Well, truthfully, I just hate putting them on... but a close friend told me he wanted some 500 standard .38s with gas checks. So out comes the ten cavity H&G #51GC mould, and I went to work.

The easy part was the casting; adding the checks took close to an hour. The STAR will make short work of the sizing/lubing process.

Oh; one more thing: I took a random sample of the first 200 projectiles. I weighed ten ready to load bullets from the 160-grain nominal mould. One weighed three tenths heavy, and the other nine weighed exactly the same, to a tenth of a grain.

Somebody else tell me H&G moulds aren't worth what they sell for...

I generally snap the gas check onto the bullet as I am about to insert it in the sizer/lube die. I didn't realize that it was so inconvenient. But then I'm just using an RCBS, not a Star.

I usually try to avoid using them when at all possible. Not that they don't serve purpose but they are hard for my slick fingers to keep a hold on.

That said the ones I really hate are used on my .308" bullets. Those are like trying to stack BB's. They really get fun when trying to apply to a powder coated base.

Mike, the next time our paths cross I will give you a hundred gas checked .224-.225" projectiles or so and a handful of gas checks. Talk about fun...

P.M. sent

I'm with you Scot. In my case, they are invariably loose.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I'm with you Scot. In my case, they are invariably loose.

Bill, in my some 36 years of casting, I have learned that a lot of times the alloy is at least partially to blame. By that I mean that as alloy hardness goes up, projectile size goes up. If you are playing with softer projectiles for some of your older firearms, it may be hard to get gas checks to seat well because the bullet shank is a thousandth or two too small.

FWIW, I use Hornady almost exclusively, and at times I have had to actually put the check on the base of the bullet AFTER I have dropped it into the Star sizer nose first. Then, with the downward stroke, the check usually is crimped on well enough to stay put.

If you determine it is the mould shank cut too small, send it to Erik at www.hollowpointmolds.com (may have to Google him to get the website address correct) and tell him what you need. Might want to send a projectile or three and the gas checks you use. The man is phenomenal.

Take care, and I hope some of this helps.

Scot, I am a shamefully lax caster, adding range bullets, fishing weights, some tin when it casts poorly and many of my molds are cheap Lees. I even admit to tumble lubing from time to time. It's no wonder gas checks give me fits. I have used mostly Hornady, but do have some Gators on hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Scot, I am a shamefully lax caster, adding range bullets, fishing weights, some tin when it casts poorly and many of my molds are cheap Lees. I even admit to tumble lubing from time to time. It's no wonder gas checks give me fits. I have used mostly Hornady, but do have some Gators on hand.

Go stand in the corner. I will tell you when you can come out.

Most all my handgun molds are plain base with the exception of a couple custom NOE molds that are hollow pointed. I can leave the gas check off the low velocity stuff but with the softer alloys for expansion on the HP at magnum velocity the gas check always go on,don't shoot many of those so not a big deal or expense,

Most all my rifle bullet molds are gas check designs but they shoot nice groups out to 50 yds. or further as long as I keep the velocity in the 1300 fps.range or lower which is fine for plinking and small game,for the higher velocity loads I always put them on. I use to use Hornady checks but mainly use Gator checks all the time now since there cheaper. If you having issues with you checks staying on try annealing them so they want spring back as much once seated and crimped,the copper checks or aluminum for that matter work harden when there punched out. They want look nice and shiny anymore but they want fall off either.

MKE/TX is seating the checks harder on the coated bullets being caused by a ridge that builds up on the base or is it the larger dia. shanks on the coated bullets or sometimes both.

I got the ridge sometimes on my sprayed bullets,but not at all on my TL coated bullets. I got a little tool from NOE that will remove that or you can use it on regular cast bullets coated or not to put a light bevel on the base to help start the check easier if your getting seating issues http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/p...v6blhljvr8ffm6nnfiq2 another old trick is to take a small lag bolt place it on top of the check an give it a tap to flair the check slightly.

I generally don't use them on my pistol loads as I use linotype in the .44 + #2 alloy in the .45 + all the others.That will change with the H+G GC 45 moulds that I bought from you.I do use them for all of my rifle calibres from .223 to .416 Rigby.

Randy, are you running the RCBS 416-350 FN GC in the Rigby? I got nice accuracy with it in the Ruger No. 1 in this caliber that I once owned.

Bill,yes I was before I sold my Rigby. I used 5744 powder (I forget the grain weight data,that's why I write these things down).I had great performance + you can't beat the price over jacketed rounds.

Actually my 416 Rigby was in an M77 that Frank Martinez + I kept selling back + forth to each other. As I told him the last time,Frank don't sell this to anyone else,Hell you know we have both made a lot of money on this rifle.