New NOE 360-310 FN "The 35 Thumper"

[Yodogsandman]

Here's my first range report for the new NOE 360-310 FN "35 Thumper" from the recent group buy. These groups were shot in my VZ-24 Mauser, 35 Whelen with a 22" barrel, 1 in 12 twist at 100 yards. The scope used was an old, heavily scarred Bushnel Banner 3x9x40. Shot 5 rounds then waited for the barrel to cool down and shot 5 more for each group. Conditions were 55*F sunny and breezy with 15 MPH gusts. I thought the heft of this bullet would buck the wind good.

Bullets were cast from COWW's and about 2% Sn, oven heat treated at 430*F for an hour and quenched in ice cold water (with ice). As cast weight was 308gr. The bands measured .360" and the nose tapered from .349" to .352" per the NOE drawing. They were sized at .360" dry to seat Hornady GC's and then were coated with three coats of Ben's Liquid Lube. I waited five days for them to age harden after HT before shooting.

I did no special case preparation, just full length resized. Used Win 30-06 brass resized to 35 Whelen. Case lengths ran from 2.465" to 2.477", didn't bother to even trim them to even them up. They were shot 22 times prior without annealing and had been trimmed back once just to even them up. It really is time to do it again.

Starting load was 48.0gr IMR4831 over WLR primers at an O.A.L. of 3.380".

Then went to 49.0gr IMR4831.

Future loads will increase in one grain increments. I plan to try three different powders, IMR4831, IMR4350 and H414 (using magnum primers).

One major mistake in my calculations, though. My magazine box will only allow a C.O.A.L. of 3.200", I loaded these to 3.380" with no regard to that and had to load them one at a time. I found out they were too long at the range! Will try a length that will fit next time.

[Love Life]

Nice!

[35 shooter]

Great start. On the 49 grain load what did the 7 that are clumped together measure?
I know your going to keep moving up on the charge, but i'd try that 49 gr. load again when you shorten the seating depth to match your magazine.

Looks like you came up with a very good design on that boolit to me!

[Yodogsandman]

Great start. On the 49 grain load what did the 7 that are clumped together measure?
I know your going to keep moving up on the charge, but i'd try that 49 gr. load again when you shorten the seating depth to match your magazine.


Looks like you came up with a very good design on that boolit to me!

0.815" center to center without those outer, bottom 3 shots.

I can't take much credit for the design! My contribution was just an idea that Al "Swede" Nelson at NOE could take the old NEI 358-282 GC, make it fit in my gun and it would shoot great. Many others offered suggestions that made it shoot even better! Thanks guys! Al did all the drawings and really made a great mold! Thank you Al!

[35 shooter]

A seating depth of 3.2" will still be touching the rifling on that boolit?
And yep i'm curious about this boolit lol!

[Yodogsandman]

A seating depth of 3.2" will still be touching the rifling on that boolit?
And yep i'm curious about this boolit lol!

Yes, at 3.200" C.O.A.L. it just barely starts to engrave on the nose maybe .010".

[Blackwater]

Dang it, Yodog! I've got 2 .35's now, and only have 2 200 gr. moulds, and you've got me wanting one! This is gonna' cost me MONEY, and right here at TAX TIME, too! I knew better than to click on this thread, but I didn't do better, so it's MY fault I know, but we live in modern times, and it ain't fashionable to take the blame myself, so I'm blaming YOU for this! HAR!

Seriously, thanks for the report. That would make a great load down here in the swamps if we ever get inundated by lions and tigers and bears. Might even kill a whitetail, too. Keep us posted. My 2 .35's are a Whelen AI and I'm to pick up my .35/.303 Imp. tomorrow, and both might make good use of that bullet. What is the twist rate on your barrel?

[Yodogsandman]

1 in 12 twist. This boolit will be stabilized at 1800 FPS in a barrel twist as slow as 1 in 16.

[Yodogsandman]

This is my second range report. Trimmed the cases to 2.466" just to square them off and make them all the same length. Changed the C.O.A.L. to fit my magazine. I was able to seat them to 3.250". Powder charges were increased to 50.0gr and 51.0gr of IMR4831. The barrel was not cleaned before shooting these or the last groups. Unburned kernels of powder were left there with no attempt to even use a dry patch between range trips or groups.

[35 shooter]

Yodog that boolit is wanting to shoot no matter what the powder charge is so far. Seems to be getting better the hotter you go so far...NICE!!

[Yodogsandman]

With the 3 day Columbus Day weekend, I was able to get another range trip in (trip #3). The only change was increasing the powder charges to 52.0gr and 53.0gr IMR 4831.

