NEI's wasp waisted designs, anybody use them?

[Wayne Smith]

Looking at NEI's pages my eye was caught by their wasp waisted designs, most notably the 284-150-GC-H (Hornet). Then I found an article where a guy had some good results shooting the .30 cal equivelant.

Now I'm curious, has anyone used these? I assume tumble lube is the way to go with them. I'm not sure I want to spring for the molds just to try them, but I really wonder how they fly! I'll bet it would work in my 7x57.

[carpetman]

Herters had a wasp waisted sonic supreme custom magnum deluxe presentation model that was suppossed to be better than their non wasp waisted sonic supreme magnum custom deluxe presentation model.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Ray, Are you tired of typing? You left out "model perfect, guide quality."

[Wayne Smith]

Gee, wizz. And here I remembered it was "Guide Model, Perfect Quality"

I miss the Herter's catalog, and the deals. I got my first hunting knife from them, and it's probably still at the bottom of the South Branch of the Shennandoah river. Remember? Those things would never rust, they promised!

I'm still curious about those bullets!

[carpetman]

NVCrumudgeon--You are correct,I just gave the abbreviated name to make the point. We all know ALL Herters products had atleast 15 names.

[Buckshot]

.............Wayne I remember reading about them and how it mimiced the shape of the F-16 fighter (viewed from the top) and the supposed wind bucking abilities. Now the cast boolit fraternity happens to be a pretty conservative bunch of people, and tough to make a new sell to. However if such a radical design had provided a radical improvement over existing designs, I would think that a lot of casters would be using them? However the old Ly 311284 which is 100 years old this year, is still one of the best 30 cal numbers out there.

Ditto the NEI DD band Walt came up with . It was tested in Handloader by Al Miller agains the same design sans DD band with no difference in accuracy. Where the DD band would be a plus would be in a long throated rifle where the DD band might engrave vs the same design NOT engraving.

.............Buckshot

[Bret4207]

I recall reading posts about them on various boards theough the years and in a couple of magazines. Nothing specific recalled, but the tone was one of " Yeah, they might work if enough time was put into it". I darn sure would want the nose engraving at loading.

[arkypete]

Ditto the NEI DD band Walt came up with . It was tested in Handloader by Al Miller agains the same design sans DD band with no difference in accuracy. Where the DD band would be a plus would be in a long throated rifle where the DD band might engrave vs the same design NOT engraving.

Ray's gunshop in Colorado made a 375 Whelen for me a number, a large number of years ago. I told him it was going to be a cast bullet gun and for him ti use his experience and cut the throat and leade as he thought best.
I did a lot of testing with the Lyamn 275, RCBS 250??, Saeco 260??. I called out to Walt Melander and asked his advice on what would be the be all end of cast bullets for the 375. Walt sent me a 300 grain bullet with the DD band.
Once I got some of the bullets to the range and found the load it liked, he was correct. I sent him a check for ten bucks to by himself and his guys a six pack on Friday night as thanks for a wondeful mold.
I did not have a similar mold to compare the DD mold against but that was one accurate bullet!
With full charge hunting loads it was real impressive in the recoil also.
Jim

[Bent Ramrod]

Wayne,

I just shot a bunch of the 308-180 NEI "Hornet" bullets in my rebarrelled .30-40 Krag last weekend. The load was a trial balloon of 10-12 gr Unique. The bullets were cast from wheelweight metal, Hornady GC, Rooster Red lube on the bottom bands and the nose dipped in Corbin Dip Lube, a wax of some kind in a volatile solvent.

The mold is a two-cav, and seems carefully made, as the nose rode the lands of the barrel with only a slight engraving. Base of bullet could be sized to .310-.311 but was barely touching the sizing die, although the gas checks crimped on well. Best loads were with the case necks expanded only part way down. This provided enough resistance so the bullet nose could be pushed up the bore, instead of the base back into the neck, as the bolt closed. So far, best groups are in the 3-1/4" range at 100 yards, but this Unique load is just the one I use to see if the new bullet is sufficiently well designed to come out of the barrel. Velocities were 1300-1480 ft/sec. No leading, at least none enough to notice on cleaning, although I think I'll go with Lee Liquid Alox next time; the Corbin Dip Lube seems kind of insubstantial. I leave the waist dry so far; I guess I could fill the whole space with lube some time and see how that works.

Buckshot, I didn't know the Hornet bullet was supposed to mimic the shape of a jet fighter fuselage. To me it better mimics the shape of the handles on those hand-pump beer taps in English pubs. I kind of wonder whether the Hornet would handle really high-velocity attempts. On the one hand, the design would reduce friction, but on the other, the bullet might well slump to one side or other under pressure.

I plan to keep trying it in this and other .30 calibers to see what happens. By the way, only the base, maybe 3/16", is actually gripped by the case neck, which leaves a lot of nose sticking out unsupported, and a potential for bending the loaded round with rough handling. I've not tried to feed the cartridges through a magazine, but did have to sort through my plastic cartridge boxes until I found one with enough head room to close over the fifty rounds I loaded.

[fiberoptik]

Sounds to me like a great CB for the Swiss K-31. They have a near non-existent throut, and a real tight one at that.

[FAsmus]

Looking at NEI's pages my eye was caught by their wasp waisted designs, most notably the 284-150-GC-H (Hornet). Then I found an article where a guy had some good results shooting the .30 cal equivelant.

Now I'm curious, has anyone used these?

Wayne,

I have used this design in 40/65 WCF.

It seems like a nice idea and the transonic drag numbers are are attractive. However! In my 40 the long bullets had trouble in stabilization and when full-power loaded bullets were recovered the wasp-waist would not longer be there! It would kind of colapse under the acceleration of firing when used with the soft alloys I was working with and the eniter nose would become a "bore-rider".

No tuumble lubing is indicated here: The bullets have normal grease grooves in the base.

Good afternoon,
Forrest

[45 2.1]

Sounds to me like a great CB for the Swiss K-31. They have a near non-existent throut, and a real tight one at that.

If you haven't slugged the K31, do so. It has a very unusual long chamber neck and throat.