Which plain base NOE mold for 30-06 plinking/100 yards?

[1longshot]

Just ordered the 311041 but not sure if that was the best choice.

thanks for any feedback.

[reddog81]

I have the 311-155 FN and 311-180 K31 FN, but I've only recently started reloading and shooting for .30-06. I've been happy with both of these in my rebarreled 1903. I'll be watching others responses to see what they say.

What are you shooting? That might help others give the best answers.

[longbow]

Depends on what you goals are. A lighter boolit will save a bit of lead but that's about it.

I used to load the 31141 for my .308 and it shot very well for me and a friend who used my reloads. It is an all round good .30 cal. boolit from what I have read. It was originally designed for .30-30 but works well in other .30 cal.s too. Mine was the Lyman and with GC shank which did not work for me without GC! However, once I put gas checks on it shot extremely well.

Keep your velocities down and I am sure you will be happy with that boolit and the NOE moulds are very good. Mine do like to be run hot though very much like brass moulds.

Longbow

[Baja_Traveler]

If all you are going to do is plink at 100 yards, then that mold will be just fine. You could have even gone with the 311008 @ 115 grains for plinking. Further out the 311299 would be better, and to really reach out there the 311356 works awesome.

[1longshot]

At this time I will be shooting it out of a stainless m-70 alaskan with a 25 inch barrel. I have another 700 30-06 I am rebarreling to shoot cast for. I will probably need to start another thread to get reamer dimension suggestions. I don't have experience loading much cast as of yet, however I will be powder coating everything going forward.

thanks for the suggestions and please keep them coming!

[1longshot]

I was really debating getting the 311-180 K31 mold but after talking to Mr. Nelson at NOE decided not too. I would like to know how it turns out for you. He advised against bore riding bullets. Not sure why.

[1longshot]

The 311299 looks like a really good choice. I remember now why Mr Nelson said the bore riding bullets could cause issues, it was due to the fact that when the bore started getting dirty the shells would potentially need to be jammed into the chamber and possible cause a hard camming situation. Do any of you have any experience with this?

[reddog81]

I've literally only shot something like 20 to 30 of the K31 bullets out of my 1903. With that said I haven't had any problems. Mine are powder coated so they have an even larger diameter than a lubed bullet.

I imagine in some guns it could cause a problem and other guns will never run into an issue. I bought the mold because it was on sale and I have a K31 so I figured I needed it...

[Bigslug]

I can't tell you much about the plain base version, but the 311299 has been the "accuracy without effort" bullet across several guns. Became acquainted with it in both .311" and .314" versions shooting with a friend 18 months ago, and had good luck with the NOE version in a couple .30-06's of my own.

[Jon K]

Just ordered the 311041 but not sure if that was the best choice.

thanks for any feedback.

NOE 310 164 FN PB works good for a PB plinker and feeds good.
Many have listed some good moulds, but are GC.

Jon

[1longshot]

Well, I guess I might be crazy trying all these bullets without gas checks but I don't think they would be made in plain base if they didn't shoot at some velocity. I intend to find out! I have some experimenting to do. I just ordered a 5 banger aluminum 311299 311 dia from NOE as well. Wish they would have had a brass one! I ordered the 311141 in a brass 4 banger. Now I need to get an alloy together. I need to find someone with an XRF gun to figure out the composition my alloys currently on hand.

[Outpost75]

In a 10" twist barrel the #311299 is stable subsonic with 7 grains of Bullseye in the .30-'06 with no gascheck and is accurate to 200 yards, as good as or better than Ball ammo from my 03 Springfield, US M1917, Winchester 54 or Model 70 Winchester.

[1longshot]

I'll keep that load in mind, thank you. I am pretty certain the model 70 is a ten twist.

[1johnlb]

Hard to beat a good fitting 311299. It's one of the more popular styles.

[longbow]

If you decide to go with the 311299 PB it should be a good boolit. I have the 316299 GC for my .303's and it shoots very well (same design as 311299, just fatter). However, being lazy and cheap, I don't like using gas checks unless I have to so I have gone to mostly PB boolit shooting in the .303's with good success.

I made a push out mould like the old Ideal Cylindrical moulds and based it on the 311299/316299. It is a PB design at 215 grs. and so far has actually produced better accuracy than the 316299 GC boolit with GC. On that note, I have shot several GC designs without GC and results were poor to miserable. This was with moderate loads. Possibly with very light loads they may have done better.

I certainly have not had any issues with nose bore rider designs being hard to chamber after shooting a few rounds. You would have to be using a very dirty powder to run into problems that way in my opinion.

My current plinker and fun boolit is the Mihec 316410 HP which is also plain base. I load that over 22 grs. IMR4227 though I use COW + graphite filler under that one. It is quite accurate and blows up water jugs with authority.

If you haven't seen it you might take a read through this link:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...Rifles-Article

There are some good load and boolit suggestions there.

Longbow

[bullseye67]

Good evening, I have been using a LEE 170 FN that I milled the gas check out of the mold. I use 5lbsCOWW/5lbsPure and a bit of tin, if needed to get fill out. Tumble lube in either 45/45/10 from white label or my own TL 65% Lee alox/35% Mothers soft squeeze wax and then add mineral spirits to blend and liquify. No sizing, just cast, lube, load and shoot. I have a bunch of WW540(HS6) so I have been using 8.5gr. So far it makes for some cheap easy shooting. The picture is from my Savage 30/06 at 100 yards. At 50 yards they were one ragged hole. Cost minimal...smiles priceless

[Jeff Michel]

Saeco 315, NOE offers a clone either plain base or gas checked.

[Maven]

Saeco 315, NOE offers a clone either plain base or gas checked.

My experience with Saeco #315 in my '06, both gas checked and "naked," supports what Jeff wrote!

[1longshot]

Thank you to everyone who has replied, your advice has been most generous. This is a great forum. I will update as things progress!