alsomontanamark
03-27-2013, 10:23 PM
OK, This is my first post, I have never cast a bullet, but I just recieved 1 for .223 in the mail. My possibly stupid question is ...... how come we can push a 40 grain bullet in a 22 magnum without a gas check to 22-2400 fps, but we need a gas check for our cast bullets in .223, 22-250, etc?
How fast can we really push our bullets before we need a gas check? Is it a function of weight verses cross sectional area (caliber)? And if so, is there a formula to use so I can calculate at what velocity I need to start using a gas check for a certain weight bullet in a particular caliber?
I guess an umpteenth question. How hard is the lead used in .22 long rifle and .22 magnum? It seems pretty soft, so why no gas check on the hyper speed ones, like lightning, thunderbolt etc, and .22 magnum as asked earlier. I suppose the use of gas check would somewhat depend on the aloy hardness that we are using, but I it seems like to me that the lead I will be casting for the .223 will be alloyed at least as hard as a .22 cartridge. The long rifle is used out to 100 yards in target matches with no gas check, very accurate, but of course the target ammo is going under 1200 fps.
It doesn't really seem like I have read articles on cast bullet shooting where people are pushing velocieties much faster than a .22 magnum at 2200-2400 fps. I have known guys that never clean the lead out of the barrels on there .22 long rifles, so I guess the gas check question is really in my mind as to weather it is necessary, if you get a mold with a flat based bullet where there isn't a ring for a gas check involved and shoot at velocieties under 2000 fps.
Well, being new, guess I have some sort of stupid questions, I'm sure this won't be the last post about greenhorn stuff.
Thanks: alsomontanamark
How fast can we really push our bullets before we need a gas check? Is it a function of weight verses cross sectional area (caliber)? And if so, is there a formula to use so I can calculate at what velocity I need to start using a gas check for a certain weight bullet in a particular caliber?
I guess an umpteenth question. How hard is the lead used in .22 long rifle and .22 magnum? It seems pretty soft, so why no gas check on the hyper speed ones, like lightning, thunderbolt etc, and .22 magnum as asked earlier. I suppose the use of gas check would somewhat depend on the aloy hardness that we are using, but I it seems like to me that the lead I will be casting for the .223 will be alloyed at least as hard as a .22 cartridge. The long rifle is used out to 100 yards in target matches with no gas check, very accurate, but of course the target ammo is going under 1200 fps.
It doesn't really seem like I have read articles on cast bullet shooting where people are pushing velocieties much faster than a .22 magnum at 2200-2400 fps. I have known guys that never clean the lead out of the barrels on there .22 long rifles, so I guess the gas check question is really in my mind as to weather it is necessary, if you get a mold with a flat based bullet where there isn't a ring for a gas check involved and shoot at velocieties under 2000 fps.
Well, being new, guess I have some sort of stupid questions, I'm sure this won't be the last post about greenhorn stuff.
Thanks: alsomontanamark