Shiloh Rifle Forums

Anyone here ever loaded your BP pistol ammo with gas checks? How did it work out? Did it improve the fouling control? I’m thinking specifically of 44 special, 44-40, and 45 Colt fired through an SAA or out of an 1873 lever gun.

Johnny, I love your videos by the way!!!

I only have hard-cast with gas checks, and I suspect that hard-cast prevents proper obturation. But I would also be concerned with proper obturation with a gas check on the back to.

I'll be watching for the expert replies myself.

OK, adding info:

alloy will be mostly range scrap
lube will be Emmert's Improved (Jonny's Rooster Joose)


I think that the range scrap (or even 16-1 for that matter) will obturate just fine. If it was going to be Lyman #2, I'd be more concerned. Thanks for the complement! Hoping that I can do better this year at the Q than last....

Seen it tried. Won't hurt, but won't help either. Non antimony alloy and plenty of BP compatible lube is what you want. Accurate has several excellent molds if needed.

Depends on the dimensions of the gun you are shooting it in.
The .44 Remington and .44 WCF in original firearms come to mind.
In the 75 & 90 Remingtons, early Colt's (SAA & New Service) and Merwins you may find the groove is .424,
which is why the early moulds were marked .424 (later Colt's may be .427)
A way to permanently damage one of these originals may be shooting a .430 jacketed or very hard cast bullet through a .424 bore.

Single action army that I have is a 1980s manufactured cold. Just got it the other day and was planning to slug the board and the chamber mouths in order to decide on a bullet diameter.

Jonny

Cast to chamber mouth to start with. In most cases you will find your best accuracy there.

Dave

DAG4570 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 11, 2023 9:21 am Jonny

Cast to chamber mouth to start with. In most cases you will find your best accuracy there.

Dave

Will do, Dave, see you Wednesday!

JohnnyV: I tried gas checked bullets once with Black Powder in a .45 Long Colt in a Ruger. Cannot recall the cylinder mouth or bullet diameters or alloy.

The gas check didn't really control/clear the fouling in the bore or cylinder. Probably because the check does more to protect the base of the bullet from gas erosion. I tried an over-the-powder card wad and results were 'bout the same. Ox Yoke wonder wads worked the best, but I had to drop back a bit on the charge.

John Linebaugh used plain base cast bullets with Alberta Schuetzen Lube to manage leading in his high power revolvers.

https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/

I have been casting handgun bullets since the mid 70s.
I determined for my use the use of gas checks was unnecessary using black powder or smokeless - even for Magnum loads!

Thanks for all the replies guys! I think after reading this, and talking to a couple of other knowledgeable people as well, I’m going to just roll with the plain base Keith, mold and probably run a .060 vegetable fiber wad just like I load my black powder rifle ammo with.

FWIW I shoot Victorian era combat matchs with BP loaded 45Colts. Unless you need to reduce the powder charge, using any kind of wad in these loads is just wasting your time. Load a consitant weight of powder beneath a properly lubed and sized lead-tin bullet and go to town.