What to expect from gas ck loads

[jerrard]

For years I have not deviated from hand loading 357 and 44 mag routine.
Medium cast bullet loads with 231, heavier loads with jacketed bullets using 2400 or H110.
How well do gas cks work, can I load as heavy as jacketed or will it be somewhere in between?

 

[rcmodel]

If everything else is right (Alloy hardness, cylinder throat fit, correct bullet lube, etc.) you can load as fast or faster then jacketed.
And if everything else is right, you may not even need gas checks.

You can get the same velocity with less powder with lead bullets.
In some cases more velocity.

.357 Mag factory ammo was only loaded with plain base 158 grain lead bullets for about the first 35 years it was made. It was higher pressure and velocity then then the current SAAMI standards.

rc

 

[Bula]

I load both calibers, with and without checks attached. I think the nice flat base on some checked molds helps a little with accuracy. I do shoot both calibers from carbines and revolvers. Try the lyman 358429 and the 429421, I can push either as hard as is safe, to max velocities in my pistols. Accuracy is good too. Being as cheap as I am, I save the gas checks primarily for my heavier rifle loads.

 

[fourdollarbill]

I use gas a checked 160 gr LSWC with H110 and 2400 pert hot and I like them. I did find out for some reason (in my specific case with GC bullets)"if its not hot its not accurate". I think most of the GC recipes like in the Lyman 49th and others are all more than the equal weight jacketed bullet recipe. As long as your bullet is hard enough to hold onto the rifling without stripping out I would say "make em go as fast as you can" if thats the goal. Just a side note... When using my gas checked bullets in my GP100 with 2400 or H110 the best accuracy load is way above the saami standards. I don't typicaly like hot loads but thats how it works in my case using GC bullets.

 

[Palehorseman]

For the .357 & .44 mag in handguns, no need for GC, flat base boolits can be pushed to the max if boolit is sized right, properly lubed and of the required hardness.

But that is just MHO, after about 50 years of reloading.

 

[Maj Dad]

The only calibers I have ever used GCs on are rifle - 30-40, 06, 308, 30 carbine, 8x57 and 303 Brit. My 45-70 lead loads are all flat base and shoot fine. I'm sure I could work up loads for them that use flat base, but I just elected to make all of the rifle molds gas check to avoid the inevitable (at least for me) leading and scrubbing. I have minimal leading in my pistols - 9mm, 38/357, 44 spl/mag and 45s - whether modest or maximum using modestly hard alloy (probably 15-ish) or linotype in the hottest mag pistol & rifle loads. Any leading that accumulates in the pistols gets cleaned out easily with a Lewis Lead Remover. I can't believe I held out so long before getting it for all of the calibers. Makes cleaning a breeze and avoids the lead solvent du jour hassles...

 

[NoAlibi]

If you gas check a hard cast bullet that is properly lubed, what's the fastest you can push it in either a rifle or a handgun?

 

[Maj Dad]

Most of the manuals list 2000-2200 fps, though handguns have slower rifling and I suppose you might beat that a bit if the barrel were long enough. Lead will start stripping at some point, and you're going to start having problems but I am not a metallurgist and really have no interest in pushing lead beyond what are considered "normal" velocities. I have never chrono'd mine, but probably get from 1800-2000 fps in my rifles. My goal is simply a moderate and accurate load. Some of the old paper patched bullets did a little better velocity-wise, but you have to be a serious eccentric to go that route. The longer I hang around, the more I realize that moderation is not a lack of cojones, but a reflection of the wisdom of experience...

 

[NoAlibi]

Maj Dad:

"...I just elected to make all of the rifle molds gas check to avoid the inevitable..."

In over four decades of reloading I've never had the occasion to use gas checks. If I understand you correctly, in order to use gas checks the mold has to be designed for them. Is my understanding right?

BTW, thanks for the reply to my post #7.....Doc

 

[rcmodel]

Yes.

The bullet mold has to be a gas check design or there will be no reduced diameter on the base of the bullet for the gas check to fit on it.

rc

 

[mjyeagle]

expect everything lead bullets shoot faster because the lead is more slippy than a jacket in your rifleing i pretty much shoot only hardcast gas check bullets that i cast out of my 357 45 colt and 460 s&w

 

[Maj Dad]

Here are one flat base & one GC bullet. You can see the difference in the base and how the GC fits on it. When you run it through the sizer/lubricater, it seats the GC; Hornady & maybe other mfrs make them with a kind of ridge that grips the bullet base when pressed in by the sizer.

 

[NoAlibi]

Maj Dad - Thanks for the visual reference.

rc & Maj Dad - I always thought that the gas check was just swaged into the lead in the sizing die and I never gave any thought where the squeezed out lead that the gas check replaced was going. Thanks for setting this right.....Doc