Is there a velocity that requires gas checks? Or is it basically different for all situations? I'm tired of gas checking bullets,. and I know that if you have a lapped barrel (freedom arms comes to mind) they say it's actually pretty hard to make a barrel lead as long as you are using any type of lube at all. For both 357 and 44 mag,. I've used gas checks and driven them to "standard velocities" (for those of you who are young,..I mean what was standard when the cartridges came out....i.e... over 1500 fps.).
I've recently bought some tumble lube molds for each of them,. and I'm going to go ahead and give them a try. Am I going to be in for a surprise? I know alox isn't the nicest looking lube in the world, but I would imagine that is the only reason commercial mfgrs. do not use it. I also know that the coating probably do not work in higher velocity magnums like they do with 40s and 45s, and 9s.