8 X 57 mm plain base

[Ben]

Recently, I ordered a 2 cavity, NOE, 326331 RN mould. One cavity is a plain base, the other is a gas check.

I've yet to shoot any of the plain base bullets. I thought that today was the day to cast some and change that. Cast with straight WW's, my plain base bullets are dropping from the mould at .327". I'm sizing to .325 ". In my particular rifle, .325" has proven to be THE diameter of choice. This should make some FUN loads for my 8 X 57 mm Scout Rifle.

I have 100 pieces of 8 X 57 mm brass that I'll load up and test these new bullets with.
I'll say one thing, once this puppy gets to moving, it will be a like a train, it won't be easy stopped. Once this 100 degree heat breaks, I hope to get to the range and test these, when I do, I'll take my camera and take some photos of the targets and attach here.

Ben







These are lubed with Ben's Red and then rolled in BLL.
The BLL will help the nose riding portion of the bullet to have some lubrication also.











This rifle has always been a " nail driver " with just about any cast bullet load that I have put into the rifle :

 

[Jadcock]

Very nice.

 

[Josh]

I plan to draw up a mould much like my 30-06 heavy, I think it will look a lot like that. I bet it shoots great, and I wouldn't want to be a deer infront of your plinker loads.

 

[Ben]

I plan to draw up a mould much like my 30-06 heavy, I think it will look a lot like that. I bet it shoots great, and I wouldn't want to be a deer infront of your plinker loads.

Here is the NOE, 311331. This one is the " baby brother " to my 8 mm version,
I have this mould in a 5 cav. version from NOE and I've never shot it out of any .30 cal. rifle that it did not perform well :




My shooting friend Bryan and I loaded 20 rounds ( 30-06 with the 311331 plain base sized .311" ) up for his rifle and fired them in 10 shot groups at 50 yards. He fired 10 rounds , I fired the same load with 10 rounds at 50 yards also.

WOW ! ! We were both impressed , Needless to say that Bryan will be loading much more of this combination in the coming weeks.

Here is the plain base 311331 sized .311" and lubed with Ben's Red and rolled in Ben's Liquid Lube , IT IS A SHOOTER ! !

 

[35 shooter]

Now that's some good plain base shooting! Got this one filed under "things to know" for sure.

 

[Josh]

I have the 5 cav 311331, the first mould I ever bought. Waited a year and the nose measures .304 where he ran the seperate nose cherry in, directly behind that bulge it is .300 so I have never used that bullet even thoughit was highly anticipated.

 

[dbh1956]

I like it! I've gotten on the NOE 9.3 list. Ordered a 2 cab PB and GC hope it'll be fun

 

[Ben]

I have the 5 cav 311331, the first mould I ever bought. Waited a year and the nose measures .304 where he ran the seperate nose cherry in, directly behind that bulge it is .300 so I have never used that bullet even thoughit was highly anticipated.

Did Swede do all the work to that mould ?
Don't think I'd be very happy with that one for my .30 cal. rifles.

Ben

 

[300BLK]

The "first run" of the 311331 was done by NOE's job shop. I had one that had chatter marks in the nose and cast oversize, and Swede replaced it soon after his own equipment was up and running. Trying to cut a parallel nose that long is just begging for trouble.

 

[Josh]

Did Swede do all the work to that mould ?
Don't think I'd be very happy with that one for my .30 cal. rifles.

Ben

Yep, he did, the cavities are nice, it just refuses to chamber in anything I own.

 

[KHornet]

Ben, I bought that mold last week, 2 cav, 1 GC & 1PB. Cast 100 of each last weekend, but sized and lubed to 323, so will see what my rifle wants. Plan to load some this weekend, and shoot some next week, weather (hot-hot-hot)
permitting.

 

[JWFilips]

Ben,
That is a nice big boolit! Casting at .327" ( I size for .326") I would be tempted to shoot them as cast in my rifle! They look very similar to the Lee 329-205 I have that mould and size the boolits down to .326" but the cavities are both GC. With checks & Lube with my alloy they come in close to 215 grains With 20 grains 2400 they shoot very well up to 200 yds ( as far as I have shot them) I will be interested is what your loads are for a PB heavy boy like that!

