ANY results ?? with NOE .314-129 ??

[Wayne S]

Just wondering if anyone has shot this bullet and in what and how did it cast and shoot ??

[Intel6]

I just got my mould yesterday, give me some time geeze. :?

Just kidding, the mould looks great and I can't wait to try it. [smilie=w:

Neal in AZ

[longbow]

Still waiting on mine... anxiously!

[mag44uk]

I have one from the original run. Casts extremely well.Bullets drop at 0.314
Have only tried it in my Enfield 303 no4 mk2 sized to 0.313.
Only targets I fired at were on an ETR military range figure 11 and figure 12.
Fig11 (man size) out to 300 yards and Fig 12 (head and shoulders) at 65 140 and 200 yards.
My load was using a Vectan powder but pretty much the same as the "red dot load"
Once I figured the drop at 300 all targets fired at were hit and dropped with open sights.
Next outing will be at Bisley at 200 yards hopefully next month.
I also have an AIA enfield clone in 7.62 x 39 which is the reason I got the mould.
Struggling a little at the moment but only because the barrel slugs at 0.312!
Need to get a 0.314 sizing die then I think this gun will shoot well. Its fine with FMJ`s.
I also have some sized down to 0.311 to try in my K11.
HTH
Tony

[Rico1950]

Tried some today in my Yugo SKS. 13 grs. of 2400, WLR, .314 with 50/50, acww.
Turned gas system off, didn't expect them to work the action.
Issued sights are a problem with these eyes, 50 yd. group, nice round 2 1/2".
I crimped in the crimp groove, seems too short to feed from magazine.
On another note, Cabelas has MFS 2000, 7.62x39, boxer primed loaded ammo on sale for $6.99/20. Bought 100 rounds of it a week ago @ $7.99/20. Had to order another 100 at that price.

[longbow]

Got my mould last Friday but had an archery shoot last weekend so didn't get to cast until tonight.

The mould is very nicely machined just like my NOE 316299.

I had to cast very hot to get good boolits but once up to temperature things went pretty well.

They are slightly out of round. It seems the mould blocks are offset a bit resulting in an egg shape from 0.3135" on one side of the seam to 0.316" on the other side. They run about 0.314" at 90 degrees to the seam.

I will load some as is to try them and if they shoot well, I'm good. I figured I might have to lap anyway since my .303 has 0.314" groove and I want at least a thou over so if they don't shoot well I will just lap the mould a bit to round them out and that should do the trick.

They cast well and are a nice looking boolit.

I will try to shoot some this coming weekend and post results.

Longbow

[plumber]

Is anyone having issues seating factory gas checks on these boolits? I'm using homemade checks and to say seating them is a burden is an understatement.

[mag44uk]

I am using Gators on these boolits....they fit very well......nice snap fit.
Tony

[longbow]

I got some cast and shot with home made gas checks. I had no trouble with gas checks though they are slightly tight ~ not a problem just a "snug" fit. Seated well and straight though and they stayed on after impact on many boolits I recovered ~ link here (scroll down to the last post):

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=892197&highlight=longbow#post892197

I didn't shoot enough of them to get several groups for comparison and I also used slightly hot loads to see if there was any leading. I got a pretty nice cluster of 6 out of 10 shots fired with the other 4 kinda spread out. However, the cluster tells me there is definitely potential here! That was 50 yards. No leading.

I am hoping to shoot more this weekend to give them a better test. I will load some over IMR4227 for moderate loads and some over IMR4064 or IMR4320 for a little hotter load.

Longbow

[shdwlkr]

longbow if you are really sure that mold is out of shape get in touch with Swede he will make it right if it is the mold that is screwed up.

[Hickory]

I altered the shape of the hollow point pin


http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/Fastboat77/Boolits/32Magnum017.jpg

The boolits fill out a little better and do not have the sharp edge on the hollow point.
http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/Fastboat77/002.jpg

[longbow]

The mould isn't out by much and I had planned on lapping it anyway since it is spec'd to cast 0.314" and I need at least 0.315" or better ~ 0.316". If my groove diameter was slightly smaller I think sizing would round out the boolits fine. I was hoping it would cast slightly oversize but knew when I ordered it it might need lapping.

