New NOE 360-310 FN "The 35 Thumper"

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  • Last Post 31 January 2016
yodogsandman posted this 04 October 2015

New NOE 360-310 FN “The 35 Thumper” Here's my first range report for the new NOE 360-310 FN “35 Thumper” from the recent group buy. These groups were shot in my VZ-24 Mauser, 35 Whelen with a 22” barrel, 1 in 12 twist at 100 yards. The scope used was an old, heavily scarred Bushnel Banner 3x9x40. Shot 5 rounds then waited for the barrel to cool down and shot 5 more for each group. Conditions were 55*F sunny and breezy with 15 MPH gusts. I thought the heft of this bullet would buck the wind good.

Bullets were cast from COWW's and about 2% Sn, oven heat treated at 430*F for an hour and quenched in ice cold water (with ice). As cast weight was 308gr. The bands measured .360” and the nose tapered from .349” to .352” per the NOE drawing. They were sized at .360” dry to seat Hornady GC's and then were coated with three coats of Ben's Liquid Lube. I waited five days for them to age harden after HT before shooting.

I did no special case preparation, just full length resized. Used Win 30-06 brass resized to 35 Whelen. Case lengths ran from 2.465” to 2.477", didn't bother to even trim them to even them up. They were shot 22 times prior without annealing and had been trimmed back once just to even them up. It really is time to do it again.

Starting load was 48.0gr IMR4831 over WLR primers at an O.A.L. of 3.380".

Then went to 49.0gr IMR4831.

Future loads will increase in one grain increments. I plan to try three different powders, IMR4831, IMR4350 and H414 (using magnum primers).

One major mistake in my calculations, though. My magazine box will only allow a C.O.A.L. of 3.200", I loaded these to 3.380” with no regard to that and had to load them one at a time. I found out they were too long at the range! Will try a length that will fit next time. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150418&d=1443981242>http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=150419&d=1443981450>

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yodogsandman posted this 31 January 2016

57.0gr H414. I don't think it likes this powder!

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yodogsandman posted this 31 January 2016

56.0gr H414. Not looking good!

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yodogsandman posted this 31 January 2016

Resuming the H414 testing, here's 55.0 gr H414 again, this time using Winchester Magnum rifle primers instead of regular ones.

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

56.0 gr IMR 4350. This load was heavily compressed. The bullets did not fully seat where I wanted them and were loaded to 3.204” OAL instead of 3.200". These loads were safe in my rifle but, they may not be in your rifle, you are warned! Mine showed no signs of excessive pressure, primers looked like those shot at max loads with jacketed bullets. Again, the first shots of a volley went outside any group. Maybe I need to use magnum primers in the colder weather to prevent vertical stringing.

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

55.0 gr IMR4350

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

54.0 gr IMR4350

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

53.0 gr IMR4350

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

52.0 gr IMR4350

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yodogsandman posted this 30 January 2016

Here's 51.0 gr IMR4350

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yodogsandman posted this 15 January 2016

Here's a photo of 50.0 gr IMR4350. The bottom two shots are both the first of each of two 5 shot volleys.

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yodogsandman posted this 05 January 2016

Ken, I haven't cleaned the bore since the tests began back in October. Not even a dry patch! The Bens Liquid Lube (BLL) doesn't seem to throw first shot fliers or purge lube like some lubes will do.

The rifle is capable of much smaller groups and that's my goal here. It consistently shoots jacketed bullets into 5 shot, 5/8” groups using Hornady 200 gr SP, Nosler 225gr Ballistic Tips, Speer 250 gr SP or Nosler 250 gr Partitions.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 05 January 2016

even though the groups are not teensy, i am impressed with the consistent lack of mystery fliers ... 4 to 8 moa outliars ....as we often see .... wonder if that has anything to do with larger diameter bullets ??? harder to shoot but more consistent ??? varying bore condition relatively less important ??

i would take your rifle in a 100 shot metal-banging match ...

hmmm . i got a 357 new barrel in the back somewhere ...

ken

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yodogsandman posted this 04 January 2016

Continuing load work and switching over to testing H414 powder. Note that the boolits used were the last of the batch, some heavier and some lighter than the +/- .5gr mean weight and not weighed for these groups. Conditions were tough, wind wise, switching angles and intensity with 5-20 mph gusts. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=157213&d=1451911994>http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=157214&d=1451912123>

