A friend of mine uses gas checks on some of his hotter loads. He posed a question to me today and I had no answer for sure. He was wondering if to powder coat before applying the gas check? Or to waiting until after powder coating? Of course sizing would be accomplished as the last step. What says the forum? I never have used gas checks for I am at a loss what to advise him.

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Been there done that, I tend to seat checks prior to coating

__________________
it just needs more voltage

same here. apply gas check. powder coat. resize. load and shoot

Does anyone know how fast a 125gr coated 357 Magnum can be pushed

befor it needs a gas check?

Is it due to fps or the amount/kind of powder used ?

Thanks for any info.

It depends on the cast bullet, more specifically. The size of the gas check shank. If the shank is on the small side, the gc gets put on after coating. Normal and large gc shanks, the gc gets put on before coating.

Velocity "how fast" is meaningless when it comes to a coated bullet. You simply can't drive them fast enough to affect the coating.

Pressure is everything.
A gas check is just what the name implies. It keeps the hot gases from flame cutting the base and drive bands of the lead bullet. (keeps the gasses in check)
Bullet lube does the same thing. It acts like a gasket sealing the bore along with giving the lead bullet a film layer to ride on against the bore.

Powder coating is just that. A coating (plastic jacket) that acts like the film layer of a lubed lead bullet. It's a layer of plastic that the lead bullet rides on against the bore.

The pressures exerted on the lead/cast bullet are what affects them. Cast rifle bullets that have long bodies are affected the most by the pressures of the loads that are exerted on them.

Cast/coated revolver bullets tend to be short/square bodied bullets. The only thing that really affects them is skidding. Skidding is when the drive bands/sides of the bullet don't hold the lands. The engraving of the lands on the cast/lead bullet will actually widen.

These are 8/9bhn cast bullets that were pc'd (coated) and shot in ac 6" bbl'd 629. It's a pretty hot 44mag load of 11.5gr of unique. The max load is 11.7gr of unique.


8/9bhn cast/pc'd bullets in a 308w. They are a 122gr cast bullet with no gas check installed. A 10-shot group @ 50yds. Had 1 of many senior moments and wrote down 1700fps for that 10-shot string. It was actually 1600fps.


Anyway, it's the pressures and the rotational torque exerted on the cast/lead bullet that affect them. Velocity is a secondary biproduct of a load and comes into play with the rpms of the bullet spinning.

Faster than 1300 fps out of a model 92 rifle.

__________________
Front sight and squeeze

The powder coating will interfere with getting the check snapped on .

Best / easiest to seat the gas check ... then powder coat the bullets .

Gary

__________________
Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Gas checks, we don't need to stinkin gas checks. Powder coat, load, and shoot.

I tend to agree with you. However, since I have loads of jacketed bullets on hand (acquired by buying estates), I use those for hot loads. Since I am now a tad older fast enough to punch a hole in paper is fast enough for me.

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.