If I hadn't planned on lapping it then I likely would have got hold of Swede because I know he would take care of me but since I plan to lap it really doesn't matter. Otherwise the mould is beautiful and casts well.

I shot some more today but results were pretty mediocre. I shot 30 at 50 yards ~ 10 each of 3 different loads. No leading so fit isn't too bad and the home made gas check is sealing. I would like to recover a boolit that hasn't been destroyed but so far all I have managed to salvage from the berm is the base. I like to examine the remains to check for skidding or gas cutting.

I did not oven heat treat and am pushing them a little hard so I am going to back off the powder to see how that works and also oven heat treat some to try. I am thinking a light to moderate load of Unique is a good place to start.

I am also going to try some in my .308 to see how it does. It seems to like a fat boolit so these may be fine as is or sized down just a bit.

It is a nice little boolit and I will work on it until my gun is happy.

Longbow

[longbow]

Okay, another quick post.

SwedeNelson read my post on the mould being out of round and PM'd me to offer a refund. I am most impressed by his offer and knew if I had a problem he would fix it. There's the proof!

He also mentioned that I should try swapping the handles around as he says he has seen handle fit cause some offset. I will try that.

Even if that helps, I will still likely have to lap the mould out a little to fit my fat bore. Beagling might bring diameter up enough and I will try that first.

I like the mould and have no complaints. The offset is minor (and may be due to handle fit) and I knew I would likely have to lap the mould to fit my sloppy barrel anyway.

My thanks to SwedeNelson for his offer and terrific service but I am happy.

Longbow

[longbow]

No new shooting results but another update on the mould.

I decided I would lap the mould to suit my sloppy bore.

I preheated the mould and got the lead pot good and hot then made several casts without the sprue plate on until I had really good fill out then I put a strip of paper down each side of the cavities, placed 3/8" nuts over each cavity opening then poured through the nuts. These were to be my lapping boolits.

I miked them and they were actually very close to spec casting at 0.3135"/0.3140" and very round. I suspect Swede was right about the handles or there had been a little burr or something offsetting the blocks before because these were near perfect.

I chucked the little guys in my lathe and used a file to reduce the gas check shank as I did not want to lap it larger.

I carefully applied valve lapping compound and worked each cavity in turn with each of the lapping boolits. Lots of mould face cleaning along the way too so lapping compound and swarf didn't hold the blocks apart.

To finish, I took the last lapping boolit, applied lapping compound and ran it through each cavity then wiped it off and used it as is in each cavity again with some WD40. It acted like a little burr just finishing up the cuts nicely.

I cleaned up the mould in Varsol, reassembled then got to casting. The mould cast beautifully.

The result is that I now have 0.316" driving bands so perfect for my 0.315" throat. A light sizing and it should be good to go.

I am hoping to get shooting this weekend.

Longbow

[longbow]

Well, got in a little more range testing yesterday. I just shot two groups of 5 each at 50 yards using Unique and IMR4227 to see how things turned out.

Rifle is Lee Enfield No. 5.

Not spectacular results but improving.

Load #1:

Boolit = NOE 0.314" x 129 gr. lapped to 0.316"
Gas check = home made aluminum (scrap gutter)
Lube = homemade (no leading)
Load = 12.8 grs. (Lee scoops) Unique

Results ~ a little horizontal stringing gave:

- one group of 2 3/4" wide x 2" high
- one group of 5" wide x 1 1/2" high

Load #2:

Boolit = NOE 0.314" x 129 gr. lapped to 0.316"
Gas check = home made aluminum (scrap gutter)
Lube = homemade (no leading)
Load = 22 grs. (Lee scoops) IMR4227

Results ~ again horizontal stringing gave:

- one group of 5" wide x 2 1/2" high
- one group of 5" wide x 3 3/4" high

I would blame myself for the horizontal stringing but I also shot some NOE 316299s and they did quite well with the same powder charges.

Shooting was done as ten NOE 0.314" x 129 gr. then ten NOE 316299 with each powder but results were pretty consistent.

I know two groups of each load is not a lot to judge by.

I know I have good fit to my sloppy barrel now so I will have to do some more experimenting with powders and loads for this boolit. It's heavy brother shoots quite well but I am thinking that the driving bands are not very beefy on this one so maybe I am pushing velocity a bit in 1:10" twist.

