Hello, 1armoured. When my custom Shillen barreled Borchardt finally was finished (1-14" twist), I tried just about every jacketed bullet..including some expensive custom ones in it to establish an accuracy benchmark. One of the most accurate was the 40gr. V-Max..this was shooting into the .3's at 100yds.
Then I cleaned up the bore & started in on what I had always dreamed of doing..cast bullet shooting in a Hornet. I tried just about every mould out there including an Eagan MX nose-pour. Some shot ok..some excellent..but none were consistant.
I also collect vintage moulds, and I found an original Ideal 22636..this dropped at 60grs..far too heavy for my use (must have been for the old .22-15-60 Stevens). But it looked good..so, I chucked these up in a bench-lathe collet & faced them to 50grs. I turned a gas-check shank on some.
These prooved to be some of the most accurate to date. So I sent samples of each off to Fred Leeth at Pioneer Products for nose-pour copies.
I had to make up a tapered sizer die to size first band to match leade angle & dia. 5 years of constant experimentation later..and I finally equalled the best jacketed bullet accuracy out at 100yds. Now I can't reproduce this each time out..but it is common enough to know it's no fluke.
Unsatisfied with the available quality of .22 gas checks (bases wavy), even after annealing & flatening in press. I finally had Corbin make up a reloading press punch & die set to remove center of check. Verdict still out on this as I need more testing.
One of the most interesting things I did find out in comparing the plain-base to gas-check was...for pure accuracy..NOT velocity..there is only a .3gr. (three tenths!) of a grain difference..the G.C. requiring more powder.
The main advantage of the G.C...aside from permitting increased velocity is maintaining the same bore condition..by scraping any lead deposits. In cleaning after P.B.,,there are very tiny specks of lead on patch..though bore is not leaded..wheras with G.C., I find no lead particles on patch. Best of luck with your Hornet!
