Cast and the .308 Win

[oldblinddog]

With the 1/10 twist that would not work for me. Too high velocity. I assume RL22 is just as sensitive to temps as RL15? If so it is a no-go for me. Temps during a shooting session out here can swing over 30deg. Have you tried a CBA bench competition? Frequently a 1" group will win a match.

CC, I agree. Every now and then I do off hand shooting at the steel ram the range has set up at 300yd. Don't hit it a lot but I am getting better

Try it and see.

[Shuz]

Charlieb-- Sounds like you have the .308 "dialed in" with cast boolits!!
Nice shootin'!

[charlie b]

Thanks.

It can still be the most frustrating thing around. Get several good shots into a tiny group and then get that one flier to screw things up. Today I was doing a mock benchrest shoot. 5 bulls, 5 bullets. 9,10,9,9,0 then a 9,4,9,8,9.

Once I can figure out what the flier problem is I'll be all set

[rockrat]

I use aa2015 with the 188 gr "hunter" slug out of a MP mould. Sized .311", running about 2100fps, anything over and it really opens up the group.

[charlie b]

Went to the range again today. 100yd for this again.

NOE 310-165 XCB again, Lyman #2 alloy, air cooled. Powdercoated, gas checked, sized .310, seated to lightly jam. 21.2gn 4198. Hornady cases with flash holes drilled #35. Fed match primers. Velocity average was 1830fps, 40es, 11sd.

These were fired after 30 rounds of jacketed ammo (Hornady 155gn ELD match). The first 5 were on the black bull. Unfortunately I had a brain f**t and moved the windage the wrong way. So the first red bull had the two rounds off to the left.

Wind was from the left rear, 0-10mph. I missed the wind call on several rounds. The two best groups were 1.3". If I had paid more attention to the wind flag I probably could have brought the other two a bit closer. Just goes to show that a lot of bullseye shooting is in the head. And mine does not work that well all the time

I am fairly pleased. FWIW, the X is the red dot, 10 ring is 0.75"

[Shuz]

charlieb-- is the weight of the NOE 310 165XCB a nominal 165g?
I can't locate it on the NOE site to see how it compares to a Lyman311041 or the old NOE 311165.

[charlie b]

This is it.

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop...1gc-1pb-30xcb/

[Shuz]

Thanks
Looks very much like a lighter version of Lyman 311041.

[Larry Gibson]

Shuz

The 30 XCB is far removed from the 311041 in design concept. I was heavily involved with it's design/development. While it was designed expressly for high velocity use [2000 - 3000+ fps] it also has proven excellent at lower velocity in the realm of "normal" cast bullet shooting. My 30 XCB bullets cast of #2 alloy, GC'd with Hornady GCs and lubed with 2500+ run right at 164 gr +/- gr.

Attachment 286982

[Shuz]

Larry, the boolit that charlieb-- listed...is that the same as the one you show? What are the characters shown after the gr on your picture?

[Larry Gibson]

FN......Flat Nose. A very small one.....

[charlie b]

Yes, same bullet.

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[charlie b]

This will be the last update I do on this rifle. I am at the point that the little things really matter.

1. Fouled barrel. This rifle shoots best after about 20 rounds through the bore and doesn't open up again until after 100 rounds.

2. Barrel temp. It really likes to be warm to the touch, but, not hot. If it cools too much it needs a few rounds to warm back up.

3. The clear powdercoat seems to do better. Not sure what that is about, but, my groups had fewer fliers. Maybe the color pigment 'bunches' up a bit more than just the clear and changes the bullet shape a bit? Don't know. I do know that all my rifle bullets will be made with clear.

4. The XCB bullets (powdercoated) in this rifle like to be a jam fit when chambered. If not the groups open up on me. They also like to be going faster. I have some good groups with them at 2000-2100fps (1-10 barrel). Some of the bullets that were off a bit today were not jammed (easy to tell when chambering).

5. IMR4198 seems to do a little better than the 3031, but, not by much. 2400 or similar is proven by others, but, I don't have any

6. Weight sorting. It pays off. The max spread I like to use now is 0.3gn per string. It is the difference between a flyer making a group 2" instead of MOA (yes, I know the XCB's today are a 0.4gn spread )

7. Last is me. Yes, I tend to be impatient and rush shots when I should not. I am getting better, which is one of the reasons I am shooting cast bullets most of the time instead of the Lapuas or Bergers

The 210gn Eagan design bullet (Acc 31-210E) is still the most consistent for me and it doesn't seem to care if it is going 1800 or 2000fps. If I want to shoot at 500 and 600yd it needs to be going faster, otherwise it goes subsonic and this design does not like the transition.

This week I thought I was going to have a horrible day. Wind was 5-10mph, gusty and at 20deg (range is due north). So, in my face most of the time but gusting enough I thought it would be a problem.

This is the first target of the morning at 100yd. FWIW, I am shooting the bullets that came out with a bit of runout, so did not expect sub-MOA. It was a clean barrel and temp was only in the 50's. This is typical of cold shots with the Eagan bullet.



The upper left are the other 5 cartridges with some runout issues.

Then I switched to the XCB loads. They are in numerical order. This is another case of me letting the barrel cool a bit too much between strings. First 5 are spread a little and you can see the vel differences. Second 5 come out a bit better.

The lower right is the Eagan bullet again, the last shots I fired for the day.



This is at 200yd and were fired just before the last bull above. Frankly I was shocked when I saw these hitting the target.



In between these I was shooting the XCB's at a 4" gong at 300yd. About every other shot was a hit so I was pretty pleased.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Appreciate your work Charlie, any more updates?

[charlie b]

Not really. The loads mentioned just work well.

One thing I did was to go back and record the location of the 1st shot of the day with the 24.0gn 210 bullet load. Kind of a surprise but it 'printed' a 1.5MOA group (10 different shots over the period of a year). Interesting too that some shots were from dirty bores, some clean. Different temperatures. I am going to keep plotting these as I shoot more.

As a side note, the last time I loaded some 168gn AMax bullets I decided to weigh all 100 of them. There was a spread of a full grain in weights. Explained why I have some fliers with those loads. The majority were in a 0.5gn spread, which isn't great either.

[popper]

Put some copper in your alloy. I run 2400 fps in ar10,1:10 16" carbine. 31-165 GC PC. Portable bench in a sunflower field.

[charlie b]

At one time I would have gone that route. These days am happy with what I have

Don't compete and don't hunt. Although I am still thinking about the CBA Postal series.

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[oldblinddog]

Weight sorting does pay off. Guess I should have culled the bullet in shot #5.

[Shuz]

Weight sorting does pay off. Guess I should have culled the bullet in shot #5.

How much weight difference was there between shot 5 and the others?

[popper]

I don't compete either, except with myself.
About 70 yds, very unstable prone in 32F weather. AR10, PC 31-165A & H 4895. Chronyd 2400 fps. Isocore alloy with Cu added. Hit a yard sign wire and cut it clean in half.