I'm new to gas checks and am having a problem that there has to be a solution to . .
Background - I'm using a Winchester Model 94 30-30 "Ranger". Buying 1 X fired brass. I'm using cast boolits.
I haven't had a lot of time to cast so bought some 118 gr plain base boolits off of a guy to get started. They were sized .309. I'm not loading those "hot" but want to get a load worked out to be similar to the old small game loads - having fun and the rifle is shooting fine with them - no leading - working my load up using Red Dot (because I have an 8 pound jug) and am gradually raising my POI as opposed to POA.
Now for my gas checks . . . I have a Lyman double cavity 311-41 that lists as casting a 173 grain gas check. I cast up about 400 today. I'm not a "high tech" caster . . been using a Lyman bottom pour dipper and a propane hot plate for 50 + years. For my pistol and 8mms, etc. - I buy "range lead" and it has always worked fine. Today . . the casting went easy and the boolits turned out very nice - full fill, etc. While I never load "max" or "hot" . . . I would like to see what these will do out of the carbine but not end up with a lot of leading - thus I'm wanting to gas check to try it and to get experience with gas checking.
Since my plain base boots work fine at .309 out of my Winnie Ranger . . . I was going to gas check a few and then start to work up a load. I use Lee push through dies. I have a .309 and a .311. I put some boolits in a tupperware bowl, swirled them in some paste wax to lube them for the sizer. I put them through the .311 first - just the bare cast boolit - base going through first and pushing on the flat nose. Then I went to slide on my Hornady gas checks and I find that the gas check base is enough oversize or out of round (we know not all molds cast perfectly round). The base is just enough oversize that the gas check cannot be seated with the thumb so the bottom of the gas check sits tight to the bottom of the boolit. A couple I put through the sizer were obviously not seated all the way down as they come out with the gas check tight on the boolit . . but it was not square with the boolit . . . i.e. it was canted.
It appears that the gas check base of my boolits is just enough oversize or out of round that the gas check will not go over it easily. So . . . .
Is there a trick to getting them over a fat base and get them to sit tight to the base so it can be put through the sizer? Or . . . should I be looking at another mold? I purchased this one off of flea-bay and I'm wondering it that is why it was being sold? I'm not adverse to ordering a Lee gas check in a similar weight and a FN with a GC base to use in the Winchester. But . . . do the Lees cast so that the gas check can be put on with thumb pressure and then run through the push through sizer to crimp it on and size the boolit and the check.
If these boolits aren't going to work, I can always shoot them up as plain base boolits so that's not a real issue. But I could sure use some help/advice to get this problem taken care or get my "thinking cap " on straight in regards to it.
Also . . just out of curiosity. If a boolit such as what I'm talking about has a gas check that is tight but not sitting square . . and it is loaded and used . . . does the gas check sitting crooked have any real effect on the accuracy or will it throw it "catty wampus" as it speeds down range?
Thanks for any help or advice - greatly appreciated.