Range Report

[Ian]

First go with the NOE XCB bullet in my M1A. Not great but this rifle has shot far worse at far lower speeds. I was going for 2400 fps and overshot it a bit, averaging 2470 something and 15 SD. All shots fed from the magazine and first group shot at 25 yards to check POI after changing to low 30mm rings.

41 grains of IMR 4320 with WCC '08 brass, bullets sized .310" for a very tight jam fit in the throat, and about .015" off the ball seat.

 

[fiver]

that's actually really good for a jam fit in a semi auto.
I was kind of worried it wouldn't even work in the M-1A.

 

[Brad]

Wonder how it would work in a Garand. I don't have one so I won't be finding out.
Should be pretty good.

 

[waco]

Walt needs some cool new rifles.
JULIE!!!!!!!....you hear that????

 

[waco]

She didn’t hear me...,,,

 

[Brad]

Ever think she is ignoring you?

Wait, didn't you say she wanted a new rifle? A Garand isn't a bad choice.....

 

[Ian]

Should work great in a Garand sized a titch smaller than throat entrance and seated about .005" off the lands...or the contact point, whatever that turns out to be. The 6/4 alloy is hard, slick, and "greasy" so it should feed like poop through a goose as it did in my M1A. The hard jam-fit was only due to my lack of the exact correct sizer and sizing down bullets that had already aged. The jam is so hard that a rod and mallet are needed to de-chamber, I don't like that at all but wanted to test the bullet and load anyway, so there ya go.

Forgot to add, this rifle is suppressed and has a Schuster gas block opened up a good bit to tune down the function to minimum reliable pressure with Tula steel-cased 150s, got solid bolt lock-back and brass going out at 2:00 about six to eight feet. I'm going to back down the load in one-grain increments until it groups or doesn't before switching powders.

 

[fiver]

the 165-A will chamber in my M-14 no problem...... just sayin.
I do wish I still had my beater parts built Garand [with a new barrel] but it's sale funded the gas when I moved to Idaho so I think the trade-off was worth it.

 

[Ian]

I looked real hard at that one and then looked at the alloy note and moved on because I didn't know if they were water-dropped or not. I just went and shoved one through the .309" die and it came out .3098", so I made a dummy and it glides right in, and deep too, I can nearly crimp in the lube groove. Only problem is that meplat is big and gets a big flat spot on it, together with a bent bullet when feeding from the magazine. If they're water dropped I might give them a try anyway with the powder backed off to about 39 grains.

 

[fiver]

they were.

I have stripped them from the magazine in mine but was scared to shoot them with the 4831 I had loaded them with.
4064 or your 4320 targeting 2350-2400 might be a good solution.

 

[Ian]

Surprisingly to me, the IMR 4831 prediction didn't blow port pressure out of sight at 2400 fps, but I'd still be cautious if you don't have an adjustable gas plug. You could always shut the spindle valve and try them anyway just for S&Gs.

 

[Brad]

30 XCB cast by fiver, sized to .310. Loaded in 06, my dad's Model 70. Load was 53.5 gr of Re 19. Seated about 20 thou off the lands.

Chrony didn't want to give me anything today, driving me bonkers. That is eight shots fired pretty quick after I made some adjustments to get on paper.

Bullets were very casually inspected and not weighed at all. With more careful loading and selected brass and bullets I think it will do much better.

Loads of 54 and 54.5 gr were nothing to write home about. I will keep pushing higher to see if it settles back down.

 

[35 shooter]

That's a darn good start. Can you seat to the rifling with your chamber, or were you just giving it a bit of jump on purpose?

 

[Brad]

Gave some jump on purpose. I could easily seat to lands if I wanted to.
Primers show that the pressure is still pretty low, QL estimate it around 45K. Lots of room in case for more powder.
I may order a new mould after this.

 

[fiver]

but for that low one that looks pretty dang good.

you do know that is a starting jacketed load with a 165gr sierra.
10% more puts you at the max load, you can't just be doin stuff like that.

 

[Brad]

Looking at QL it doesn't appear I can get enough RE19 in the case to get over 50K PSI.
The report and recoil of the rifle tell me this is a for real load. Some cast loads just sound dinky, this isn't one of them.

 

[Rick]

Yeah, shame about that low shot. My excuse would be and which has worked surprisingly often is that I just shouldn't be trying to shoot groups with the hiccups.

 

[35 shooter]

Okay, thanks Brad. Sure looks like it's working well with a bit of jump.
I haven't tried "off the lands" with the xcb yet. I may give it a try where I left off at around 2600 fps. In my 308.

 

[John]

Fiver it was a long ago memory but I think Soda got gassed up around 1956 or 7. The rst of the story is if it had a coal chute it probably had a power auger and 120 V to it.
Glad to see that bullet is working for you.

 

[fiver]

thanks John.

I should mention that anyone following this needs to double check the load data.
I'm putting what I'm using in big marker so it can be seen clearly or as clearly as my writing can be anyway.

that AA-2700 load is a MAXIMUM 60-K JACKETED load in the 308 [it is for a sierra 168] so the pressure is similar with the jam fit of the nose even with the light neck tension I'm running.

my barrel is 6"s longer than the 24" test barrel which showed 2610 velocity.
so I know I'm getting at least 2650 fps with those groups from my 10 twist barrel and the slicker lead alloy is also contributing to more velocity so closer to 2700 is probably likely.

BE CAREFUL.
it is easy to go too far.