gas check on any lead bullet ??

[m171333]

Hi....brand new to the forum and have not loaded for 20 years. Used to reclaim 'lead' and cast 38/357 and 44 mag. Going to restart the hobby and add .41 mag.
I used to add gas checks to my bullets and the moulds were specifically set up for gas checks. Acquired a 41 mould that is not specifically designed for gas checks plus acquired some pre-made non-gas check lead bullets.
My question; should I/can I add gas checks to non gas check lead bullets? Assume this only necessary for hotter loads?
I see aluminum .41 gas checks on E Bay but no copper [other then the occasional .416]. aluminum OK?

As stated , ...brand new to reloading 41 and my skills are rusty...so please feel free to provide any advice.
....and sure hope I can start to find powder and primers as my stock is minimal.

thanks

Mike

[fcvan]

There are normal gas checks, designed for molds with a check shank, and there are plain based gas checks made from thin aluminum. If your mold is not designed for a standard check you can use the new plain based gas checks. These checks are generally made from soda can material or slightly thicker. I have been making plain based checks using CheckMaker dies from PatMarlins, a vendor on this site. His dies work very well and I enjoy making checks just as much every other aspect of the hobby.

I make 30 caliber regular checks, and 35 and 45 plain based checks. I have a 22 CheckMaker on pre order for when he adds this caliber to his inventory. As far as 41 mag goes, I have 4 molds, 2 that use gas checks and 2 that don't. The lightest is 195 grains and the heaviest is 230 grains. I have seen some loads that were much heavier than that but I generally stick with a Saeco 220 grain truncated cone gas check mold. This feeds the best in my 1894C Marlin and shoots great from my M57 S&W 8 3/8" revolver. Hope this helped

[doulos]

I dont know anything about gas checks. How do you attach gas checks to a bullet that doesn't have a gas check shank?

[tjones]

That's the best question ever.

[waksupi]

You don't. I will assume these are pistol boolits, and there are few instances where they would be needed.

I may be wrong, as I see another topic about using checks for non-checked boolits, but I stick with not needing them for pistols,

[longbow]

Not to be contrary but there are PB gas checks. Pat marlin makes dies to produce them as did Paco Kelly and Ed Wosika.

They can be swaged onto PB boolits.

Having said that, I have not used them but do have plans to make myself a .30 cal PB checkmaker... for rifle.

Not being a handgun guy, I can't offer much about GC's for handguns. However, I do shoot lots of .44 mag. in my Marlin and they are all plain base boolits with no problems using up to top end loads.

Longbow

[Cane_man]

like he said you swage on the PB gas check using a lubrisizer die, or some can do it with their push thru die... you can make your own aluminum gas checks from soda/beer cans, it is fairly easy to make the punch and die, their are several designs listed here in this subforum

[doulos]

You don't. I will assume these are pistol boolits, and there are few instances where they would be needed.

I may be wrong, as I see another topic about using checks for non-checked boolits, but I stick with not needing them for pistols,

what are the few instances gas checks are needed for pistol bullets?
I just ordered 2 RCBS molds with gas checks . 1 for 357 mag and 1 for 44 mag. I was actually most concerned about the .44 because i shoot it out of a G2 Contender sometimes and it has a lot more velocity than a revolver.

[waksupi]

I don't know of any pistols, aside from the Contender types, that shoot over 1700 fps. That is kinda the general cut off for needing GC's.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

what are the few instances gas checks are needed for pistol bullets?

I wanted to push a 41 cal HP faster than is prudent with the fairly soft alloy I wanted for maximum expansion.

[tbhutton]

JonB - What is the mold and what size checks are those on the 41 bullets?

Thanks!
Tom

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

JonB - What is the mold and what size checks are those on the 41 bullets?

Thanks!
Tom

Noe 41 Keith type RG2 215gr.
GC's are Popcan metal on a patmarlin 41PB checkmaker

FYI: these were cast with a soft range scrap alloy measuring about 7 BHN

[Whiterabbit]

soft alloy, massive hollowpoint, faster than prudent, gas check. That thing is gonna look like a muzzleloader roundball after recovery.

