Win 94 30-30 with cast Lee or NOE bullet

[Huntsman]

So I've been casting up the Lee 170gr for hunting purposes but just recently purchased a 165gr NOE RF. Obviously the bullet with the wider meplat is the better choice but what have your experiences been with either on game.

[GooseGestapo]

I've only used the Lee 150gr FNGC to take deer. Simply, it works!
the 150 Lee at ~1,300 fps will almost completely penetrate a deer lengthwise, so alloy and accuracy is the only considerations.
I find the 150 feeds better through my M94 than the 170. I do however prefer the 170 from the .30/06.
I used air cooled wheelweight for years but aquired some pure lead and now use a softer alloy (50/50). Never recovered a boolit, except for above mentioned one (a coworker of my brother actually recovered it, I wouldn't have used his load or attempted the shot, but deer died, single shot fired...)
i only occasionally use j bullets any more. Too many boolit molds and guns that shoot them well.

[Huntsman]

Thanks for the reply GG. These are two of my Lee 170's I recovered on the weekend from the range. I'm thinking a slightly softer alloy. I used the Lyman #2 alloy from the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook.
I used the same alloy for a Lee 200gr RN in my 308 Win last year. I took a cow moose with it last year, the boolit passed clean thru.
I was hoping that with the wider nose or meplat on the NOE would give much better expansion. I also just ordered a Lee Hardness tester. Hopefully I'll get time in to cast some and get to the range before hunting season.
http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i375/Jamie_MG/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150905_111943_zpsywxnsovy.jpg (http://s1090.photobucket.com/user/Jamie_MG/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150905_111943_zpsywxnsovy.jpg.html)

[FergusonTO35]

Goose, what kind of velocity do your hunting loads with the Lee 150 get? Do they seem to do well on heart/lung shots where you don't encounter heavy bone? This boolit gets along with my Marlins just fine!

[lobogunleather]

For over 30 years I have been using the Lee C309-170F, Hornady gas checks, lubed with NRA formula Alox in a .309 sizer die, with 30 grains H335 or BLC-2 in the .30-30's. Thousands of rounds through half-a-dozen Winchester 94's, and easily a ton of venison into the freezer. Both sons and several grandsons routinely send their fired brass to Grampa's house for reloading (I'm not sure whether they even know there are other ways to get ammunition).

A well placed shot in the heart-lung area will nearly always put a deer down within a few yards of where it was standing. I don't recall ever recovering a bullet from a deer, with through-and-through penetration normal. Our Colorado mule deer are typically between 150 and 250 lbs, and almost always taken at under 100 yards.

I use other rifles and calibers but I don't know of any that will do a better job under the conditions I usually hunt. My sons have moved to other parts of the country with thicker cover, smaller deer, and usually shorter ranges, and this combination works just fine.

[FergusonTO35]

Sounds like a winner. I'm currently shooting the 309-150-F over IMR 4895 with good results.

[Huntsman]

So both my new NOE mould and Lee hardness tester arrived so I'll be doing some casting and testing over the next little while. I have 3lbs of IMR 3031 to play so by November I hope to have something ready for deer season.

[Huntsman]

Tonite I cast some NOE's with the lead left over in my pot. I did the Lee hardness test on 3 of them; 13.0, 13.0 & 13.5 BHN

I also tested some Lee 170's from last year and I got; 12.5 air dry and 14.3 x3(water dropped) BHN

I had one water drop measure at 26.0 but I think that was me. Now I think I'll add some pure lead to the mix.