Gas checks in the pot

[sathington]

Hello all,

I have a question that has probably been answered in the past, so my apologies if the answer was hiding in plain sight and I missed it. Here goes:

I have about 100 commercially cast gas checked spire point bullets I will never use. Can I just toss them in the melting pot and skim the gas checks out with the rest of the dross? I feel like I've heard of people doing this, but I'm hesitant to try it without some approval from those with more knowledge. I'd hate to lose a pot full of lead in an effort to salvage a couple pounds.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

[Markopolo]

If the bullets are not lubed, I would just throw them in my lee Casting pot and skim... if they are lubed, it will smoke something fierce, and the lube could actually spark a flame once melted. That is best done in an Ingot pot outside.

[rancher1913]

works fine, just make sure they are dry before dropping them in molten lead. best thing is to put them in a pot and slowly heat til melted.

[GARD72977]

I have never done a 100 before. Dont see what it would hurt.

[dondiego]

Sounds like a reason to buy a new rifle and shoot them.

[sathington]

Sounds like a reason to buy a new rifle and shoot them.

Haha, maybe so. They are spire point 44 caliber. I got them in a trade, and don't have a proper 44 seating stem to load them. But you do make a good point.

Also, I don't think I'll toss them in all at once. I was thinking of sprinkling them in the pot, like seasoning.

[rdwarrior]

Follow on question - could those salvaged gas checks from the pot be reused?

[upnorthwis]

You can re-use them but you would have to make a punch to open them up again. Also, the punch takes out the burr that helps it crimp on and stay on.

[sathington]

Well, just got done doing some casting. Dropped them in the pot about 5 at a time. Everything was fine, though they did smoke something awful. Thanks for the encouragement gentlemen.

As for the gas checks rdwarrior, they were intact and appeared fine, just dirty. I don't use checks myself, so I'm not sure what rejuvenating them would entail. Might be more work than it's worth, but isn't everything?

[lightman]

I've remelted sized and lubed bullets before. But not 100 at once. I did do 1000 once but they went into the smelting pot. The lube smokes and will burn. It also makes good flux. I've never tried to reclaim gas checks. Not sure how successful that would be. The gas checks, like bullet jackets, float to the top. I don't inspect bullets. I just cull the obvious rejects when I cast, again when I size and lube them and again when I load them. Very few bad ones get by me this way. But I have melted a few rejects that made it to the sizer.

[Bazoo]

The checks in question would be annealed dead soft by that heat for the amount of time it would take. They wouldnt then be able to take the pressure that a hardened check would take. They'd still work if you was running at slower speeds, but if you was pushing the edge of cast performance, they'd cause leading.

[Krag1902]

They'll harden some after being work being crimped onto a new bullet. I have used gas checks recovered from the berm at the range. Melt the lead, recover the checks ( the idea to have a punch to bevel the crimp out is a good one) and re-use. makes me feel like I'm getting ahead.

[country gent]

Those bullets could be used 5-10 at a time to flux the pot getting some use from them and the lube in the remelting. The checks will anneal but should still be useable if opened back up. Even in the annealed state they should work.
The problem is if those annealed checks show better groups then what

[Bazoo]

Country Gent... be funny if not only did those reclaimed checks show better groups, but annealing new checks in the same manner did not reproduce the same results! That'd be a story.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I am with the throw a few in once in awhile for flux and less smoke then all at once , I have done it no big deal

[osteodoc08]

Country Gent... be funny if not only did those reclaimed checks show better groups, but annealing new checks in the same manner did not reproduce the same results! That'd be a story.

Sounds like another investigative report for Larry Gibson to tackle! Merry Christmas everybody!

[dondiego]

You can re-use them but you would have to make a punch to open them up again. Also, the punch takes out the burr that helps it crimp on and stay on.

A proper size ball bearing and a firm tap will make those checks ready to go again.

[toallmy]

I have a little cup on my loading bench for all my ' how did I miss that ' cast boolits to go in . They end up on top of the cold casting pot , I recycle .

[rdwarrior]

A proper size ball bearing and a firm tap will make those checks ready to go again.

I have the NOE GC expanders as I pc my cast and the hornady GC are a bit difficult to get on without a slight expansion to get over the PC. So if everyone thinks the GC could be reused - I do have the stuff to expand them for re-use.

[gpidaho]

The Noe expanders work very well but I don't use mine much anymore since I bought the Noe gas check seating die. Best gas check tool I've tried for getting the checks on square and tight. If I were trying to salvage checks out of the pot I believe the expanders would be just the ticket. Gp

[lightman]

I have a little cup on my loading bench for all my ' how did I miss that ' cast boolits to go in . They end up on top of the cold casting pot , I recycle .

Me too. I often find the odd dud laying around at the range and also dropped 22 rimfire. Most of the center fire rounds have a lite firing pin hit, like from a dirty AR or 742. I pull these bullets and also the odd rimfire bullet and these get added to the next large smelt. My few reject cast bullets get added back to my casting pot a few at a time.

[Tom W.]

If I have that situation I'll put them in the pot after I check and make sure that they are dry and throw a wooden match in with them to burn the smoke off. I don't suppose I'll ever be able to not jump a bit when it ignites......

[Tom W.]

If I have that situation I'll put them in the pot after I check and make sure that they are dry and throw a wooden match in with them to burn the smoke off. I don't suppose I'll ever be able to not jump a bit when it ignites....

The gas checks won't hurt anything. If you have enough time to try to reuse them, have a ball. I just put them in my dross pan.

[GregLaROCHE]

You should keep in mind what is happening with the hardness of your alloy. Not knowing what alloy they are and how much you add at one time, could change your final hardness.

[kevin c]

A question for those of you that have put traditionally lubed boolits into the pot: was that a cold pot, so that the lube never went under the surface of molten alloy, or a hot pot with liquid metal? If it was the second, was there any spatter, or did the lube just rise to the surface and then burn?

[sathington]

Kevin, I put them in the pot at casting temperature. There's was no more spatter than when I drop my rejects in. The lube came right to the surface and started smoking and stinking. Pretty painless, but I did stand back after I dropped them in to err more on the side of caution.

And Greg, your point is well taken. At this time in my casting career, I'm just using range scrap. All my bullets are for handguns, they all get powder coated and I'm a terrible shot. I haven't started getting finicky about my alloy yet. Once I improve, I'm sure that will begin. Thanks for your warning.

[kevin c]

Kevin, I put them in the pot at casting temperature. There's was no more spatter than when I drop my rejects in. The lube came right to the surface and started smoking and stinking. Pretty painless, but I did stand back after I dropped them in to err more on the side of cautionThanks for your observations. I wasn't sure, but had worried that something like a steam explosion could occur. Evidently not in your case - I guess the lube doesn't get hot enough to vaporize under the melt, and won't produce gas from burning without oxygen either.

[Eutectic45]

Annealed checks worked fine in my 30-30. Keep the pot temperature low and remove the check quickly. If they coat with tin they will b unuseable.

[dale2242]

I use unwanted lubed gas checked boolit for fluxing.
The gas checks get thrown away with the dross.
I don`t bother with trying to salvage them...dale