Gas Check seating advice please

[Tazman1602]

Hey Guys,

OK, don't laugh too hard now. I've cast pistol bullets for a while and this forum has gotten me back to casting big time with all the good instructions here. Years ago I was casting for .30 cal and had very good luck ---- I remember that much.

SOO, having picked an old Winchester 30-30 out of the safe I cast up about 2-300 nice 173 grain flat nose for it. I use gas checks for hunting with this because I push them up compared to paper punching.

Anyway was seating GC's, sizing, and lubing, sizer felt a little "funny" on the upstroke but ah heck, that's just the GC...un huh, shoulda stopped and checked but NOOOOO, just kept right on shoving them through. Then when I went through the batch at least half of the GC's didn't seat right or were dented and not seated all the way..............then I looked over on my reloading bench and doggone, I had a Lyman Gas Check seating tool I wonder what.....ARRGGGGGHH! I don't have issues seating pistol GC's or my big .458's at the same time as sizing/lube but .30 cal I do for some reason and had in the past as I NOW remember. Tried the GC seater on some extras I had and they seated perfectly so half my perfect bullets went back in the "lets melt 'em down and try again" pile.

I can't remember whether I should seat the gas check and then lube (makes sense, the bullets have already been through the sizer once before I heat treat them...) or whether I should lube and then seat the GC.

Opinions? Please?

Many Thanks,

Art

[StarMetal]

Hey Guys,

OK, don't laugh too hard now. I've cast pistol bullets for a while and this forum has gotten me back to casting big time with all the good instructions here. Years ago I was casting for .30 cal and had very good luck ---- I remember that much.

SOO, having picked an old Winchester 30-30 out of the safe I cast up about 2-300 nice 173 grain flat nose for it. I use gas checks for hunting with this because I push them up compared to paper punching.

Anyway was seating GC's, sizing, and lubing, sizer felt a little "funny" on the upstroke but ah heck, that's just the GC...un huh, shoulda stopped and checked but NOOOOO, just kept right on shoving them through. Then when I went through the batch at least half of the GC's didn't seat right or were dented and not seated all the way..............then I looked over on my reloading bench and doggone, I had a Lyman Gas Check seating tool I wonder what.....ARRGGGGGHH! I don't have issues seating pistol GC's or my big .458's at the same time as sizing/lube but .30 cal I do for some reason and had in the past as I NOW remember. Tried the GC seater on some extras I had and they seated perfectly so half my perfect bullets went back in the "lets melt 'em down and try again" pile.

I can't remember whether I should seat the gas check and then lube (makes sense, the bullets have already been through the sizer once before I heat treat them...) or whether I should lube and then seat the GC.

Opinions? Please?

Many Thanks,

Art

Seat the checks first and then lube because that gas check shank will let lube leak past it, make kind of a mess. You may have to make sure your checks are fully seated before sizing. Check see on sizing the first one that the checks aren't snagging on the lube holes in the die. I assume you're using a Lyman/RCBS type luber/sizer.

Joe

[Tazman1602]

Seat the checks first and then lube because that gas check shank will let lube leak past it, make kind of a mess. You may have to make sure your checks are fully seated before sizing. Check see on sizing the first one that the checks aren't snagging on the lube holes in the die. I assume you're using a Lyman/RCBS type luber/sizer.

Joe

Hey Joe thanks very much, I thought that's what I needed to do. when I seated the checks by themselves on the extra bullets I had they seated perfectly and the check getting hung up on the lube holes was exactly what I was feeling when trying to do it all at once. I have two sizers, Lyman and RCBS, just got the RCBS because Lymans customer service seems to have gone downhill and I've been trying to get them to ship me a link for two weeks. Methinks I'm just going to make a steel handle/link for it. The RCBS sizer is a much sturdier unit than my old Lyman.

After seating the gas checks separately the sizer then felt "normal" when running a bullet down it.

Thank you!

[StarMetal]

Hey Joe thanks very much, I thought that's what I needed to do. when I seated the checks by themselves on the extra bullets I had they seated perfectly and the check getting hung up on the lube holes was exactly what I was feeling when trying to do it all at once. I have two sizers, Lyman and RCBS, just got the RCBS because Lymans customer service seems to have gone downhill and I've been trying to get them to ship me a link for two weeks. Methinks I'm just going to make a steel handle/link for it. The RCBS sizer is a much sturdier unit than my old Lyman.

After seating the gas checks separately the sizer then felt "normal" when running a bullet down it.

Thank you!

Taz,

About the dies. Lyman's have the series of round holes. The older ones had more then one row of them. The RCBS have one row of holes on the outside of the die and on the inside there is a groove cut all away around the holed. I suspect this groove is catching your gas check. I prefer the Lymans and you can surmise why. Hope this helps you out some.

Joe