Continuation of Noe 311-180 workups

[Griz44mag]

So the series continues.
The bullet is the NOE 311-180gr mold, gas checked.
The alloy I am using for this series is 22BHN
The boolits are dropping from the mold at 311 exactly and weigh in at 169gr.
They are sized to .309 to properly fit the bore of a Remington 700 VSF chambered on .308 Winchester, which is my favorite deer hunting gun.
The powder is VARGET, the primers are WOLF LR.
This batch runs from 34.5gr to 36.5 gr.
I'll post the results when I get back from the bench this weekend.
71529


This series will be picking up where the first batch stopped, since I do not think I have yet reached the limits of this bullet/powder combination.

[tomme boy]

Is that the K-31 boolit?

[Griz44mag]

Is that the K-31 boolit?
Indeed it is. It is a great casting mold, even from the very first drop it was making keepers.

[tomme boy]

What does the nose measure? I thought that was made for a tight bore. 0.298"??

[Griz44mag]

Tomme,
This is from NOE's website, all the dimensions.
71584
This was one of the very few cast bullets I could find that was heavy enough but still had a profile that I could easily chamber.
Heavy enough in this case, as defined as a good heavy hunting bullet that will produce accuracy in my VSF at 200 yards.
It shoots great in a bolt gun and at medium speeds is producing sub 1 MOA groups from a bench.
This winter, I will be hunting with cast boolits only.
At very slow speeds, I got some tumbling at 200 yards, once the test runs got above 24gr of Varget, they straightened out and made nice pretty holes.

[kbstenberg]

Griz recently I had looked at a thread from Mihec's bullet that is very similar to this bullet. A couple of posts said that the Mihec molds were having trouble with bullets releasing from the mold. I AM NOT TRYING TO DEGRADE MIHEC MOLDS!!! Have you heard of anyone having trouble with this style of bullet in the NOE mold? Kevin
Where is part 1 of your test

[Griz44mag]

I missed the thread on the MIHEC molds, I'll go look for it.
I have not heard anything else good or bad about this particular NOE mold.
The mold I have drops them as soon as the mold opens and has since it was new. No issues.
I have several other NOE molds, and the only issues I have with any of them is finning next to the sprue plate on anything that does not have the captive machine screw instead of the pin. This is a severe design flaw of using a pin with and undersized hinge bolt and wave washer that is way too small. This lets the sprue move away from the top of the mold way too easy.
I have several of MIHECS molds as well, and do have release issues with a couple of them. One cavity on a 200gr SWC 45 mold is so bad I just pour it full on the first cast of the session and never remove the bullet from that one, as it has to be pried out to remove it. It's either out of round or off center.

The results from the first series of this workup are still on my spreadsheet. I had intended to move the whole thing over into this thread when I reach the max.
I started at 22gr of Varget at 1570fps and worked my way up to 34gr at 2180fps in .5gr increments. Stability and accuracy has improved continuously through the series so far. When the results start to degrade that's where I will stop and go back to the best of the series and start working on bullet jump changes. Everything loaded so far is .020 back, which is where I have been getting the best results with jacketed bullets in this rifle.

[tomme boy]

Ya, that 0.297" nose would be way too small for me. I need at least a 0.300" but a 0.301" would be better.

I also have the 180 SIL from Mihec. It is the most pain in the **** mold I have ever had. The problem is the lube grove IMO. It is a square groove and is too deep. I have about a 60% reject rate because of the groove. Most of them will be broken in half. You have to literally beat it as hard as you can to get them to release. I have gave up completely on that mold. I just wish NOE would do his version with a larger nose. The NOE version releases because the lube groove is tapered.

[Griz44mag]

Ya, that 0.297" nose would be way too small for me. I need at least a 0.300" but a 0.301" would be better.
Please educate me on why this needs to be bigger. It does not engage the rifling anyway.
The nose is designed to protrude into the rifling without touching it, thus allowing the ogive next to the lubricant some jump distance to engage the rifling.
The driving ban below the lube groove also engages the rifling, giving it a pretty large contact area to make sure it gets a good spin up on the way down the barrel.
I have gotten excellent accuracy from these bullets, and the heavy weight of this should make an excellent hunting round.

[tomme boy]

The 0.297" is for the bore riding section of the K31 firearm. The K31 has a 0.297-8" bore and a 0.307" groove.

A US 30 cal. will have a 0.300" bore and a 0.308" groove. Having a 0.297" bore rider in a 0.300" bore is not the best fit. It will be unsupported and will not ride the bore like it will in a K31. Not saying it will not work, but it will have some limitations. It is all about fit.

[Griz44mag]

Thank you for that explanation Tomme, since I don't have a Swiss rifle, I did not know the specs or what made this bullet designed for a Swiss rifle.
I'll bet if you talked to NOE, they might be willing to modify a mold a touch, and given your excellent explanation, I would join you for one of them as well.
I am getting sub 1 MOA groups with this bullet at 2000-2100 fps, gas checked. I would surmise that the long surface contact area of this bullet is more than sufficient to keep it accurate. My Remington VSF slugged at .299 bore and .3082 groove, and I am sizing at .3093 (Lyman sizer right out of the box) and lubing with beeswax, LOX and CR mix. Gas checks are .012 copper roofing flashing punched with a Freechex III.
Primary use for this bullet-rifle combo is hunting, and the accuracy I am getting from it is excellent. I know the bench rest shooters here probably scoff at 1.2" groups at 200 yards, but for me, my age and intended use? If that is a "limitation" I'll have some more please! I also realize that when the rifle-load combination moves to the hunting side, that's going to change a bit as well. I consider that PDG, and I'll bet it brings home the venison this winter. During the off season, I really enjoy doing the workups from ground zero. Toying with hardness, speed, lubes, powders, is a lot of fun. For me, the workups are the journey, the meat in the freezer is just the destination. It gives me an excuse to head to the range every week or so and keep what's left of my skills from falling apart.