Gas-Checking Plain-Base Bullet

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  • Last Post 19 April 2017
.22-10-45 posted this 18 April 2017

I picked up a nice used Hoch nose-pour .25 plain-base mould I had thought would be usable in my Ballard .25-25 Stevens with 1-12” twist.  Only to discover bullet length is designed for a 1-10” twist.  Now as luck would have it, I do have a .25 1-10” twist rifle..only it is chambered for the .25 Ackley Krag Improved..I figured I would really have to load it down for a plain-base bullet.  I got to thinking about those plain-base gas checks I have seen advertised...then I got out some .25 Hornady gas-checks....I wonder???  I thought I would need to push them thru a sizer to remove that slight flair..but no..slipping one onto the bottom plate of the Hoch mould & gently pushing it into base band groove & closing mould..check appeared to be lying flat to base & no light showed between blocks.  Last Saterday I fired up the Lyman Mag Dipper full of diluted Styerotype metal and picked up a fully annealed check hot from the mold heating shelf with tweezers.  Making sure check was flush and flat with mould base I filled mould.  What came out was a perfectly flat based cast-in-place gas checked bullet!  Now the check doesn't have the sharp edge exposed as on conventional gas-checked bullets...but who knows, perhaps when forced into rifling, the scraper effect will still be there?  At any rate, check was able to barely rotate & running thru .258 sizer die didn't entirely remove it.  Might be awhile before I can check these things out, as brass needs fire-forming to 40* shoulder & barrel break-in & finding most accurate jacketed loads for accuracy benchmark.  Anyone else try this stunt?  Probably only can be done with a nose-pour..unless check center is punched out...like unto the Wilke check.

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 19 April 2017

I think I still have a partial box of 30 cal driving bands.  Never could get the hang of putting them into a hot mould.

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Maven posted this 18 April 2017

Here's a link to the original “Hand Loader” article.  Go to the “Features” page and scroll down to “Wilk Gas Checks, p.34"

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl134partial.pdf

 

 

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45 2.1 posted this 18 April 2017

Wilke checks as mentioned in the OP...................................

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.22-10-45 posted this 18 April 2017

Yes, checks are fully annealed before casting.  I remember that article..Cast Bullets by Harrison or the Art of Casting Bullets

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Bud Hyett posted this 18 April 2017

This concept would be interesting to see a thorough study of groups. The concept is simplistic and might prove a better method. Are you annealing the gas checks? 

In one of the books, I believe published by Wolfe Publishing, a man cut copper tubing to fit the lube grooves in a .30 caliber Loverin-style  mold  He placed the copper tubing rings in the mold and filled the mold. There were many complications such as mold temperature remaining constant and copper bands being finicky to place. 

The concept was to simulate the driving bands on an artillery shell, the copper would engrave the rifling and clean (scrape) the bore to allow higher velocity. The results were the same size groups as before. This approach has never caught on, 

 

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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