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yodogsandman posted this 27 October 2015

FWIW, penetration on game should be great, sectional density is .342, the same as a .457” 500gr bullet.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/resc...bw=310&bd=.360

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yodogsandman posted this 25 October 2015

Here's the 5 shot group at an O.A.L. of 3.200"

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yodogsandman posted this 25 October 2015

Range report #5. Increased the powder to 56.0gr IMR4831 and changed O.A.L.'s to “tune” barrel harmonics using the bullet jump in the barrel. So, shot 5 rounds of 56.0gr loads with O.A.L.'s from 3.230” down to 3.200” in .010” increments.

Conditions today were just a little better than last week. 54*F, cloudy, 10 MPH winds with 15 MPH gusts. This was after the end of a storm that came through last night. When I uncased my rifles at the range, they immediately became covered with condensation.

The edges of the fired primers are still very rounded but, noticed that they have changed and look a little more flattened. There was barely any movement of powder kernels with 56.0gr when the O.A.L. used was 3.200", when shaking the finished round next to my ear.

I hooked up the chronograph today and velocities are not as fast as I thought. This is for the 10 shot string using 56.0gr IMR4831 at 3.240” O.A.L. ....

Av Velocity....2041 FPS ES................40 SD................11

Here is the photo from the first 56.0gr IMR4831, 10 shot group (2.745") at 100 yards with an O.A.L. of 3.240". The next is a 5 shot 100 yard group (1.020") with an O.A.L. of 3.200". I didn't bother with photos of the 3.230", 3.220” or 3.210” O.A.L.'s because there was nothing special about them.

3.230".....2.090” group 3.220".....2.515” group 3.210".....2.790” group

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yodogsandman posted this 18 October 2015

Here's the 55.0gr target.

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yodogsandman posted this 18 October 2015

Range report #4. I brought my chronograph but, didn't bother to set it up because of the strong winds. I increased the powder charges to 54.0gr and 55.0gr IMR 4831. Cheating a little bit, I weighed bullets to +/- 0.5gr before giving them 3 coats of BLL. About one in five was either above or below the mean weight of 313.5gr with GC's installed Cases used for the 55.0gr load were not trimmed like the others and ran from 2.472"-2.483". I'll trim them before loading those up again. . Winds were strong and gusty today from 10-20 MPH. I had to use two 1 1/2” roofing nails, top and bottom, to hold the targets down and that wasn't enough at times. The bull pines were even swaying! The first target blew down after the first volley of 5 rounds and when I set it back up, got it upside down without noticing. I shot at it without changing it anyway because of the other shooters and it's already large size group. By the end, the 55.0gr target lost the bottom roofing nail and I had to shoot when it wasn't flapping. Notice that at 53.0gr the group was enlarged and mostly horizontal and at 54.0gr it was enlarged and almost vertical. 55.0gr seemed to want to go back together in a tight group but, with this wind, who knows. I still have room in the case for one or two more grains of IMR4831 powder. No pressure signs at all but, I noticed that the case mouths are no longer as sooty as before.

The 54.0gr groups, when put together would probably be about 4". The 55.0gr group was 2.490".

Looks like it's time to adjust the scope setting, the next groups could fall off the target.

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Mike H posted this 13 October 2015

Yodogsandman,                      Thanks for the reply.I haven't used my Whelen for a long while,it is a M17 re bored to the 35 Whelen.I do not have a scope on mine and my groups are wider.The bullet I used was a CBE 360,300 grain.45 gr's of 2206,close to 3031, gave 2,000 fps.Also used ADI 2213,now discontinued,which would be close to your 4831 powder.Unfortunately I can't find the book with the results,but I used loads from 50 to I think 55 gr's,it was shooting well at a bit over 2,200 fps.It is great to see practical cast hunting loads developed.Mike.

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yodogsandman posted this 12 October 2015

Mike, The small dot by the date, at the top, is the nail hole that held the target up and should be considered the real top of the target. Yes, the groups have shifted closer to the middle after starting at the 2 o'clock position. Each powder grain added seems to move the group down and to the left closer to the 1” aiming dot.

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