Anyone Shooting the NOE 228-74-RN?

5shot

Active Member
Just picked up a CZ 527 Carbine in 223 Rem and will be looking for a good bullet for it. It's a 1:9, so I am planning to go heavy with my cast bullets, since I won't be able to drive them very fast. I thought about getting an older 1:12 model, but I really want to shoot some heavy jacketed stuff too, so the 1:9 won out.

The 228-74 looks like it should be a good pill, but hoping to get some input from actual users. Couldn't find much online.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I dunno, I've been driving my 68-grain cast to nearly 3,000 fps in a 9 twist, so you can choose to believe in the bogey man or not. The trick is fitting the bullet to the throat and using the correct alloy and HT hardness for the velocity. Unless you have chamber throat dimensions for YOUR rifle, nobody can predict how the 228-74 is going to work for you.
 

5shot

Active Member
I'll be doing a pound cast to see what I've got to work with before I order a mold. If you are getting close to 3000, I will keep an open mind. I'll be water dropping them, and letting them age sufficiently before loading. I usually use 2500+ Lube...is there a different lube I should be looking at?
 

Ian

Notorious member
I think Waco uses the 2500+ lube for his high-velocity .308 loads, perhaps he will weigh in. I have no experience with it but it ought to be just fine.

One thing I had to do was make a form die for the Lyman 45 luber which re-shaped the nose a little along with sizing the body to fit the enormous throat of my particular rifle. My experience (after being told to expect as much by more experienced .223 handloaders) is that th fit of the part between throat entrance anf the origin of the lands is quite critical at higher velocities.
 

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I think Waco uses the 2500+ lube for his high-velocity .308 loads
Yup. I run the 30 XCB bullet in my .308 @ 2650fps with pretty good accuracy and zero leading. Lar's makes some good lube. I'm too lazy to get too much into making my own lube like some of the guys do.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure the 74 will handle a lot of speed.

but I wouldn't get to thinking all I could do with a 22 cal anything was 1500 fps.
heck 4grs of red-dot far exceeds that velocity.
 

5shot

Active Member
That was one I had considered. With such a small bullet, does an aluminum mold stay hot enough for good fill out?
 

Ian

Notorious member
It does at 4.5 pours per minute and a manicurist's fan to help the very generous sprue puddle freeze just solid enough to cut without smearing.
 

5shot

Active Member
not after you weight sort them.
you need to use a little bit of OCD on the little guys to get the best results.

True, and I am already very picky on sorting and weighing, it's just a lot easier to be that way when 5 drop at a time as opposed to 2 :D
 

5shot

Active Member
Powder recommendation? I have 4227, 4895, 335 (and WC844) and probably a few more I have forgotten about.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I shoot a lot of 322 under jacketed bullets, but have had good luck with 4895 with cast.
19grs usually won't 100% function an AR butit's a good place to start working forward from.
322 I'd drop back even further and come up until any stringing settled down.
for just fun shooting 11 grs of 2400 is super fast and easy to assemble with just a powder drop, the speed is still over 2-K but it kind of shoots like a BB gun.

4227 ever gave me any accuracy in any of my 22 cal rifles, too bad too it looked like a good fit.
 
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5shot

Active Member
Thanks for the suggestions. Since this is a bolt gun, I can deal with not having it cycle the action. I'll play around with powders once I have a mold in hand.