Anyone ever used gas checks ?

[joepistol]

Was going thru my garage & ran across a small box of 44 mag cast bullets w/ gas checks.
I recall gas checks were used so one could load cast bullets to greater velocities than a cast bullet would normally be loaded, w/o having leading issues in the rifling. These g/c pills were given to me, many yrs. ago, by a friend that I taught to load.

When I load 44 mag cases, I almost always use a jacketed bullet, if they're being pushed > 1K fps. Decided since I was loading some m/t 44 mag cases, I should use these g/c bullets, to empty the storage box where they're taking up space. Looked @ a couple manuals I have & don't see any load data for g/c bullets. Decided I should weigh a few, & discovered they vary in weight considerably. Most are 258gr-260gr on my digital scale. Thought I would ask if anyone has loaded 44 cal rds. with g/c bullets ? What velocity were they loaded to ? I'll be using 2400.
I was thinking I should just load them to around 1K fps and use them for plinking.. maybe try them in my Marlin 1894 carbine.
Thoughts or ideas ?

 

[dennishoddy]

I ended up with some 325 grain lead bullets with gas checks in .429 diameter. Don't think I'll shoot them in the Ruger Super Redhawk, but might in the Marlin 336 at pretty slow velocities.
I've shot a ton of coated lead in higher velocities that didn't have a leading problem.
I think gas checks were an early work around to prevent lead fouling that worked to prevent the hot gasses from melting the lead on its way down the bore.

 

[joepistol]

.." I think gas checks were an early work around to prevent lead fouling that worked to prevent the hot gasses from melting the lead on its way down the bore."

I agree. Gas checks allowed cast bullets to be shot at higher velocities, w/o leading the bore. Adding a gas check to a cast bullet (made for g/c's) was an less expensive option to purchasing FMJ or JHP bullets.. which cost 2 X more..(or even more)

I used to shoot cast bullets in my handguns almost exclusively....until polymer coated bullets came along.
I've still got a few boxes of cast bullets in my component stash , but for the last 15+ yrs. have only purchased polymer coated bullets for my handguns.
I do buy some FMJ and JHP bullets to load, when I find them on sale, mostly for what I'd call "personal defense" loads.

I've found I can load polymer coated bullets to 1K fps, or a little more & get no leading in my bores.

 

[Howland]

I used gas checks in a Super Blackhawk with 300 grain cast bullets. My most accurate load dropped from 17.5 grains of Accurate #9 to 17.2. I never put them across a chronograph but the reason I tried them was not to push velocity (Trying to push velocity past your most accurate load is a fool's errand and I have zero desire to find out what lies there.) but to reduce leading in the barrel. For that they worked very well.

 

[red442joe]

I am loading my boolit (9mm interpretation of a H&G 68) to about 1100 fps out of a stock barreled G17 with a Lot of miles.
Current clip-on wheel weight alloy, 115gr micro-groove, tumble lubed with Alox.
Original loading was swaging the boolit to about .355 when seating. Horrible leading, massive amounts, accuracy Gone by fifty rounds.
Barrel slugged just over .356. As cast drops at .359, adjusted dies to seat boolits that are .3575 when pulled.
Leading is nil at 200 ish rounds.
Bore fit is most important.

Joe

 

[Skyviking]

Gas Checks are not obsolete and are a useful component for the bullet caster who likes to drive softer lead-alloy bullets fast w/o leading. Provided they are sized correctly for your cylinder throats and bore and but you are interested in developing loads for their design and weight range, I would simply use them for load/pressure development and then cast or source some consistent-weight and sized bullets to settle on an accuracy load.


Joe, I agree that sizing the bullet to the bore diameter is important in autos while in revolvers, the cylinder throat diameters and barrel throat/forcing cone diameters should be compatible (smaller cylinder throat diameter than the forcing cone/barrel throat, or exactly the same - good luck on that) Your "boolit" at .359" as-cast is too large for any 9mm or your stock Glock 17 barrel, which I will guess is not a GEN 5. The earlier glocks have a polygonal bore, which the factory and every respected reloading authority advises against using lead bullets in. Bullets should be sized when lubed, not when/while seated in the case and I would encourage you to get a mold closer to .355" as-cast, since the bullet will "slug up" (obturate) when fired - and thus not having to be swaged down, which increases pressures drastically.