[Forrest r]

Very nice!!!!

I've just started making/testing my own pb gas checks. I've used/cast nothing but range lead for 3 decades now & cast for the 9mm, 38/357, 44spl/mag, 45acp & 30cal's (30-06).

These pb gas checks are the cat's meow & do extremely well in the high pressure/high speed rounds.

JonB gave a great example for the use of a pb gas check (I also like the Ben's Red lube on your bullets JonB). I cast hp's for the 357 & 44mag and these pb checks flat out work with a soft lead/full house load combo. I have a couple of molds ordered to be able to cast hp's for the 9mm & 30cal & the 9mm will use the pb gas checks also.

I shoot a lot of these bullets out of my contender: 9mm/357/44mag

I was making simple pb gas check makers;
Attachment 73901

That is a simple pb gas check maker that my brother saw & I ended up giving it to him. This is the next pb gas check maker I made to make pb gas checks for the 35cal bullets (9mm/38sp/357). I made this one so it can either be used in an arbor press or a reloading press (7/8-14 threads). It works like a freechecksIII check maker, 1 pull of the handle, 1 pb gas check.

Attachment 73902

Some bullets that have the pb check attached to them using both a lee push thru sizer & a lyman 450 luber sizer. These are .358 for the 38spl/357 & .356 for the 9mm.

Attachment 73903

The pb gas check maker that I use/made being used in a cheap lee challenger press. Simple extremely easy to use. Cut strips for a beverage can, slide them into the slot/body of the press & pull the handle. 1 pull ='s 1 finished check. No disc's to play with, no arbor press if you don't have one, just simple pull the handle & crank out pb gas checks.

Attachment 73904

[tjones]

As long a your using 9mm 357 and other straight cases your going to too much trouble. Just take the check and put it in the mouth of the case up side down and seat the bullet on top or it. For the heck of it I tried a few and learned it apparently was nothing new. It worked fine. I was privy via PM's that this use in the 9mm cleared up the leading problem with not a hint of loss of accuracy. The gent also said the checks could not be found anywhere.

[bstone5]

The installation of a Cola Can aluminum gas check on a plain base cast bullet will keep lead out of the barrel.

The cast bullets in the attachment are all powder coated and a cola can gas check installed.

This procedure will keep the barrel free of lead all the time.

Over the past two years several thousand of the bullets in the picture have been made and shot without any lead.

Some people indicate a gas check is not required on cast pistol bullets shot below 1200 FPS, I make the gas check maker on my lathe and the gas checks with a Harbor Freight 1/2 tin press.

It does not take long to make a lot of gas checks with a good single stroke gas check maker.

The gas check for the 357 of 38 caliber is used on the 9 mm and 380 bullet, this single gas check is used on 4 different bullets.

The same gas check is used on the 44 and 45 caliber bullets.

I use 4 gas check makers to put gas checks on all of the bullets in the picture.

This is just the methods I use.

Attachment 73912

[Idz]

Seems lots of other folks are GCing their range lead 9mm PB bullets rather than fooling around with different alloys. I run the Lee 358-105-swc with a homemade GC at about 1050fps and it works slick. This forum needs a sticky place for all the various GC maker designs since they seem to be scattered amongst a lot of threads.

[oih]

This was a very useful thread! I'll be able to feed my .450 Marlin with homemade lead bullets from an inexpensive LEE Mold, and a rather soft alloy (Bullet trap recovered, probably .22lr most of it.). Did buy aluminum gas checks of ebay. Been wanting a Freechex III, but I can buy a lot of them online for the cost. A "Freechex III" tool is 110 dollars + tax (25% on both item value and shipping), 150 dollars buys me roughly 2000 checks, that is probably 2 or 3 years worth of shooting...

[Doggonekid]

Midways GC run from just under $30 to close to $45 per 1,000. $125 should buy a years worth of shooting. What you don't GC you can PC.

[Shacklord]

Would these work in a Lee sizer?