.308 range time with the NOE 180 gr. Hunter

[35 shooter]

Finally got some after hunting season range time in today.
I was "gifted" some 180 gr. NOE 180 gr. Hunter boolits and gave them a try with 40, 41, and 42 gr. of imr 4350 in my .308.

I was shooting 4 shot groups just looking for the nodes to start with.
Right off the bat, i got a 1.277" @ 108 yds. with 40 gr., followed by a .898" at the same distance with the 41 gr. load.
42 gr. opened vertically to about 2", but i have plenty of powder room to move up with.

Looking forward to more range time with this one.

You did a fine casting job on these Ben...Thanks for letting me try them out.
Btw, the boolits all had 3 coats of BLL lube on them.

[Yodogsandman]

That's a great start! I like the way that boolit looks. Looks like it will wiggle it's way straight into the bore with a slow start powder.

I haven't used anything but BLL, for lube, for the past year. Just no need to, it works and so easy to use.

[35 shooter]

I agree 100% on the BLL lube....love it.

I just realized the 41 gr. load hit the same poi as the 40 gr. load. It looks like if i had fired all 8 shots at the same target, all 8 shots would have been in the 1.2" group with2 different charges.
Pretty stable in that 40 to 41 gr. range.

[tomme boy]

Which mold is this? I don't see 180 gr hunter. Only the 188gr Hunter

[35 shooter]

Which mold is this? I don't see 180 gr hunter. Only the 188gr Hunter

Your exactly right...it IS the NOE 188 Hunter.
Sorry for the confusion.

[tomme boy]

OK, thats the one I designed. It is made for the 308 throat.

[35 shooter]

OK, thats the one I designed. It is made for the 308 throat.

It's sure proving to be a good design. Those were the first two loads I fired with it. I'm going to try for some more speed with it.

[tomme boy]

Did you chrono them?

What twist in your barrel? We made this to shoot to about 2200 fps with the amount of bearing surface to nose length. For me anyway, it started to open up past 2250ish fps. I am not as picky as some people here sorting my bullets. As long as they were not deformed or had any wrinkles and all the corners were sharp, I just lubed and shot them.

I never played with any of the slower powders. I used mainly varget and H4895 and Imr4895.

[35 shooter]

12 twist. 2200 would be plenty, and no i haven't chronoed. I just started a smidge under minimum jacketed load info from a Lyman manual....so 2000 plus fps. maybe. My mauser won't feed wide meplat boolits, so this one was perfect for it. Feeds slick...i really like it.

[runfiverun]

Tomme has a real good handle on the 308 designs.
the 0-6 is super close with some minor differences so what usually does well in one does well in the other.

[tomme boy]

You should be able to push them faster than I was able to with the 12 twist. Easier anyway than I was able to. I had a custom barrel but it was a 10 twist. It shot pretty much everything fairly well. If I go this route again it will be with a 12 twist.

[35 shooter]

I probably won't get a chance to shoot again before the weekend, but i can't wait to try a few more hotter charges with the 4350.
Then i plan to take the most accurate of those loads and chrono them.

[35 shooter]

Had another range trip today with the 188 gr. hunter. I started a half gr. more than last trip and loaded 42.5 gr. of imr 4350 through 43.5 in half gr. increments.

42.5 and 43 gr. gave 2 and 3" groups with a good bit of vertical and 43.5 gr.
gave a buckshot pattern.
Looks like 40 to 41 gr. is the range my rifle likes with this bullet.

I did find a potential good load with the NOE 311299 bullet with 27 gr. of rl 7. 4 shots in 1.5" at 108 yds. today though.
Next time i'll re shoot those loads and chrono.

[Yodogsandman]

Could your 4 shot groups be lying to you?

[35 shooter]

Absolutely! I will go back and shoot the most accurate nodes with 5 and then 10 shot groups to see what actual accuracy is.

However, i'm confident it wasn't lying on the 2 to 3" groups as i moved up the powder charge, as they were all circular or vertical with no one shot even close to another.
I'll try the hotter loads again at a later date with some al. checks that have been annealed....makes a big difference with speed sometimes.

[tomme boy]

Are you using any dacron filler? Might help.

[35 shooter]

Tomme boy,

I didn't as i started with a pretty full case of the imr 4350 (85% or better case fill?).
43.5 gr. was right at the neck, but a drop tube would help in that regard, because if i tap the case, the powder settles a bit more.

I may be faster at 41 gr. than i thought, the chrono will tell though.
"Usually", i get about a 100 fps. faster with cast at a gr. less powder than what jacketed data shows with the the 4350 and close to 50 fps. gain with each gr. of additional powder in my 35 whelen and so far in the .308 win.

I DO know that my 165 gr. 30xcb boolit is running 2447 fps. @ 44.5 gr. of imr 4350. Almost 100 fps faster than what Lyman shows with a 165 gr. jacketed @ 45.5 gr.
I also know this 188 gr. hunter is a very accurate bullet regardless of what the speed turns out to be. I've seen a lot of good reports on it.

Lyman 49th edition shows a 190 jacketed hpbt @ 2101 fps. with 38.5 gr. of imr 4350 and i started at 40 gr. This 188 gr. boolit should burn the powder more efficiently than my lighter 165 gr. xcb, so i definitely may be faster than i thought i was.

[tomme boy]

Yes the added weight of the slug will be a benefit to make the powder burn right. I wasn't sure of the case fill as to why you were or were not using the dacron.

Don't be afraid to try the Hodgdon 4350 also. One is a hair faster than the other. I can not remember which one was though. On a 8x57mm I had built a few years back, it had a bull barrel on it. One of the 4350's would be 1.5 grs different in weight to get the same speeds and node for accuracy. I think the H version shot better. But a 243 I had liked the IMR so I had 8lb jugs of both.

[35 shooter]

Yeah, it's funny how one rifle will prefer one brand over another of the same powder.
I've got some h4350 too and a bit of aa4350 left.
My 35 whelen prefers imr and my brother's whelen likes the aa4350....go figure lol.

[35 shooter]

Tomme boy,

I did a search here tonight and found a report i had seen before, but forgotten about.

The report was with imr 4350 and the 311299. 12 twist .308 win.
41 gr. of imr 4350 @ 2282 fps. gave 2.5" 5 shot groups @ 200 yds.
42 gr. " " " @ 2340 fps. gave 2.4" 5 shot groups @ 200 yds.
HE DID USE A 1/4 GR. DACRON FILLER.

According to this i was faster @ 41 gr. than i thought, probably even without the dacron.
Even though i had good groups without the dacron, i will re shoot the 188 gr. hunter boolit from 40 to 42 gr. both with and without the filler and chrono them.

Also need to try it with my 311202 NOE boolit(311299 clone) as it liked 40.5 gr. of imr 4350 in the past...no filler. I've never chronoed that load either.