30 cal cast lead with gas checks ?

[Swampman]

If you'd like to save a good bit of money without sacrificing any quality, try Gator Checks.
They are a crimp on type and the quality is at least as good as Lyman.
They don't have a website, just give 'em a call. Don't hang up when the person answering your call says that it's a dental clinic, just mention the gas checks and you'll get the right guy.

GATOR GAS CHECKS
Bullet Swaging Supply
303 McMillan Road
West Monroe, LA 71291

(318) 387-7257

 

[Paul24]

I shoot Bear Tooth Bullets 160 FNGC .309, in front of Winchester 748, in a variety of 30-30's. Price seems fair, they fly straight, do not lead my barrels, punch nice holes in paper, and kill any thing I shoot with them. All so shoot their Gas Checks in .323 and .458.

 

[Hondo 60]

What weights do you use ? What do you use 'em in ?

I use 110 or 115 gr (18BHN) for my Tokarev.
They run 1300 fps or so, with no leading.

 

[GP100man]

A few 30 cal , 3 -6mm/243 , lost count of 44s & quite counting 38/357 molds .

 

[blarby]

^^^^ I like this pointed one................. What is this ?

 

[Swampman]

I shoot cast rifle bullets in 7.62x39, .308, 7.5 Swiss, .303 British, 7.62x54r, 30-06 and 30-30 and I have .30/.31 cal molds ranging from 93 up to 230 grains.
I originally got into casting for rifle because I wanted to work up some subsonic loads, mainly for .308 and 7.62x39. I was so impressed by the performance that I just kept on going until I was loading for all of my .308 to .312 rifles.
I haven't gotten very far into paper patching yet since I'm too cheap to pay retail for a dedicated PP mold. But its definitely something that I want to explore further.
I've had pretty good results on hogs with double poured, soft nose cast bullets (learned about those in a late 80s Ross Seigfried article), with a water dropped wheel weight shank. They're a pain to cast but shoot just like a regular cast bullet so you only need to cast enough for actual hunting use. They expand pretty well even down at 900 fps.
I recently purchased a 230 grain .310", 5R boattail mold from Midway (supposed to be .308, but I'm not complaining) and I was pleased to discover that it stabilized well in both my Remington 700 AAC SD and my Yugo 59/66 SKS's. The accuracy isn't great, but it's good enough for hunting accuracy out to 100 yards. This bullet is fairly long, so I'm hoping it'll destabilize quickly enough to tumble and give decent killing performance on hogs and deer even without expanding. If not, I may try "scalloping" a section of the ogive to help it tumble more quickly after impact.

I don't always use GC's since at subsonic velocities the checks aren't really needed to prevent leading, but they do improve accuracy significantly and pretty much do away with the flyers that I sometimes get when shooting GC shank bullets without the checks.

 

[CraigC]

It's Ross Seyfried (pronounced SAY-freed) not Siefried or Seigfried.

 

[GP100man]

Blarby

It`s an old IDEAL 311314 commonly known as the squib bullet ,as it does`nt fly well over 15-1600 fps ,no matter what powder or twist or length barrel . As ya can see I GCed it & smashed the nose a bit (I do it in my sizer & can control length very closely)& use it in 30-30 with more succes than in the 308 or 30-06.

It shore is a purty boolit though !!

 

[hang fire]

Who doesn't, there's tons of different GC 30 caliber molds around.

True, 9 of these are .30 moulds.

 

[blarby]

It is a purty one, GP. With a shape like that, I would have expected better results.

 

[popper]

For paper patch details, go to castboolits site.

 

[blarby]

For paper patch details, go to castboolits site.

No offense, but I'd rather eat one ( a paper patched bullet ) than go there again.

I'm certain that more than a few folks here have all the info I need- and more than a few have already responded via PM- and to all of you who have, thank you !

 

[GLOOB]

You didn't mention what cartridge. If you're planning to load .308, you should take note it has a really short neck. When all things are accounted for, it's better that the GC does not go below the neck of the case. Gas checks don't always fit tight, and you don't want them falling off inside the case.

So for 308, I'd start off with a shorter bullet, base-to-ogive length. And don't worry if you have to seat the boolit so long that the lube grooves show. That doesn't matter, as long as your mag/chamber will allow it.

I'm casting for a 7mm-08 rifle. And with a 130gr boolit, I'm touching the lands when the GC is all the way at the bottom of the neck. I don't plan to buy any heavier bullet molds for this rifle.

 

[blarby]

Interesting note.

My wife shoots 139gr jacketed in her 7mm-08, I'd love to see your load workup on that !

 

[Fatelvis]

Over at Cast Boolits, there's a guy (Blammer),who sells GCs reasonably. I use them, and can vouch for them!
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=86706&highlight=blammer

 

[blarby]

Over at Cast Boolits, there's a guy (Blammer),who sells GCs reasonably. I use them, and can vouch for them!
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...hlight=blammer

Good for them.

 

[GLOOB]

My wife shoots 139gr jacketed in her 7mm-08, I'd love to see your load workup on that!

I am currently casting with wheel weights, 130 gr Lee mold.

With gas checks I am using 24 grains H335. This just happens to be exactly the same charge and powder I use for 55 gr jacketed bullets in .223. Roughly half the recoil of jacketed loads.

Without gas checks, I'm using 9.5 gr Unique. EDIT: This just happens to be the exact same throw by volume that I use in my H110 357 loads. Recoil is cute.

You might think I came upon these charge weights a bit arbitrarily. And I did. But I guesstimated them as reasonable loads for my guesstimated bullet hardness by cross referencing other load data I found, and after all, you have to start somewhere.

I've shot them sized and unsized. Water quenched and air cooled. All tumble lubed with LLA, seated just a hair into the lands, and no crimp. They all shoot minute of coke can out to 60 yards with no leading. I haven't done any real accuracy testing, yet. But I am shooting them more accurately than regular, full recoil loads. So I'm happy to get some practice with them, regardless of their intrinsic accuracy or lack thereof. Unsized, my bullets are measuring at 285.5ish mics. Sized, 284.5ish mics.

I've even tried the Hornady crimp-on GCs without sizing/crimping by just placing them on the case mouth and letting the bullet stuff the check into the neck while seating. (They measure .289" unsized, BTW.) Aside from being a bit stiff on the bolt while chambering, they shot fine. No pressure signs in my rifle at this charge weight. The big downside is if you get your bullet into the lands, like I do, the bullet will come out if you unchamber a round, cuz the gas check opens up the neck and kills neck tension.

 

[Certaindeaf]

.I've even tried the Hornady crimp-on GCs without sizing/crimping by just placing them on the case mouth and letting the bullet stuff the check into the neck while seating. (They measure .289" unsized, BTW.) Aside from being a bit stiff on the bolt while chambering, they shot fine. No pressure signs.

That's a neat little trick.. I'll have to try that!

 

[GLOOB]

No pressure signs in my rifle at this charge weight. The big downside is if you get your bullet into the lands, like I do, the bullet will come out if you unchamber a round, cuz the gas check opens up the neck and kills neck tension.

Just wanted to repeat this edit. I don't actually know what I'm doing, here.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I saw that add/edit during my post.. no problem. I'll keep an eye out.