M D,
I just remembered that I had written an article that appeared in the CBA publication in 2006....................
100 Years Ago ”¦”¦..Ideal #308284 and Barlow's Gas Check Cup
Back in 1906, readers of Ideal Handbook No. 17, learned of a new cast bullet innovation ....the “gas check cup", and the first cast bullet design to use it, Ideal #308284 (now Lyman's 311284) made for the 30 U.S. Army (.30-40 Krag). In addition, Ideal #308291 (now Lyman's 311291) for the .30-30 / .303 Savage, Ideal #319295 for the .32-40, and for the .38-55, the Ideal 375296 were also illustrated.
The previous year, Ideal had provided bullet samples of .30 U.S. Army (.30-40) cartridges loaded with their 308284's to competitors of the 1905 tournament at Sea Girt, New Jersey for testing in their Krag rifles. Lt. Albert S. Jones of the National Rifle Association reported that this new cast bullet, having a copper cup on its base, proved to be as accurate as the full service load at 600 yards.
But what event led up to the research and development of this new cast bullet device? A hint of that was noted in Ideal's 1904 manual. Dr. Walter G. Hudson, who was a World Champion Rifle shooter and held many records in his day, had been working on the problem of trying to achieve 1,500 f.p.s. in the .30 U.S. Army (.30-40) with 200+ grain bullets which he felt would give accurate shooting at 600 yards.
Dr./Cpt. Walter Guy Hudson was perhaps the leading Krag shooter in the history of the competition Krag. He was a firing member of the 1902 Palma team, came in second in the Wimbledon Cup a couple of times, and generally was regarded as a champion class rifle competitor, not only with the Schuetzen rifle, but with the military rifle. To this day, he still holds the Schuetzen record of 2308 x 2500.
Beginning in 1901, there was a desperate need for military practice ammunition that was accurate to the mid ranges (600 yards) and Hudson applied himself to the task of perfecting a lead bullet load that would perform out to this range.
The problem he encountered in trying to achieve the 1,500 f.p.s. threshold, was fusion, or gas cutting as we know it today. He tried experimenting with antimonial alloys for stronger bullets, but fusion persisted. He worked with J.H. Barlow of Ideal on bullet design and diameters, even to the point of using a front “gas check” band (front driving band) diameter of .325"(!) but to no avail.
Eventually, Dr. Hudson and Mr. Barlow of Ideal Manufacturing Co. hit upon the idea that a copper alloy spacer to insulate the bullet from the hot powder gases might work. They tried copper discs under plain based bullets, and found that they successfully prevented fusion. Higher velocities were then achieved with no leading. Further development lead to the cup profile and the first gas checked bullet... Ideal's #308284.
Since the gas checked #308284 worked very well, Mr. Barlow set to work to develop additional gas checked bullets very quickly. Ideal #308291 for the .30-30 was next. Samples of cartridges loaded to factory velocities with the new bullet designs were sent to the Marlin Firearms Co. and Savage Arms Company for their evaluation.
Marlin responded “We have the pleasure of reporting to you that these appear to be in every way equal to factory loaded ammunition with metal jacketed bullets.“ Savage wrote back that they tested them in the .30-30 and .303 Savage and they compared favorably in accuracy with their jacketed bullets.
By 1909, a total of 15 different gas checked bullets in calibers ranging from the .25 to .38 caliber had been developed and were illustrated in Ideal Handbook No. 19 in that year. When the first Handbook of Cast Bullets was published in 1958, it contained 79 different variations of gas checked bullet designs. Unfortunately, most of these are now obsolete, but, interestingly, the first two that started it all, the 311284 and 311291, are still with us today.
Barlow's “gas check cupâ€? remained virtually unchanged for 60 + years and was designed to fall from the base of the bullet after it left the muzzle. Enter Hornady Manufacturing, who engineered a new crimp on gas check designed to stay with the bullet in flight, and the rest shall we say”¦.is history.
John Kort
3/21/06
w30wcf