NOE Powder Thru Expander Plugs

[Skinnedknuckles]

After reading about the NOE Powder Thru Expander Plugs here, I ordered some about 3 years ago and really like them for coated lead bullets. When I recently went on the web site to order some additional plugs, they were only listing one size. I called and learned that they have not made any in some time and were trying to decide whether to continue carrying them. I threw my vote in the box, but wondered if others might also want to voice their opinion.

[Ranch Dog]

I have a bunch of them but have stopped using them as of late. That started with my semi-auto cartridges when I moved everything to the Load-Master. The PTED expanding plug in the semi-auto cartridges is a flaring plug, not an expander, that places a 5° taper on the case mouth. When I started using the bullet feeder on the Load-Master, I quickly found out that an expanded case accepting a bullet from the feed fingers isn't as dependable as a flared case.

One of the problems with the NOE PTE plugs is that the entire plug is not the same length as the Lee plug. I recently custom ordered a PTED from Lee and was schooled on how the die body controls everything. If the expander plugs are going to be longer, like the NOE plugs, so does the die body.

PTEB_Lee_vs_NOE_45.jpg

The additional length of the NOE PTED plug makes it tough to obtain proper actuation of any Lee powder delivery system I have worked with, so I have stopped using them.

Al and I seem to check in with each other every week or two, and I brought up these plugs. He relayed that the reviews have been hot and cold. I suggested that he use the same plug length as the Lee plugs so that the die would perform and agreed that I would obtain the plugs from Lee. Specifically, I was examining was the 38-55 Win, 444 Marlin, and 45-70 Govt plugs. I spent all last weekend loading and measuring, and I don't see anything gained by not using the Lee plugs unless you have something beyond the reasonable range of these the stock expanders. If your application needs something different, Lee will make you the plug for $10.

Reference the three cartridges; here are the bullet size ranges that are acceptable:

• 38-55 Win - .376" ~ .379"
• 444 Marlin - .429" ~ .432"
• 45-70 Govt ~ .457" ~ .460"

With cartridge samples loaded with both the Lee and NOE plugs, I found no difference in bullet runout. Also, I decided to expand this evaluation to the following other cartridges:

• 32-20 Win
• 357 Mag
• 41 Mag
• 41 Mag
• 45 Colt
• 454 Casull
• 480 Ruger

Bullet runout never exceeded .0025" but a majority of the time runout was inside .0015". The NOE plugs were the same, but they could not run inside the Lee produced measurements.

I'm a pro-NOE guy, and Al is a friend of mine, but I don't see any advantage of him offering the plugs; but if he is going to reintroduce the plugs, he is going to need to redesign them to fit the Powder Through Expander Die bodies. In reality, they will simply be a copy of the Lee plugs. The only advantage he could offer is a different range of expanding, but even that has certain limitations given you only have a .3" to accomplish the expanding within the confines of the die. As an example using the 45-70 Govt; you still need the start diameter to fit the case mouth, but you only have .3" to get it whatever the target diameter is. Instead of an expanding die, it rapidly becomes a flaring plug like those used with the semi-auto pistols.

The Expander Plugs used with the Lee Universal Expanding Die is another story. This die has a long operating length, and anything anything is possible with it.

[Skinnedknuckles]

Ranchdog,

Actually the first critical dimension is the length from the lower end of the full outside diameter (near the expanding nose) to the ledge inside where the nose of the powder measure (or the nose of the insert in the Powder Measure Riser). It must be the same as the Lee plugs. If this dimension is too long, it will actuate the powder measure as it is screwed into place, moving the measure out from under the dispensing hole in the bottom of the hopper (this is the case with the .45 acp plug and the .38 Special plug). If it is too short, you may not be able to adjust it down far enough to fully actuate the powder measure.

Once that dimension is correct, then the overall length needs to be set so it doesn't bind up anything else in the stack.

The best model for the dimensions on the nose would be to copy the plugs in the Lyman M-die, IMHO.