NOE Expander

[Todd S]

I am casting for 458 socom. I am sizing my boolits to .459. Should the expander plug be larger or smaller than .459? I thought i needed to be undersized for the neck, to allow for proper neck tension. I pulled a few boolits and they are being swaged down to .458. It could also be crimped too much.

[RedlegEd]

Hi Todd. This is from the NOE forums
(http://noebulletmoulds.com/smf/)
"Generally speaking expander plugs should be 2 thou over and 2 thou under bullet diameter, you want no more than 2 thou bullet retention."
"The plugs have 2 diameters. The bigger one is the flare. This needs to be bigger than what you're going to seat in there. The smaller one is what grips the bullet. This needs to be smaller than what you're seating but not so small it swages it excessively. Normally 1-2 thou of tension is enough."

I usually try to use expanders that are -0.001 under my sized bullet diameter. Hope this helps. Ed

[nun2kute]

I was loading a 470g FN cast GCPC'd boolit in my SOCOM and getting about 1" @ 100yds. I was aiming inside neck tension to .457" and just barely rolling the flare out of the brass. That sure was a fun gun, I need to get back to that one. The expander plug would have to be smaller or the boollit would be loose. You might provide more info. Have you shot any ? Is accuracy lousy ? It might help to understand "Why" your asking. What prompted you to pull a few ?

[Todd S]

I did shoot the rifle. I started with factory ammo. After getting it on paper at 50yds, I moved to 100yds. I was getting 3" groups at 100. I then started with my NOE HTC459-354-FN. Groups were larger at about 5" and I was having feeding and chambering issues. Grouping was all over the place after the first 5 rounds. I bought a Tromix chamber gauge. All rounds passed the plunk test with the Tromix. I think my BCA upper isn't the same dimension as Tromix(obvious to me now). I had one round that would not chamber and I could not eject it. The bolt was stuck. I had to mortar the rifle to get the shell to eject. First time I've ever had a round stuck like that. I decided I was done for the day. I pulled a few and found out that the boolit was swaged down. I was also trying to be cautious with COAL, so I left it long. I cleaned the rifle and found a slight amount of leading. I believe the seating depth led to the chambering issues and swaging the boolit down lead to the leading.

[JBinMN]

Here are the NOE Expander plugs:

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=565_88&products_id=1521

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=565_88&products_id=1523&osCsid=bi927njmoql90tiena1smasm90

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=565_88&products_id=2803&osCsid=bi927njmoql90tiena1smasm90

First (larger) number is the flare of the case mouth, Second (smaller) number is the case/neck size. The way I understand it & how it works for me is that you go with the second number and add 0.001", to 0.002" to it to see what boolit works.

With a .461X.457 the .461 is the flare & the .457 is the expander(case/neck) size.

IOW, with your .459 you could either start with the first plug with the 2nd number of .461X.457 listed above which is 0.002" below your .459, or the 2nd one, which would be the .462X.458 which would make neck tension at 0.001" below your desired .459".

There are two smaller plugs listed for that rifle caliber & they are .459X.455 & .460X.456 , but I think they be too small for your use with that sized boolit.

Without going into more detail, the sizes listed at the top would be the ones I suggest you get so you have a bit of "leeway" once you have the plugs & can check each one to the boolits being used. The cost of sending for another plug plus the shipping is not really cost effective, but you can buy one at a time or just get one & then find out you need a different one & pay shipping again if you like... LOL
;)

If ya just want one plug alone, you just have to decide what neck tension ya want, 0.001' or 0.002" & then choose.

G'Luck!
:)

P.S. - I see that RedLegEd posted directly from the website while I was typing & gathering links, I, like RedLegEd, want some at .001 & some at .002, so I suggested both. Like I said above. "Now you have to decide for yourself", and also like I said, I suggest at least the 3 above. Your wallet , Your choice on what to buy...
Once again, G'Luck!
:)

[Todd S]

Thanks to all for the great info! I have the expanders on order as we speak. Might as well pick up a few extra sizing bushings while I'm ordering.