That's it so far but I will keep working on it.

Longbow

[20nickels]

BTT, What sort of crimp die are you using with this boolit? Looking for something that rolls into the crimp groove.

[longbow]

So far I have not crimped at all. Neck tension seems pretty high especially since these are larger than stock.

Not sure if crimping will help or not ~ maybe since it would provide some initial resistance to the short boolit heading into a long sloppy throat.

I had planned on loading some more seated out so the front driving band is into the throat to see how that does. I will also be loading light likely with Unique.

I have 30 prepared for loading:

- 10 gas checked and sized 0.315"
- 10 gas checked and unsized so 0.316"+
- 10 unsized and no gas check (these will be light loads remember)

But you bring up a good point, maybe I should add 10 more gas checked and sized and crimp those.

[longbow]

Progress!

I loaded up and headed to the range with the above 30 rounds and another 10 rounds of PP boolits.

All were loaded over 11.8 gr. Unique and shot at 50 yards.

Oh, re-looking at my last post, I did size the "as cast" gas checked boolits because the gas checks were too large if left unsized.

So, what I did was:

- 10 gas checked and seated out so only the last driving band was in the case mouth
- 10 seated with the case mouth at the back edge of the front driving band
- 10 without gas checks over COW filler again seated with case mouth at the back edge of the front driving band

My thought was that since there is no driving band in front of the crimp groove and the nose is under groove diameter the boolit may not be getting enough alignment in the throat.

All brass was annealed and trimmed.

Results were much improved with overall groups about 1/2 the size of the last outing (overall group sizes around 3") and some fairly tight clusters of 6 or more of 10 shot groups in under 2".

The seating depth did not seem to matter so next time I will try some at the crimp groove and some seated with the front band outside the case mouth.

The non gas checked loads over filler shot a better group at about 3" than anything shot last time but worse than the no filler loads.

Considering the limitations of old eyes, stock military sights and heavy two stage trigger I am thinking these results are not bad at all. Regardless, the groups are much improved over last time.

Indications now are that the faster powder is giving better results. More testing required!

I will load a bunch more over Unique and maybe Green Dot and try going up and down some in powder charge plus vary seating depth a bit.

I really like this boolit and am glad to see it shooting better.

Is anyone else getting results and what are your loads?

Longbow

[20nickels]

Tks for the update. I should have mentioned I will be loading for 7.62x39. I have never tried anything as fast as Unique in a rifle. Does it act as though it's position sensitive in the case? I have stuck with 2400 for just that reason.

[longbow]

I have not tried 2400 because I don't have any and it is not a powder I have ever tried. No real good reason except I have almost always had Unique and IMR4227 on hand so tended to use those.

No, I have not found Unique to be position sensitive and it is commonly used for cast boolit loads in bottle neck cases. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook has Unique listed for many large capacity cartridges. It is good powder for light to moderate loads in large cartridges.

I have generally used IMR4227 for cast boolit loads in my .308, .303 and .44 mag with pretty good success. I was not getting very good results with the light Boolit though so decided to try the faster Unique. So far it is giving better accuracy but I would like to push velocity up some so once I have determined that the boolit/gas check combination works well I will try some other slower powders.

I may try 2400 as it has a good reputation for cast boolit loads and is a good powder for my .44 mag.

I was hoping to reach 2000 FPS so have a ways to go. Most important is good accuracy though and I am closing in on that.

Longbow

[20nickels]

I bought the LEE RGB set in x39 for it's roll crimp capabilities. Says it tapers before it finally rolls, so I hope it doesn't smash down the .314 boolit before it finally crimps. If it does I may have to "modify" it.

[longbow]

I haven't done enough shooting yet to get a good feel but I wish this boolit had a groove diameter driving band in front of the crimp groove.

That is the reason I tried seating the boolits out. In fairness, it didn't seem to matter if they were seated out or not but I have to think that a groove diameter driving band (or throat diameter) stuck into the throat would be a benefit.

I was worried about the neck sizing boolits down with just the two narrow driving bands as well but accuracy wasn't bad at all this outing.

Again, I neck annealed and trimmed all brass for consistency.

As mentioned, I do like the boolit, the mould casts beautifully and accuracy is improving as I tinker.

So far, no complaints.

Longbow