Lyman 457132

[Kurt]

John I have not seen sharps grooved bullets or loaded rounds with a grooved bullet, yes they used them but I have never seen one other then just a drawing of them. Ballard and Maynard were common with grooved bullets and some looked like the drawing of the 436 that Tom made but with more grooves. All of the original Sharps bullets I have seen and I had duplicated have a ogive similar to the grooved #2 bullet in your picture and what I use.

One of the things I would change on the 436 bullet is shorten up the ogive, I feel that it's to long for the shank mainly for a slow ROT. That is the reason a faster twist is a better option for the long money bullet noses. For a 18 ROT I don't like a ogive as long as the base.
That 436 might be fine for a smokeless load that gets pushed faster then a BP load can.

Looking at the dimensions of the 121 bullet even with the low BC estimated I can see why it shoots so well even at long range.
I would keep the nose of that 436 the same as the 121.