Westerner,

I do not have empirical evidence that the nose was slumping.  One range that I shoot at has a very sandy soil and I retrieved several bullets with bent noses.  Before anyone informs me that such a find is inconclusive, I will readily concede that point.  The bent noses were probably caused by the bullet impacting the sandy soil.  The unsuported nose of that bullet is .740" long and logic tells me such a long, unsuported nose in a soft bullet must do something as a result of ignition forces.  The problem of poor accuracy went away with the change to a harder alloy.

boats,

Perhaps a non-bore riding nose is not the standard for cast bullets.  I had the barrel cut by a long time barrel maker with five lands and grooves.  When initially discussing the barrel, he informed me that because I wanted a barrel that had an odd number of lands and grooves, it would not shoot a bore riding bullet accurately.  Since he was the "expert", I believed him and ordered a custom mould with an undersize nose.  The barrel handles bullets of a soft alloy having a traditional nose that is not a bore rider very accurately.  However, for that long unsuported nose a harder alloy is required.  Since it works, I can't see any reason to buy a custom mould that would have a bore riding nose just to prove a point.

feather

Ok I think I got it Joe the harder bullets provided better results in bench rest of which you have no interest in so you shoot softer alloys at lower velocities in offhand because you are not willing to add enough tin to win yet you would still like to place in the top of the list in the overall aggregate is that right or did I miss something?

J.Louis