NOE 311-158- GC

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
During the latest dicount at NOE, I ordered a 5-cavity 311-158-gc mould. After cleaning, and a couple of heat cycles, I started casting with it. It actually took a couple of casting sessions before it started making good bullets, but today it came around.

A 5-cav might not be the best choice if you are looking for ultimate uniformity. But it certainly is effective!
In my alloy, the bullets are .312 on the driving bands. The nose, just north of the front band, tapers from .308, just as it should.

Looking forward to shooting this bullet. I’m no expert in bullet design, but my gut feeling is, this will work in a lot of chambers.

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Ian

Notorious member
I have that one and it fits a grand total of ZERO of my .30-caliber rifles, including my extremely worn Marlin 336. Wish I'd known you wanted one, I could have shipped it to you. The problem is that part of the nose that reads .301" actually casts .3035" on mine, with straight WW alloy run hot to minimize diameter. Might be good for an AK or SKS with a really sloppy throat.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Ooops, maybe not my best decision.
Sized a bullet .310 with GC, and measured COL with light jam fit in my Rössler titan alpha .30-06. It felt «right» when I pushed the bullet into the lands. 4 nice, symmetrial scuff marks from the lands. With my limited understanding of bullet fit, this doesn’t look to bad?
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Ian

Notorious member
That looks perfect to me, your mould must be cut more to the drawing size than mine. What does the nose measure?
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
It is a bit hard to measure the nose dimension, since it tapers. Halfway along the scuffmarks (approximately), I get .304.

Edit: the part of the nose, where the drawing says .301..... I measure .301.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
Wow, NOE cut a nose to the drawing.....I guess there's a first time for everything, LOL! What you have there with the tapers matching up well, plenty of room for lead to displace (crimp and lube grooves), gas check in the neck, and a decent amount of bullet lube capacity should all add up to a really accurate combination with that rifle. You got the static fit, now it's all about dynamic fit (distance to lands, alloy constitution, neck tension, powder mass/burn rate, primer brisance) and tuning the load to the barrel harmonics.

You might even find the rifle likes .311" better than .310", depending on the entrance diameter. Many '06 throat entrances are small at .3105" or less, but some are .312"+.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
This is a switch-barrel, and the -06 barrel has actually had a rather long sabbatical, while I have focused on the 6,5x55, and .223. Earlier, I have used .311, which has worked well. The .310 sizing option is still a bit new to me, and I am testing wether all my .30- cal rifles might like .310. It would certainly simplify things.
I will certainly try .311, and maybe even .312. Thanks for the feedback!
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Shot a few groups with this bullet today. Only two 5-shot groups each, in .30-06 and .308. Using vectan tu-3000, as I am focusing a bit on this powder these days. The .30-06 groups (27-28grs) where OK, but not sensational- absolutely potential there. 1,5MOA, approximately. The .308 (26-27grs) shot a little better, around 1,3 MOA. Which is, for me, a good start. As usual, shot at 100m from prone position with support on a bag (a little shooters error in the equation, I’m afraid).

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popper

Well-Known Member
That is a pretty light load. 36-42 normal. Normally I size 310 in 308W, hard alloy (WW or harder) which works good in my ar10. Surprised by the 300BO, 145gr GC 50/50 with some (kinda lite load but seated deep) Rx7. Sized 308!! Usually 3085 or 309. Inclined to think oversizing is for increasing start resistance so powder builds up pressure.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Yes, it is a pretty light load, my guess is about 1800fps. The powder works really well in this load level, burns clean. I will try to increase the load gradually, and some other sizings as well.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Old thread, new results!
After the initial tests, this bullet slipped from my attention, for some reason.
Then, after a couple of years, a box of these bullets resurfaced in my reloading room. I found a handful of coated bullets, and a larger bag of bullets with GC installed, but otherwise naked. I decided to try some PC bullets, to help me decide if I should coat the remaining, naked bullets- or lube them.

Standard procedure; set COL to slight jump, choose a load in the lower end of jacketed bullet data, and hit the range.

Howa .308, Norma range pick-up brass, bullets sized .310. Ambient temp 20F. Cold fingers!
36 grs Vectan tubal-5000 gave a 1 MOA 5-shot group at 100m.

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The 37grs group was a bit larger. But the performance of the shooter was not the best here, after this group I decided to wrap it up and go home to the fireplace :)

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So, should I coat or lube the remaining bullets? The jury has reached a verdict:

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Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
Anyone know if this was the new version that Outpost75 collaborated with NOE to cut to his original design or is this the Lee version?
 

Ian

Notorious member
Lamar would know or be able to give a better guess than me, but it's the right weight and shape from all I can tell. I really wish mine wasn't cut so much oversize, it's a good looking bullet and Spindrift's results speak for themselves.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
I’m pretty sure this bullet was the result of a collaboration between NOE and Ed Harris. I read a post somewhere, where Harris explained this. I’ve not done a detailed comparison to the Lee c312-155, but a difference that is immediately visible, is the NOE bullet has a larger meplat.