I can't explain the bottom flyer on the first target (52.0gr) other than it felt like something moved on the front rest as the shot broke. That shot opened the group up to 2.405". This was the first shot of the second volley of 5 shots with a cold barrel and I had slid the rifle back and forth in the bags before this shot.

The second target shows horizontal stringing. It could be good omen or bad....

[nockhunter]

Looks like somewhere between 51g and 52g is the sweet spot.

Mike

[Yodogsandman]

Range report #4. I brought my chronograph but, didn't bother to set it up because of the strong winds. I increased the powder charges to 54.0gr and 55.0gr IMR 4831. Cheating a little bit, I weighed bullets to +/- 0.5gr before giving them 3 coats of BLL. About one in five was either above or below the mean weight of 313.5gr with GC's installed Cases used for the 55.0gr load were not trimmed like the others and ran from 2.472"-2.483". I'll trim them before loading those up again.
.
Winds were strong and gusty today from 10-20 MPH. I had to use two 1 1/2" roofing nails, top and bottom, to hold the targets down and that wasn't enough at times. The bull pines were even swaying! The first target blew down after the first volley of 5 rounds and when I set it back up, got it upside down without noticing. I shot at it without changing it anyway because of the other shooters and it's already large size group. By the end, the 55.0gr target lost the bottom roofing nail and I had to shoot when it wasn't flapping. Notice that at 53.0gr the group was enlarged and mostly horizontal and at 54.0gr it was enlarged and almost vertical. 55.0gr seemed to want to go back together in a tight group but, with this wind, who knows. I still have room in the case for one or two more grains of IMR4831 powder. No pressure signs at all but, I noticed that the case mouths are no longer as sooty as before.

The 54.0gr groups, when put together would probably be about 4". The 55.0gr group was 2.490".

Looks like it's time to adjust the scope setting, the next groups could fall off the target.

[35 shooter]

Not bad results at all on the 55 gr. load considering the up to 20 mph winds. I'd try that one again on a better day for sure.

[Yodogsandman]

Range report #5. Increased the powder to 56.0gr IMR4831 and changed O.A.L.'s to "tune" barrel harmonics using the bullet jump in the barrel. So, shot 5 rounds of 56.0gr loads with O.A.L.'s from 3.230" down to 3.200" in .010" increments.

Conditions today were just a little better than last week. 54*F, cloudy, 10 MPH winds with 15 MPH gusts. This was after the end of a storm that came through last night. When I uncased my rifles at the range, they immediately became covered with condensation.

The edges of the fired primers are still very rounded but, noticed that they have changed and look a little more flattened. There was barely any movement of powder kernels with 56.0gr when the O.A.L. used was 3.200", when shaking the finished round next to my ear.

I hooked up the chronograph today and velocities are not as fast as I thought. This is for the 10 shot string using 56.0gr IMR4831 at 3.240" O.A.L. ....

Av Velocity....2041 FPS
ES................40
SD................11

Here is the photo from the first 56.0gr IMR4831, 10 shot group (2.745") at 100 yards with an O.A.L. of 3.240". The next is a 5 shot 100 yard group (1.020") with an O.A.L. of 3.200". I didn't bother with photos of the 3.230", 3.220" or 3.210" O.A.L.'s because there was nothing special about them.

3.230".....2.090" group
3.220".....2.515" group
3.210".....2.790" group

[35 shooter]

Looking good for sure!! Gonna try that 51 gr. load again at that seating depth too along with the 56 gr.?

[Yodogsandman]

Thanks for the encouragement, 35 shooter! Hmm, probably try .005" on either side of and the 3.200" O.A.L. again with 10 shot groups.

My target velocity was 2300 FPS so, thinking about which powder to try next. Will probably try W760 or H414 with magnum primers. Magnum primers are normally recommended for igniting cases full of ball powders in colder climates. I like being able to meter the charges too, instead of weighing each one.

[35 shooter]

Looking forward to the results with the ball powder. Sure is working out to be a really good boolit for the whelen.

I'll try to give it a go with some imr 4350 soon in mine.

[35 shooter]

Okay ...made a dummy round up just a few minutes ago. Kept seating deeper till i had about 1/16" land engagement on the nose. I wound up with a overall length of 3.200" and just shy of the top end of the crimp groove....should be about perfect!! Still have room to seat deeper and keep the check in the neck if need be.

We're rained out here for a few days, but i'll get some loaded and ready with imr4350.

I must admit it is an impressive looking round seated in a whelen case!

[Yodogsandman]

Glad to hear that it fits your chamber and throat so well, too. I hoped it would fit any modern SAAMI 35 Whelen chambers real good. The older wildcat 35 Whelen rifles were all over the place chamber wise and there's just no way to fit them all.

FWIW, penetration on game should be great, sectional density is .342, the same as a .457" 500gr bullet.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/resc...bw=310&bd=.360