[Jeff Higgins]

As a life long bullet caster, I always thought I would pick up some Corbin bullet swaging equipment and try making my own jacketed bullets as well. Corbin has a great reputation for quality equipment. It's kind of the ultimate playground for the reloading tinkerer.

Then I actually had the chance to use one of their bullet swages that a shooting acquaintence owned. I found out it's just not for me. It's a lot of work, and you can buy far better bullets than you can make, at least as far as jacketed bullets (cast is a different story). They just don't shoot as well as off the shelf commercial jacketed bullets.

My gun club has a very active competetive benchrest community. I'm acquaintences with many of them. Not a single one of them would consider competing with bullets made on Corbin equipment. Neither would the highpower competitors I used to hang out with. The bullets are simply not accurate enough. The jackets are not concentric enough, and other issues that keep them from shooting with the Sierras, Bergers, and the like.

Maybe the rebated boat tail is an inherently better design. Maybe it is far more difficult to make a good one, negating that advantage. It is certainly more difficult, if not impossible, to make even a standard flat base bullet with Corbin equipment that will shoot as well as off the shelf bullets. So you are at a disadvantage right there. Then the rebated base adds another variable to control.

The rebated boat tail is really nothing new. They have come and gone over the years, with apparently no real advantage that made it worth anyone's while to continue making them. Maybe one of the larger manufacturers, or even one of the small "boutique" manufacturers, that already makes accurate bullets, will give rebated boat tails a go some day again. I kind of doubt it. I think they have already established they are not worth the effort.