Gas checks

[DENNIS B]

I'm useing lymans 358156 158 gr swc bullet and getting good accuracy in my .357 and 38 spl..revolvers ..what kind of results could I expect if I use the same bullet but leave off the gas checks for light loads in my 38 spl. and ..357 thank you DENNIS B

[blaser.306]

You would likely shoot bigger groups and have more excessive leading , due to the Boolits base having a more narrow lead driving band (more chance) of gas cutting . I tried a few with my .44 mag and for the greif that it caused I felt mutch further ahead just buying a plain base keith type Boolit mold !!!

[runfiverun]

you probably won't see a lot of difference if you work your loads.
i shoot 4-6 grains of titegroup in my 41 mag with no g/c on a g/c design boolit.

[Bret4207]

Use the search feature. No offense, but this question gets asked at least once a week and there are scads of posts here on the subject.

Short answer- it works fine with some loads in some guns. In others it a disaster.

[Kraschenbirn]

I cast 358156s from straight Lyman #2 alloy and water quench. With or without doesn't seem to make much difference in my guns - (2) Rugers and an S&W - so long as I keep the velocity under 1000 fps. Push 'em any faster and I begin to see some lead fouling after the first (50) rounds...'specially in the S&W.

Bill

[beagle]

For the excessive cost of gas checks, many of us have had the GC shank removed on the 358156 and it works just fine.

Mostly we do this with the HP version but no reason a "solid" wouldn't work just as well./beagle

[Slow Elk 45/70]

If your using it for lite loads, water drop the boolits, and shoot them. Works for me with the
.357 with your boolit and 44 mag with the 429215 boolit. Cheaper than GC's.

Try it, you may like it.

[bigdog454]

I was thinking about using nitro card wads for GC's. Do you think that they would work? I'd only use them in straight wall cases like the .357 etc.