I am shooting cast bullets in my .41 mag. About 1100 fps and getting leading that takes forever to get out. Will gas checks prevent this? I am pretty new to shooting cast bullets and someone asked me if I used gas checks. They sounded suprized I wasn't. Any help?

Is the bullet you're using designed for a gas check? If not and you've cast them yourself, you can increase their hardness (Brinell measure) by sizing first and then heat-treating in an oven for ~1 hr. and then quickly putting them in cold water. You lube them after they're dry. As for gas checked CB's, you can generally push them through handguns faster with less leading than non-gc designs. If you're casting your own, loo at Lee Precision's molds (gc-designs of course) for starters, then consider Saeco, Lyman or RCBS.

I am using bullets made by North East Bullets.
Semi Wad Cutters. I can switch to different ones if you can recommend some. As long as I can get a good bulk price. I do not want to cast my own.

Well, that's your problem.

Most commercial bullet guys use Thompson Blue Angel lube (or worse, if it is red it is Thompson's Red Heat lube).

Thompson makes the majority of the commercial bullet lubes as the stuff is designed to run through automated equipment without gumming it up and to "ship and handle" well.

These are not the characteristics that make up a good leading-free bullet lube.

Both of these lubes do not melt until over 120 F. They are hard waxy lubes that must melt to do anything at all (rub your fingers over the lube grooves and you will feel a hard waxy surface, nothing sticks to your fingers).

The stuff just doesn't work very well at high speeds. For a rifle lube, it isn't very good at all.

Years ago I tried the stuff and got just what you got. Leading. I bought some Veral Smith Blue Commercial lube and learned some more about how lead bullets and how bullet lubes actually work.

I haven't missed Thompson lubes at all, to be honest. I haven't scraped lead out of a bore in a long time either.

Oldfeller

Jacobite
A couple of suggestions.
Most of the commercial cast bullet people size their bullets one to two thousandths too small.
In 45 Colt they size the bullets to .452 when the bullet should be .454. With 44 bulets the bullets are .429 when they should be .430 or .431.
You are getting gas blow by/cutting around the bullet.
The other suggestion is the barrel needs to be lapped. There is a constriction where the barrel screws into the frame. This needs to be lapped out.
Another suggestion have you cleaned out all of any copper fouling from shooting jacketed bullets?
Jim

I'm betting the bullets are undersized. Slug your bore, then try bullets from different makers. You'll need your micrometer along while shopping. Contact the vendors and see if you can get unsized, unlubed bullets from them, or have them mike thier unsized as dropped. As stated above, you need a bullet one to two thousandths over bore diameter for a good gas seal. An unhardened bullet is better in a pistol or revolver. You can tumble lube the bullets yourself easy enough if you find the proper diameter.

give me me a hollar. We at bbt use a tottaly diferent approach to lube and we size the a little bigger than others. BBT