Ogival Flat Point (OF) A good all-around design. The ogive may help to guide the bullet into the rifling, often producing better accuracy than square-shouldered bullets like the Keith. Be aware that some guns, and lever actions, in particular, have a throat that is too short to chamber a full diameter Ogival Flat Point.
Bore Riding Flat Point (BRF) The bore riding section allows long bullets to chamber in guns with short throats, plus it provides some support for the nose of the bullet. The bad news is that the bore riding section cannot be sized (unless you have very special nose dies), so if the as-cast diameter is too big the bullet may not chamber, or if the as-cast diameter is too small then the accuracy may suffer. The bore riding design can also be applied to revolver bullets, especially in revolvers that have steep forcing cone angles. The bore rider may help to guide the bullet into the barrel. In the Smith and Wesson 500 revolver, the bore riding design allows bullet noses as long as 0.700″ to chamber reliably.
Original Keith (K) This bullet follows’s Elmer’s rules closely, excepting the grease grooves have a 55° angle instead of being perfectly square (I tried making perfectly square grooves but the bullets didn’t want to fall out of the mold). To tell you the truth, the Keith design has seldom shot well in my guns, but some people do have good luck with it, or just want a true Keith bullet for nostalgic reasons. The groove diameter is 85% of the bullet diameter. The standard Keith crimp groove is 0.050″ long, while the XL Keith crimp groove is 0.070″ long.
Sensible Keith (SK) Similar to the Original Keith except the groove diameter is 89% of the band diameter, rather than 85%. This helps the bullet to drop out of the mold easier.
Semi Wadcutter (SWC) For those who want a semi-wadcutter that is easier to cast than the Keith bullet. Usually, the SWC is not as accurate as an ogival flat point, but some guns do shoot them quite well.
Bore Riding Truncated Cone (BTC) and Truncated Cone (TC) Requested by shooters who have had good luck with the SSK bullet designs. The ogival bullets and the truncated cone bullets are much alike. Both can carry a lot of weight in the nose and both may help guide the bullet into the rifling, though the ogive has a slight advantage in both departments.
Whitworth (W) From the computer’s point of view, the Whitworth is just a special kind of SWC. The traditional Whitworth is long and heavy for the caliber, with lots of little bands and grooves (note that Elmer Keith frowned on little bands and grooves, yet Whitworths tend to be good shooters). It has an ogival SWC nose. The grease groove diameter will be 89% of the bullet diameter. The only bad thing I can say about Whitworths is that they are not the easiest bullet to cast, especially with pure lead, because the molten lead has to zig-zag around all those grooves.
N-line Extreme Whitworth (NE) Similar to many commercially cast muzzleloader bullets, with shallow grease grooves, a long nose, and a modest metplat.