New mold arrived

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  • Last Post 14 May 2020
Balhincher posted this 14 April 2020

Being stuck at home for the last several weeks has given me plenty of time to do some bullet casting and loading. Steady effort eventually produced a reserve of both bullets and ammo that the most thorough doomsday prepper would envy. 

Before long, acquiring a 25 caliber mold for my three 25-20s ascended on my must do list until it approached hoarding toilet paper. A few more days of intense rationalizing and I logged onto the Night Owl website and began searching. Apparently other casters are buying 25 caliber molds because There was only one mold suitable for a 25-20 available. An 80 gr w/ gc brass two cavity mold. The order was placed on Friday and the mold showed up on my porch the following Monday.

While I have several other night owl molds, this was the first brass NOE mold. Like my aluminum molds it was very nicely made. Heating up the pot and scrubbing the mold with soapy water and with a little preheat I poured the first bullets. A couple more pours and the mold was dropping good looking bullets.  Close inspection later showed a few minor flaws but only a couple of the first three dozen were tossed back in the pot.  I can't recall having an easier time getting a new mold to drop keeper bullets. 

Since winter has decided to swing through Indiana again the last few days I may not shoot any of these for a while.  But with the new mold I can occupy some time getting a supply of these little 80 grainers made.  

Thanks to Al and the NOE folks for a great mold and outstanding service  

has anybody on the forum have any experience with this bullet?  Especially interested in 25-20 use but any cartridge would be interesting  

 

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Bud Hyett posted this 14 April 2020

Alice picked up their nose-first sizing die setup at the CBA Nationals as a prize. This is the basic kit, you will need sizing bushings and push rods for each caliber. I am setting up for 6 mm, 7 mm and .30 caliber. The .30 caliber push rods were out of stock, so I called yesterday morning to discuss when they will be available. They checked and said they will schedule for the end of the week. While I was on the phone, they changed the website so I can back-order the item. This is exceptional service.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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rmrix posted this 14 April 2020

 

has anybody on the forum have any experience with this bullet?  Especially interested in 25-20 use but any cartridge would be interesting  

 

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rmrix posted this 15 April 2020

I ordered an 80 grain from NOE about eight years ago. MMight be the same bullet design?

 

I chose as my first try with this maker, a four cavity, two PB and two holes as a gas check.

 

It arrived in a short time and I was wow'ed! Just like yours,  it cast great bullets from the get-go. It is on the list of the easy cast molds I own.

I really like the they way they work in my Winchester 1892 25-20.  The plain base I cast hard and loaded over 5.5 grains of Hercules 2400 with a Rem 7-1/2 primer. That primer was a key to BEST accuracy.

The gas check I use for the hotter rounds I make. 13 grains of AA- Data 2200 and any hot small rifle primer to light it up. It seems the right primer has some effect on accuracy in my set-up.

I bet you will like your new 25 cal mold. Post what is working when we get paroled.

 

Ta ta for now -gota go eat.

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Balhincher posted this 19 April 2020

Rmrix:

Did a little shooting with the new 80 gr NOE bullet. FYI the full number of my mold is 260-80RF. It's a double cavity mold. 

Shot three groups from 50 yds  from my bench with the bullet cast pretty soft. Not sure of exact mix of scrap, WW, and Lino but I can scratch nose with fingernail.  (Bullet nose, not my nose) (sorry, this lockdown may be making me giddy). The load was 8.0 gr 4227 from IMR can. Not sure if powder was made after IMR sold to Hodgdon. The primer was Win small rifle and bullet was seated and crimped in provided groove. The rifle was my old Kimber 25-20. 

I was pleased with the results for the first try. As is, this would make a pretty effective small game load if this is true measure of load accuracy. The average velocity was about 1440 fps but there was a fairly large velocity difference from shot to shot for some reason. I'm hoping some experimentation will shrink these groups somewhat. The rifle will shoot about MOA with jacketed bullets. 

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Balhincher posted this 19 April 2020

I notice my photo is lying on its side. It was right side up in my photo library. Not sure what to do to make it travel through the wires without tipping over. 😎

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Glaciers posted this 24 April 2020

 Just noticed this posting with interest I might add.  Just yesterday I was looking at NOE's SC260-80-RF thinking that would be just right for the 25-20.  I had a 92 years ago but, you know the story.  Another one down the road that is regrettable to be sure.

Anyway I've been negotiating with a neighbor over his Remington model 25 in 25-20.  I love the little Remington pumps.  I currently have beautiful model 12 - 22LR in about 95% condition.  Never have owned a model 25.  This one is about a 70% gun, but very crisp action.  Well we are working on a trade these last 6 weeks and just got to have it in my hands 2 days ago.  He is suggesting a trade that would leave me on the short end of the stick.  Were still thinking trade, but it will have to even up a little better for me.  I might just take him up on his cash price and keep my trading stock.  The gun isn't going anywhere, so just the verbal haggling on a remote basis do to current conditions.  

I will follow this posting about the 25-20 and the NOE bullet with great interest.

Thanks John 

 

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pisco posted this 24 April 2020

i’m waiting on a 25-20 cbe mould 87 gr with gc watching with interest

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Balhincher posted this 14 May 2020

Have done some more shooting with the NOE 260-80RF bullet in the last couple of weeks. I have 3 different 25-20s but have been doing all the load testing with my Kimber since it has a scope. The two 92 Winchesters have iron sights; one a tang peep and the other just open sights. 

with IMR 4227 loads ranging from a low of 6.5 grains up to 8.0 grains I've fired a total of 15 five shot groups from 50 yards. Mostly they were 8.0 grain loads. The average for these 15 groups was 1.06 inches  The velocity of the 8.0 grain load was 1420 fps.  This will  not put me in contention for any postal matches but my objective is to find a small game load.  With this roughly 2 MOA level accuracy I should be dangerous to the squirrels at usual ranges.

i also shot a few groups with 9.0 gr of IMR 4198 and those averaged about the same or a tad better.  Haven't  shot enough to to say for sure.

The NOE mold continues to easily produce visually perfect bullets without much effort.  My preliminary conclusion is that it will turn out to be a fine 25-20 bullet.

 

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