Which NOE expander plug?

I'm a little confused with the ID system for the different NOE explander plugs. I'm looking for something to use with my .30 cal. boolits that I size to .309. Do I need the plug that is .309x.305 or the one that is .313x.309?

There is a "Step" in the NOE plugs. The larger number is the bigger step that opens the "mouth" of the case.
It is at the "top" or closest to the threaded part that holds it in the die. The other smaller number is the size the "body" of the case is expanded to accept the boolit/bullet.

So, in the example you gave, the .313 is the "mouth" inside diameter of the case to "flare" the case to start the boolit/bullet & the .309 is the size the inside diameter of the case will be to push the boolit/bullet into the case without further expansion of the case or "swaging" the boolit/bullet down smaller than ya like.

I hope I explained that clearly enough. At least, I tried.
:)

G'Luck!
:)

As explained the 313 (first number) is the mouth flare, the 309 (second number) is the case neck size that will control the neck tension (grip) on the bullet and avoid insertion into case squishing the lead bullet down. Most sizing dies size to fit a copper jacketed bullet and that tighter neck won't resize the bullet jacketed bullet from the pressure.

NOE suggest size .001 over bullet size. You size to .309 you would want a .310 for the second number based on that information.
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...oducts_id=1118

The .313 first number of that plug is saying the very start of the neck will be big enough to guide and center the bullet without scraping the mouth, and the .310 second number will be a snug slip fit on the bullet. The crimp should then control release pressure, which should be more consistent if all the bullets are still .309 and have consistent neck tension from the .310 expander plug.

Thanks guys, that cleared things right up

I actually prefer an thousandth under bullet diameter - especially for autoloading hand gun, since you can do virtually nothing to control purchase on a bullet with the taper crimp die. But your example is for rifle. I don't crimp bolt rifle, so my choice would be to select a plug with a .308" diameter for the second dimension. There will be a slight bit of brass spring back, so just a hair under bullet diameter for a tension fit and good bullet pull.

There. A couple of different opinions about size. Truly, his expander plugs are so reasonably priced that a couple different sizes are worth grabbing for the sake of experimenting.

Ok, so I tried out a .310" expander and I was running into an issue where I could push my boolits down into the case by hand, all the way to the point where they fell in and I had to do some creative bullet pulling to get them out. I'm going to try a .308" expander next and see if that helps. Looks like Lyman makes their M dies to expand slightly under bullet size and I like the way my M die works for my 300 Blk, so maybe this will be the ticket

I typically run a softer alloy and like my expanders to be at boolit diameter or approximately 0.0005" under diameter. As you found out, anything over boolit diameter will not have enough neck tension. Too tight will size down the boolits or stretch the brass to about 0.005-0.0015" under boolit diameter anyway.

I would like the smaller diameter to be a little longer for some heavy for caliber boolits.

Looks like the .308" plugs will do the trick. Loaded up some dummy 7.5 Swiss last night to test it out, and they seated with steady, firm pressure, didn't fall into the case and didn't swage the boolits down.