431244 & Gas Checks

[WARD O]

Good morning all,

I am new here and am looking for a little help.... I acquired an old Ideal mould 431244 and thought I would cast up a few oversize bullets for a 44 mag I own with some oversize cylinder throats. This is a SWC gas check of about 255 grains. I decided to use some various scrap and old bullets etc for melt and made up a couple of hundred. They are soft enough to dent with a hard finger nail but since I wanted to shoot them around or under 1,000 fps I thought that would be ok. They came out at 258-259 grains and around .434-.435 if I remember right. I intend to size them to .432.

The problem is that the new Hornady gas checks I have don't seem to want to fit onto the bullet - they are too tight. They are unwilling to be forced on with anything short of a hammer! Anyone care to offer any suggestions....

Thanks
Ward

[James C. Snodgrass]

You might try to anneal them and bell slightly with a jacketed bullet or socket the appropriate size. Good luck James

[WARD O]

James,
Last night I tried opening them up using a jacketed bullet from a 405 Winchester. Just set the base into the open gas check and tapped the bulet nose sharply with a light hammer. It seems to be working! Now I am just waiting for the new .432 sizing die to arrive and then I will start lub/sizing.

I am not sure I am looking forward to opening up all those gas checks.

Thanks for the help.

Ward

[454PB]

Try them barefooted. At 1000 fps, you shouldn't need a gas check anyway.

[WARD O]

454PB
Yes, I've considered that too and I am sure it would work well but I am thinking that in the future I might want to go with a harder alloy and get the speed up a little higher. I thought I may as well consider options now.

Don't the bullets cast a little smaller if the alloy is harder? Maybe then the fit will be a little better.

Thanks
Ward

[seabreeze133]

The suggestion about barefooted makes a lot of sense. Another solution would be to try the 429421 Keith bullet if u are only going to the vicinity of 1,000fps and save the 431244 for the 1,400 fps range loads.

No need to waste gas checks on lower velocity loads.

Straight wheel weights work great w/the Keith boolit and water quench the higher velocity loads w/wheel weights.

Before u go too far w/anything, slug the bore and measure the chamber throats.

Don

[RSJR]

I have this problem with my 429244 mold. I use a chinese 1/2 ton arbor press to pre-seat the gas checks. I then use the same arbor press to crimp the checks on in a homemade sizer die (.432). Without lube my WW water dropped cast boolits weigh in at about 259 grains.
I have a 44 mag NEF Handi-Rifle with an over-sized bore and have killed several dozen prairie dogs recently with it. ( 10 to 200 yards w/ lots of "kentucky windage" coming in to play....)
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Ron

[454PB]

Ward, using a harder alloy will make them larger in diameter. The smallest diameter your mould will throw is pure lead.

[WARD O]

Thanks for all the good advice guys - lots of good ideas.

I think I will use the gas check boolits for higher velocity loads and go with 431244 sans the check for the 1,000 fps loads when I need an oversize 44 slug.

Ward