I have two lever action Marlins and am looking for some guidance about bullet noses appropriate for the tubular magazines. I understand that in general you use a flat nosed bullet so the point will not strike the primer of the cartridge ahead of it in the magazine but “how flat” does the bullet actually need to be.
For instance one of the rifles is a Model 36 in 30-30 and I have a couple of 30 caliber cast bullet designs I'd like to try in it. These have a small flat nose that isn't larger than the primer diameter and would still rest on the primer rather than the rear of the case. Of course I can load two at a time and not have any problem with even a pointed bullet but wonder just how big the flat nose diameter should be for safe operation. For instance if the diameter of the flat is about the same as the primer would that be unlikely to cause it to fire?
The other rifle is a .357 mag model 94 carbine and I have a H&G RN bullet I'd like to use but again I don't know about the safety of RN lead bullets in tubular magazines.
I used the search function to look for comments about this topic on the forum but really didn't find any direct answer nor can I find any mention of it in other reference books I've checked.
With all the knowledgeable shooters hanging around this forum, I figured I could get an answer here (or at least some good opinions).