Gas check questions on pistol bullets

[Wasalmonslayer]

I would have never guessed this would have taken off like this!!!!
I received more answers than I had questions for on many levels.
Kinda wished I would of got the plain base molds now!

Oh well it's just money and I would just as soon give it to Al at Noe as anyone!

Thanks for the wealth of info guys and have a great night!

Max

 

[RicinYakima]

9.3, if I can call you by your first name, I have used it in my C-96 for years. But I bought a Tokarov last summer, one of the new Yugo's, as I like the round but don't want to wear out the Mauser. After I cracked the frame on the CZ-52, I haven't bought another. Ed Harris is sending me some of his new HP 85 grainers to try. I am thinking expansion will not be an issue. Ric

 

[freebullet]

I don't own any GC handgun molds. There are a couple I'd like to get for the 454 though.

In general I dislike gas checks as its an extra step & cost.

Don't feel bad about your order. I've been known to run GC designs without the gc. If your not competing or shooting long range same should work for you.

 

[KHornet]

Shooting GC bullets without the GC's works fine in Handguns. Shot quite a few that way. Never however tried it in rifle. May have to as a test at low vols.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Ric--

Just don't call me late to dinner...... I'm Al in most jurisdictions, ALLEN FRANKLIN when the wife commences an Inquisition. Ah, my beloved little Spaniard.

KHornet's comment prompted a thought.......I don't recall ever trying a gas check design minus its check in either short or long guns. I have tried checkless slugs as paper-patched core elements, and the results were all right.

 

[John]

Al, I remember BruceB telling me at Winnemucca that he had thousands of rounds of 358156 sent barebottomed through his 357's @ 100-1100 fps with no real difference in groups. I think you could get away with that at that weight and probable velocity but not much heavier or faster.

 

[Paden]

I mostly shoot a Ruger .45 Colt with a less than absolutely perfect barrel; it has a tiny bit of typical Ruger thread crush.... Nonetheless, it's far more accurate than I'm able to shoot, provided the correct load combination. I messed around for a year or so experimenting with a whole bunch of bullet designs, sizes, alloys, hardness, lube, powder.... Never could get the leading reduced to absolute zero with a PB. But it's fabulous with a GC. I'm a firm believer that a GC is an easy cure for a host of ills. It's a 'crutch' I'm happy and unashamed to use.

 

[JWFilips]

I know I can say as long as I have owned them I never have fired a copper anything through any of my S&Ws

 

[Lost Dog]

Folks been loading GC rounds w/o them for decades. Right after WWII there was a shortage of many metals and at one point there were no GC's to be had. Rule of thumb was reduce the load 300fps to 400fps in most standard rifle loading and kept the pistol (358156) around 1000~1100fps.

 

[James W. Miner]

I DO have gc molds but since making my own I shoot PB up into the .500's with PB. Just the alloy needed. GC's were for softer lead to stop skid at the base.

 

[Ricochet]

I wonder if perhaps there's more of a pressure effect than velocity on the benefits of gas checking? If they actually work by preventing blowby and gas cutting that would make sense. At any rate, at the pressure levels of .38 Super, 9mm Luger, modern .44 Magnum and velocities in the 1400s in handguns and 1700s in rifles well fitted rather soft plain based bullets work well. I seldom see ZERO leading with them, though. I already have several GC moulds and stocks of checks that I'll use, only for full power loads. I've shot bare bottomed GC bullets with similar results to PB designs.

 

[James W. Miner]

I only found one thing leaving a check off a GC boolit. This was a 30-30 TC Tender. With a GC I could hit pennies at 100 with a scope from the bench but I ran out of the unobtainium things once so i left them off.
Every boolit hit sideways at 50 yards.
I attribute that to loss of boolit length match to rifling so they would have needed a different velocity. Recovered boolits showed no skid and I had no leading. They were so stinking accurate with a GC I splurged and bought some.
I seen another thing with the gun after I sold it to a friend. We shot IHMSA and I would spot for him. I would watch his boolit drift right and it looked like it was going to hit the wrong ram at 200 meters, then it swung back and hit the one he was shooting at. This shows a twist borderline and the gun needed the boolit length.
You need to consider velocity and spin when you change a boolit so it might mean more load work.
I can't see leaving a check off to be bad if you get it right.
Prices today are based on when the mining ship gets back from the asteroid belt, It must cost a billion for a pound of GC's! What a scam.

 

[KHornet]

Have one GC 35, the old Thompson, but it doesn't shoot as well as does most all of my plain base, with emphasis on 358429 on the heavy side, and the lee 125RNFP on the lite side.