Aluminum gas checks on pistol boolits

[barnetmill]

I doubt you will ever get a bullet out of the 40 S&W fast enough to need a check.

Pressure of a hot loaded 40 S&W can safely reach 32k PSI. Is that enough to melt some lead on the base?

Hot load hodgdon reloading center

longshot powder Bullet: 180 GR. BER FP
Diameter: 0.400"
Case: Hornady
Primer: Winchester SP, Small Pistol 7.5 1,150 33,400 PSI

[Wayne Smith]

Lead reduces copper deposits...
Copper is not scraped off bullets or gas checks from friction and left in the bore. It vaporizes and deposits as it cools.
Lead will actually help prevent copper fouling. As will tin and zinc.

CONCEPTS & TECHNOLOGY DIVISION RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGINEERING DIRECTORATE US ARMY ARMAMENT COMMAND ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS 61201

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA014993.pdf

Can't reach that page??

[K43]

Can't reach that page??

Try this:

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA014993.pdf

[centershot]

I've used aluminum gas checks in my 30-30 and '06 rifles for a number of years now and have had no problems at all. I only use them at speeds of 1500 fps or faster, up to 1900 at the fastest, and they have been accurate and economical, what's not to like???

[Tripplebeards]

Wouldn’t get too excited about ordering from them. Just got my first and last order.



The ad is how they have it listed above and this is what they sent me



Super rough cut and uneven edges like a smashed bottle cap versus the ones that they have listed on their website that looked just like a hornady gas check with even edges. I would Assume most people buy once from them once and find out the lack of quality.

Here’s a few I squeezed on. They actually went on pretty easy and I was kind of impressed. They still have uneven voids around the boolit base. Probably not enough to worry about though.

[gloob]

Long ago I posed the question if copper fouling can make leading worse with mechanical bonding then why do copper checks riding the barrel not ?

The answer was something about the cumulative effect mostly disallowed adhesion of the copper

Copper fouling can build up in a bore so high you can see it. That can damage lead bullets fired after. The only time I've had this happen was from shooting thinly copper washed/plated bullets; the cheap Remington green/white boxed pistol ammo sold at Walmart. It doesn't come out with normal brushing.

[Land Owner]

Super rough cut and uneven edges like a smashed bottle cap versus the ones that they have listed on their website that looked just like a hornady gas check with even edges. I would Assume most people buy once from them once and find out the lack of quality.

Here’s a few I squeezed on. They actually went on pretty easy and I was kind of impressed. They still have uneven voids around the boolit base. Probably not enough to worry about though.

You satisfied your own worry. The bottle cap gas check has tremendous GRIP and STAYS ON. The check won't sail into the sky screen of your chronograph. The bottle cap grips after sizing with significant positive force.

EVERYTHING shot down a bore does some minute amount of damage. Aluminum gas checks are neither corrosive nor more or less harmful in any other way than Heat, copper, and lead. Before you ever see or experience a worry with an aluminum gas check, your barrel will be shot out from heat and projectile damage and I doubt most of us will ever get to that stage of shooting a single gun.