are usually more accurate than cast bullets. A sharply pointed bullet does not make for effective subsonic animal control unless it has its tip filed to a 45 degree angle, so it will dive and go sideways like a spoon nose. A soft lead bullet deforms upon entering flesh and tends to be effective at relatively close range. Our research tells us that the most effective bullets will have flat noses and bases, with just enough roundness on the front and rear corners to allow them to be shoved into cases and fed into chambers. With regard to a flat nosed bullet, drive a piece of 1/2' diameter water pipe through a wooden two-by-four with a hammer, and you'll see what we are getting at with regard to damage resulting from such a shape.

When someone pulls together an intensive body of research that leads to an obvious conclusion, we believe them. Fackler's experimentation tells us that this most effective shape will be a flat nose. A subsonic bullet will not expand to a significant extent thus it should have a shape that will do the most damage before it leaves the barrel. A properly constructed supersonic bullet moving at Mach 3 or 4 has the power, speed and centrifugal energy to easily upset on contact with a live target, expanding and delivering most of its energy in the process. It takes a lot of energy to break the sound barrier on a continuous basis. Supersonic bullets should be sharply pointed, with a smooth, streamlined shape that will slip easily through the air because the frictional drag on supersonic bullets is roughly four times that which pulls on a subsonic bullet. There is a big difference between high-speed, supersonic bullets, and low-speed, subsonic bullets. Regardless of what they hit on the way through, they continued on a straight and very deep path. The African hunters of old used solid bullets with noses shaped like a hemisphere (ball end), and these were the most stable of all the possible shapes. Flat-nosed bullets with flat bases (a true cylinder) are most effective. 223 THAT WILL BE EFFECTIVE ON LIVE ANIMALS, ANOTHER OPTION IS TO CAST AND LOAD YOUR OWN BULLETS. 223 round if you are shooting a bolt-action or another manually cycled weapon – like the newer pump and bolt-action AR15 uppers that are coming out on the market lately. Don’t waste your money on a self-cycling. Since they use less than 5 grains of propellant, they tend to be very quiet in a suppressed firearm. They are also easy to build for the home reloader. They are available from a number of suppliers at reasonable cost. Subsonic rounds that will not cycle the M16 action are fairly common. 223 bullets need a 7' twist in order to stabilize, and WILL NOT WORK with a 12' twist. They will print better and do more damage upon striking. If accuracy is a problem with a slow twist, simply turn the bullets around and shoot them backwards.

Pricing for subsonic and high velocity ammunition that deforms substantially on striking tissue is greater, as the bullets for these rounds are custom built. 223 rounds are available, but they offer little over the. Also includes some Hornet information too) (Probably a little dated as it does not mention ballistic tip bullets. Subsonic and reduced 223 reloads – with discussion on effectiveness and focus on use with suppressors

Will subsonic 223 cycle