 

[Ben]

Jim.

I'll make some progress with my 8 X 57 and these plain base bullets soon and share my results with all of you.

Ben

 

[JWFilips]

Ben,
At First when I saw the NOE 130 grain Group buy I thought Yes!.... "130 gr PB" what an Economy shooter! but I'm starting to realize that even my Gas checked 175 grain NOE mould (without gas checks) can out shoot it! So i'm really on the heavy boolit bandwagon for the 8mm! (& that is 6 grains BE vs. 6 grains BE!)

 

[KHornet]

I tend also to be on the heavy bullet bandwagon for plain base bullets. Recently got the NOE 55 or so grain .224 2 Cav, on GC one PB. The PB with my alloy (hard) runs close to 61 gr. Have yet to load for it, but have hopes for it at vols between 1200-1300 fps, when I find the right powder for 222 and 223. Might try it also in 22-250, but think it to be to long for the 22-250 twist.

 

[KHornet]

It looks like one of my winter projects will be to turn out 100 8x57 from once fired 06 cases. The 40 that I have shoot equal to the factory 8x57 brass, and have plenty of 06 brass. The more I shoot this ctg the more I like it. May have to invest in a mold in the 200 grain area.

 

[Ben]

Jim,

I have this 8 mm, 190 gr. mould in 2 cav. , from NOE.
One cav. is plain base ( from the factory), the other g/c.

Shoots real well.
You might like this one in your 8 mm rifle ?
I never met a Loverine that I didn't like.

 

[JWFilips]

Sorry To say Ben: When I was picking out my first NOE Mould I didn't know much about them. I did know the Ranch Dog Name and I had a Bunch of 175's From Larry Miller who helped me learn to load for the 8 mm! They were the original 175 RD 8 mm moulds. I saw NOE made these so I ordered one but it wasn't like Larry's original RD Mould; it was altered somewhat...so That was where my focus was at the time & I knew nothing of shooting light BE loads of 6 gr to put boolit after boolit into almost the same hole without pounding my neck & shoulder! Now i'm hooked on the plain base light loads........... after all I'm only killing paper anymore!!!
I ordered the drill bits to alter my mould but maybe I should sell it off and get a new one from Lars but I see their 180 RD is not available in PB & GC at this time
Looks like that Loverin may be a better choice!

 

[JWFilips]

It looks like one of my winter projects will be to turn out 100 8x57 from once fired 06 cases. The 40 that I have shoot equal to the factory 8x57 brass, and have plenty of 06 brass. The more I shoot this ctg the more I like it. May have to invest in a mold in the 200 grain area.

I had some of the best old 30-06 brass that I reformed ( From 1936 through 1953!) but I was really stupid and turned all the case necks to .009" thickness!
It would have been better to leave that nice heavy Mil Brass fat in the neck(.012"/ .014") to center the cartridges in the chamber!!! Yes What a fool!
Live & learn; I'm not sure I will get another chance at the old Mil treasure trove but I learned my lesson ...Don't Neck Turn anything that you shoot with cast boolits!
that piece of lead is going down the bore tight or not!

 

[Ben]

Jim,

I've just purchased some reformed 8 X 57 mm brass ( formed from US Mil 30-06 )

Some of the necks are .017 " thick. They seem to vary from .015 - .017" in thickness.

These thick neck cases wont' chamber with a .325 " dia cast bullet in my 8X57 mm Scout.

I took a " dummy round " and coated the outside of the neck with a black magic marker, I tried to chamber the round, couldn't do it, it was easy to see the problem. Neck walls too thick. I plan to turn them to about .0125" or so.

I checked some R-P commercial 8 X 57 mm and that is about what the neck thickness was running on those. All of the commercial 8 X 57 mm cases chamber smoothly in my two 8 mm rifles.

Ben