Need opinions/ advice

[drklynoon]

Fellow casters,
I am working on building a load for a new .41 Mag. The mold I choose was NOE's .412-238 WFN GC http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=1794. The bullet drops .412 on the dot with WDWW. I am planning on shooting it at or around 1300 FPS. The trouble is that I ordered my gas checks through NOE and I do not know if they are smaller or harder or the same as other brands but I am having an extremely hard time getting them to seat to a bullet even before coating after coating this is just impossible. Do you guys know if Al's gas checks are different than Hornady's or would I run into the same problem no matter what brand I use?

Second issue is my throats are at .410 and I am going to size to .410. The bullet drops .412 and after coating I get .414. This seems like an excessive amount of sizing and I worry about bullet deformation. Am I worrying for no reason or is .004 too much to size?

Lastly, if my process is going to be: cast, seat gas check with 4500, size with lee PTSD, coat, and resize this seems like an awful lot of work, would you recommend just going back to a standard lube or is the PC going to be that advantageous for the magnum load?

I'm really worked up over this because I am wanting to get a good base to do my load development tests. I'm hoping to use this bullet and gun for some long range shooting and I am kinda new to long range handgun shooting so I may be overcomplicating things. Any help you can provide would be awesome.

Thank you
Nathan

[jcren]

If you are powder coating, sizing .004 is no problem. If the die is polished you could go to .008 or more. Use the Lee push thru to seat checks, you can annual them in the oven if they seem tough. If the checks will fit after coating, one step process.

[drklynoon]

Jcren,
I am PCing that is why I put it in this section but in retrospect may not have been the best place. I tried the Lee Push Thru sizer to seat the checks and this did not go well at all. I had to do the wrench trick in my 4500 to get them to seat at all. I am going to measure the shank tonight so I can give more specific information. I haven't oven annealed gas checks before but this may be helpful. What temp and time do you suggest as I am sure this will be debated. I appreciate your help.

Thank you

[drklynoon]

Ok, I read around and I will try the toaster oven method of annealing. Hopefully this makes the difference that I need.

Thank you

[jcren]

Do measure, if they are too small they aren't worn the struggle. Shank diameter+2×check thickness should equal your finished size or a little over.

[drklynoon]

The shank measures at .389 the id of the check is .376. The check thickness is .017. so the OD of the check plus the shank is .423. I am sizing to .410. This is not going to work is it?

[jcren]

You can flare a few with an appropriately sized drill shank or skew head, but not practical for a batch. Maybe someone has a better way to install tight checks?

[drklynoon]

Jcren,
I appreciate your response. I emailed AL at NOE. I'm thinking this may be an issue where the mold was designed for 416 gas checks and not the 41's that I bought from him. Hopefully this is the case and I'll get this straight. I really appreciate your help.

[drklynoon]

I called swede and the answer is that the bullet is intended for the .416 gas checks. Now I read on here that the shank diameter for the .416's is .395 and I am at .389. That is only a .005+- difference but without knowing the id of the Lyman thins or the gator .41's it is kind of hard to determine what check to to use if the bullet doesn't match the specs for the .416. Anyway, no big deal It's a $50 mistake on my part but I really wish the intended gas check was noted on the spec sheet. This would reduce the confusion a bit. Thanks for the help guys. I recognize that this was a poor place to post this and this info has been touched on before. Trust me I did a search and my questions were still not answered. In fact, I may do the research and post to the gas check size sticky to clear up this .41 mag dilemma.