Update on Ness boolit

[georgewxxx]

When I first mentioned having this mould several people wanted how it performed. When loaded and in the box, they realy look impressive(nasty).

For those of you that missed the thread, this is a 1930's Hensley & Gibbs mould #38. It's a .30 cal 147gr. from W.W. at .313 diameter. Hensley & Gibbs made all their hollow point pins adjustable for length, so the weight can be changed to some degree.

Last month I fired 5 of these through my M-1 Greek Garand as fast as I could pull the trigger just out of curiosity. I didn't target it as there was still snow on the ground.

Last week I shot 50rds of test loads without choreographing. I Didn't have time to set up the rig. I just picked standard cast boolit loads that did well before in most 30-06 rifles. Trying 5 different powders, they averaged 2.5". The best load was 1.75" using 39gr of XMR3100. Upping it to 41gr. I got 1" for 4 shots with a flyer that opened it up to 2". The worst group was my standard high power load of 27gr BLc2 at 3". One thing I know is a problem while testing different loads is I should load 7 rds of each so I can foul the bore with the next brand of powder. Almost always when changing to a new powder the first round or two will almost always be out of the next 5. But being lazy and I stick with the 5 rds only and watch my groups get bigger.

Yesterday I fired 50 more test rounds. This time I set up the chronograph. After every shot I kept getting that stupid "ERROR" message on the screen. It took me a while to figure what was wrong. A wayward boolit bouncing off the sky screen rods last year ripped a couple strands of the wire ....again! I had it happen last year too, and what a pain in the butt it is to splice those tiny wires.

5 more powders were tried with two different boolit sizes. Half were sized .308 and the others were .309. The .308's outshot the .309 in most cases. Several of the groups were 1.5" 24gr 5744, 44gr. RL19, 36gr. H4350, 13grs Green Dot. I Did get one nasty 15" group using 39gr of WW748. I've used that load before but this time it didn't work. It needs a wad or filler.....Geo

[Ricochet]

Man, that's a wild looking boolit! Is it reasonably stable?

[Ricochet]

BTW, which Ness is that named for?

Elliott?

Loch?

[floodgate]

Fred. C. Ness: American Rifleman's "Dope Bag" Editor from the '30's - 40's, author of several books: "Practical Dope on the .22's"; "Practical Dope on the Big Bores", etc., etc. He also ran the Belding & Mull exhibit on Commercial Row at Camp Perry in - I think - 1925 (he was a neighbor of theirs in Philipsburg, PA). Any other questions?

floodgate

[Ricochet]

Thanks! Now I know who you mean.

[Bigjohn]

Hey, Ricochet,
Did you get too close to someone waving a straight razor around.

Definitely something different about your avatar.

John.

[georgewxxx]

Beagle's working on a followup article on this boolit to add to our castingfellows.(link below).

If I get time I'm going to try 308, 30-30 and 30-40 Krag experiments with it also.

[beagle]

I shot the initial 50 that George sent me a couple of weeks ago. Weighed 152.5 graiins with check and lube. Rifle was a .30/06 Number 1 Ruger. Velocity about 1800 FPS. No signs of instability.

First group was to get the scope adjusted. Next two in less than one inch. Then I fired two 10 shot groups that ran about 1 1/2-2" including my obligatory flyers. This was at 100 yards.

Definitely something I have to investigate here./beagle

[Ricochet]

Bigjohn, appropriately for my handle, I bounce back and forth between fuzzy and slick appearances. I woke up Saturday morning and decided it was time for a change.

I will kinda miss the little kids thinking I'm Santa.

[georgewxxx]

Ness was the big man on campus back then, so if H&G wanted to sell their new mould, his name was attached to it even if he didn't design it. The Rifleman had nation wide coverage and that's what the new company needed. Several other mould makers had similar designs. Shooting chucks dead so they couldn't crawl back in their hole was what shooters of the day wanted. This mould did just that. We found the same moulds sold under the Peerless brand also. Look back in your old Shooters Bibles from the 1940's and find ads with H&G look-a-like designs.

Floodgate did you ever try any I sent you?...Geo

[floodgate]

Geo:

No, I haven't loaded anything for the last several months; they're stashed away somewhere safe untilI get to them.

We need to mention that this boolit was promoted as an "anti-glance" - i.e., no ricochets (sorry, Ricochet!) - bullet for use in settled areas. Ness and his buddies were pleasantly surprised to find that it had so much potential for accuracy. They didn't expect that.

floodgate

[HORNET]

That viscous little lump-o-lead makes the 311440 look aerodynamic. Got to have a ballistic coefficient about like a Coors Light can (the bottle is better ). Might be able to reprofile for testing with the top punch for a 311413 or 311329. Ought to be just the thing for charging woodchucks though....

[Ricochet]

Kinda ties in with the recent discussion about hollowpointing peestol boolits improving dynamic stability. Seemed counterintuitive as moving the center of mass behind the aerodynamic center of pressure would seem to destabilize it, but when you throw in the gyroscopic action of the rifling spin, the result is not what one would first expect.

How hard would it be to reproduce this design?

[beagle]

In fact when I lubed the ones that George sent me, I used (I think) either a #43 or a #86 top punch. Anyway, it fit the nose diameter...almost. I ended up with a wadcutter that had a slightly rounded radius on the mouth. Looked really great./beagle

That viscous little lump-o-lead makes the 311440 look aerodynamic. Got to have a ballistic coefficient about like a Coors Light can (the bottle is better ). Might be able to reprofile for testing with the top punch for a 311413 or 311329. Ought to be just the thing for charging woodchucks though....

[Mk42gunner]

That hollow point looks like you could drive a truck into it.


Robert

[georgewxxx]

http://cgi.ebay.com:80/30-Cal-Adjust...QQcmdZViewItem

I'm not sure if this Ebay sale will show up from over a year ago. The pictures aren't there anymore. It's the same mould. $48.00 Geo

[thehouseproduct]

Group buy discussion started.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show....php?p=1370312

[a.squibload]

...Last week I shot 50rds of test loads without choreographing...

Nobody mentioned it, and I can't help it.

What music did you play while dancing around firing off your Garand?