Beveled Bases and gas checks

[jh45gun]

Before I got into casting and reading all the great info here I bought some cast bullets for my 30/30 that were beveled base and lubed with a red hard lube. I think it was some outfit Kansas bullet if I remember right they are now out of business. Well I never liked them and I prefer a gas checked bullet in my rifles except I shoot a hollow base in my 45/70. Well since I just got this 450 lubrisizer I decided to try to put a gas check on these beveled bases and see if they would grip. I never thought to try it with my lee sizer. Yep they grip the base just fine. I am using up some Ideal checks I bought at a rummage sale on these as I prefer hornady ones better. Even so with the ideal ones they are gripping the beveled base fine and they look like they were made for the bullet. Works for me now I will shoot these up.

[Scrounger]

Very interesting post! Can you show some pictures of how the bevel-based bullet looks with gas checks. Have you tried them for accuracy?

[racepres]

I love it.. very imaginative. I still have a 'fixture' that I "manufactured" to actually cut a gas check shank onto the soft lead [swaged] bullets available commercially. Can't say that it did any good tho!!! What were your benefits?? MV

[jh45gun]

Well the only benifit I can see is that I should be able to shoot them faster than a plain based bullet. Now I could be wrong with this but also while the bevel makes for easier loading I would think it would be worse for gas cutting than a plain flat base.

[unique]

I have used GC on bevel bases as well but my experience is they are difficult to keep parallel to the base meaning they go on crooked. My original intent was to clean the leading out of the barrel after a shooting seesion and for that they work quite well. As far as accuracy, the plain base bevel shot better without GC then with it, again 'cause they tend to be crooked.

[jh45gun]

What did you seat them with these are on straight and look like they were made for it. Will try to post a pic I tried once and it was too dark.

[racepres]

Pls keep us informed of the test results. I am to a point where I will have a bit of time for such stuff so I will conduct a similar [note that this will be highly scientific LOL] test soon.. MV

[jh45gun]

Best I can do with the picture I had to enhance this for some reason it was showing up dark even with the flash??? If you can see it well enough the checks are on straight.

[jh45gun]

Bullets on right have the checks. bullets look dark as I did not think that lube in the grooves was the greatest so I tumble lubed these a while back.

[racepres]

They do indeed look straight. Since they are cast vs swaged, perhaps the check will get you where yer going.. I just looked and there are none of my "modified" specimens lying about... I'll make some ... Maybe in a bit .. maybe tomorrow.. depends where I stashed the 'makin's".. MV

[jh45gun]

Pls keep us informed of the test results. I am to a point where I will have a bit of time for such stuff so I will conduct a similar [note that this will be highly scientific LOL] test soon.. MV

Probably be a while before I shoot them. I like to be comfortable when I shoot and snow and temps in the single digits or below 0 just does not cut it anymore. I use winter for reloading and other projects.

[racepres]

Huh? I found one!! One of those experiments that don't justify the time!! But according to my notes [it was a couple years ago] it did help reduce leading! MV

[oneokie]

jh45gun wrote

I would think it would be worse for gas cutting than a plain flat base.

Only if the boolits were smaller than groove diameter. If these boolits are the standard Mid Kansas Cast Bullet Inc. production, they are probably 92-6-2 alloy, somewhere close to 20+BHN.

[454PB]

Just be sure that the gas check is NOT seated below the case neck. They can come loose and become a bore obstruction.

[jh45gun]

Just be sure that the gas check is NOT seated below the case neck. They can come loose and become a bore obstruction.

Well that could be the case of any gas check then as say the ideal ones that just snapped or pressed on yet I have read about seating bullets below the neck here expecially in the case of say like a 7.5x55. If they do not come off trying to take them off with a fingernail I would think they would be safe.

[softpoint]

I've put gas checks on bevel base bullets for years. I once bought a large quantity of 240 gr. 44 commercial cast bevel base bullets. In an effort to use them without leading I tried several things. I would either boil the worthless lube out of them and re-lube and gascheck them, or later on I'd install the gascheck and then tumble lube them. Both remedies worked fine and they shot fine as well. I still have a few of those bullets. Without re-lubing and gaschecking those things would lead terribly, and that hard alloy was hell to clean out of the barrel. I've since tried it on some .45 cal. bullets where it worked fine as well

[454PB]

I agree. As long as they fit tightly enough that they can't be pried off with your fingernail, they are probably fine. I doubt that is the case if they are installed on a bevel base, rather than a boolit designed for gas checks.

[subsonic]

Just because I had some bevel base 255 SWC .452" with a SERIOUS bevel on them (are these SWCBT? ), and some gas checks laying out, and the right die in the lubrisizer, I tried it.

I think it will work.

That check is ON THERE. Not coming off with anything short of a screwdriver. I even dropped it and it's still on there. The boattail, I mean bevel base, is so large it left a fine lube groove ahead of it...

I did note that it shaved lead from one side as I was pressing it on. This means the check isn't centered. I think we all know what that means.... BUT, these bullets were very sucky before, maybe they'll be slightly less sucky now. And I can try to seat them nose first to see what happens..... maybe they'll be centered?

We'll see. I'll try a few on paper when the weather improves a little.

[jh45gun]

Mine seem to be going on square and they are not shaving any lead. They are on good so they I doubt will come off and to be honest this is not a steady thing for me it is just a way to use up some bullets that I did not like before. Once these are gone I WILL NEVER buy any again. I do not need to since I now cast my own that are made for gas checks.

[jh45gun]

I've put gas checks on bevel base bullets for years. I once bought a large quantity of 240 gr. 44 commercial cast bevel base bullets. In an effort to use them without leading I tried several things. I would either boil the worthless lube out of them and re-lube and gascheck them, or later on I'd install the gascheck and then tumble lube them. Both remedies worked fine and they shot fine as well. I still have a few of those bullets. Without re-lubing and gaschecking those things would lead terribly, and that hard alloy was hell to clean out of the barrel. I've since tried it on some .45 cal. bullets where it worked fine as well

I suspected that the lube on these bullets was not that great so that is why I tumble lubed them I guess I will do it again after I gas check them as I have no desire to boil out the bad lube.