Just bought a Henry Brass Big Boy in .45 Colt. Seems to me any of the hotter loads using W296 (if I decide to use such loads in my Henry - another entirely different question I haven't settled yet) would benifit from gas checks. As I recall gas check bullets in .44 Mag are common, and as we all know, .44 mag and .45 Colt velocities can be pretty similiar when handloded. I guess one could say I'm a proponent of gas checks owing to my very first experience loading Lyman 311407, a 180 grain gas check I used for many years in my Buffalo Bill Commerative .30-30 Winchester with the beautiful long 26" octagon barrel. Without being gas checked, the bullets were coming out of the muzzle sideways, which could be easily seen when one managed to hit a piece of paper with one (and one had to be standing right in front of the target and only a few feet away to manage that!). My old Lyman (45th Edition) lists 1600 fps as the more or less upper limit for non-gas checked rifle or pistol bullets. Looks to me like that velocity could be fairly easily attained with the heavier loads. Hense my question. I just don't seem to be coming up with much in my searches. I'm finding 300+ grain gas checked bullets, but nothing much in the 250 grain area. I need to stay in that bullet range weight pretty close, apparently, as the longer bullets may not cycle in a Henry Levergun, or so I'm told.
Haven't shot the gun yet even though I have it a few weeks. Trying to get back into reloading after a very long absence. So I'm patient enough to see things are done right.