Bud Hyett
posted this
03 December 2020
I've noticed the occasional gascheck not seating square or with a dimpled bottom with all brands, but have yet to use Sage's gascheck. Testing showed a bad-looking gascheck for any reason threw that shot out of the group, usually with a pronounced flier.
To avoid this, going to an interim step using the SAECO lubrisizer gascheck seater swing-out arm. After partial seating, I check each gascheck for the start for uniform base seating. The concept is getting the gascheck started right and to identify any with cupped bases.
As an example, for .30 caliber, the bullet and gascheck goes into a .312 die far enough to have a firm hold, but not complete. If there is a problem, the bullet is set back in and pushed to completion to square it up or iron it out. These are set aside to use as sighters or barrel foulers.
The next step is running the bullet through the NOE nose first sizing die; .310 for Production and .311 for Military. As we have warm sunny days this winter, I will be testing the target results of this approach in several Production rifles and several Military rifles. At the conclusion, I hope to have a Fouling Shot article with targets and data analysis.
I've used nose-first sizing in my Star lubrisizer, however, this is messy and saves no time when you add the cleanup of the bullets.
Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest