paul h
11-21-2013, 02:39 AM
Dare I suggest we create another sticky, but this is a frequent enough question that I think it deserves at least a thorough enough discussion as to why one might want to use one, and why one might not. The answer as with all things cast bullet is, it depends.
This also seems to be really two different questions.
1) I'm purchasing a new mold for my 300 eargasplittenloudenboomer, should that new mold be a gas check mold and hence the caster is fully planning on installing gc's on the boolits.
2) I've got a gas check mold and was wondering if I could use the bullets in my gun without gas checks.
Let's look into this a bit. Lead is a fairly soft metal, and we can play with that a bit with alloying and heat treating, but still pretty darn soft. We are kicking the base of the bullet with a 16,000- 40,000+ psi hammer. As most of us are aware, while the base is just a unglorious end of the bullet, it is critical to top accuracy. So protecting the bullets dairy air is a wise move.
Gas checks serve several purposes. The protect the critical base of the bullet, they act as a hardened (relative to the lead) socket that engages the rifling and helps resist the shearing force of the rifling, and they can scrape minute quantities of leading and fouling from the bore.
On the flip side, if you're paying $1/lb for lead, a copper gas check will tripple the cost of a nominal 170 gr bullet. They also add another step to turning lead into a shootable bullet.
Back to the original question, do you need them and hence are they worth the additional cost. The majority of my handgun molds are plainbase. The ones that are gc's are that way for a paticular reason. My .358" 200 gr WFN is a gc because I want to use it in both handguns and my 350 rem mag. I always place a gc on the bullet as I don't know for sure what gun I'll use it in when I cast it, and for volume shooting in handguns I'll use a lighter pb bullet. In my 480 ruger I have both a pb and gc 400 gr mold and my buddy designed the one with the gc and I've seen no reason to plainbase it. 1000 gas checks will last me a long time in that chambering. I also ordered my Mihec 400 gr hp mold as a gc because I wanted to be able to use softer alloys in the hp and still achieve top accuracy.
For rifle rounds I'd tend to go with gc's as I want everything to go in my favor to provide top accuracy at over 2000 fps. When you give a cast bullet a 40,000 + psi boot in the rear, and drive it out the muzzle at over 2000 fps, you might as well have everything in your favory, don't scrimp on that little bit of copper or aluminum. If you're looking for mild plinking rounds, go with a lighter plainbase design to save on lead and copper.
My 2 cents, or 1/2 a gascheck ;)
This also seems to be really two different questions.
1) I'm purchasing a new mold for my 300 eargasplittenloudenboomer, should that new mold be a gas check mold and hence the caster is fully planning on installing gc's on the boolits.
2) I've got a gas check mold and was wondering if I could use the bullets in my gun without gas checks.
Let's look into this a bit. Lead is a fairly soft metal, and we can play with that a bit with alloying and heat treating, but still pretty darn soft. We are kicking the base of the bullet with a 16,000- 40,000+ psi hammer. As most of us are aware, while the base is just a unglorious end of the bullet, it is critical to top accuracy. So protecting the bullets dairy air is a wise move.
Gas checks serve several purposes. The protect the critical base of the bullet, they act as a hardened (relative to the lead) socket that engages the rifling and helps resist the shearing force of the rifling, and they can scrape minute quantities of leading and fouling from the bore.
On the flip side, if you're paying $1/lb for lead, a copper gas check will tripple the cost of a nominal 170 gr bullet. They also add another step to turning lead into a shootable bullet.
Back to the original question, do you need them and hence are they worth the additional cost. The majority of my handgun molds are plainbase. The ones that are gc's are that way for a paticular reason. My .358" 200 gr WFN is a gc because I want to use it in both handguns and my 350 rem mag. I always place a gc on the bullet as I don't know for sure what gun I'll use it in when I cast it, and for volume shooting in handguns I'll use a lighter pb bullet. In my 480 ruger I have both a pb and gc 400 gr mold and my buddy designed the one with the gc and I've seen no reason to plainbase it. 1000 gas checks will last me a long time in that chambering. I also ordered my Mihec 400 gr hp mold as a gc because I wanted to be able to use softer alloys in the hp and still achieve top accuracy.
For rifle rounds I'd tend to go with gc's as I want everything to go in my favor to provide top accuracy at over 2000 fps. When you give a cast bullet a 40,000 + psi boot in the rear, and drive it out the muzzle at over 2000 fps, you might as well have everything in your favory, don't scrimp on that little bit of copper or aluminum. If you're looking for mild plinking rounds, go with a lighter plainbase design to save on lead and copper.
My 2 cents, or 1/2 a gascheck ;)