Wax Gas Checks vs Dental Wax sheets..

[DougGuy]

Some of the ol' timers might remember the wax gas checks that were sold quite a few years ago, I think the guy who made and sold those is still around but hard to get in contact with these days.

Anyhow, I am wondering what he used in his gas check material that made it special or different from plain old dental wax?

I had some 340gr SSK boolits loaded over 22gr of WW296, these loads were put up in 1995 or thereabouts, and I had forgotten about using the wax gas checks, and I shot them and noticed this red ring of waxy stuff on the case mouth and I thought *** is that? Wasn't until a few weeks later that I realized those had been loaded with the wax gas check sheets. They still shot well, were accurate, and you could clean the barrel with not much more than a wadded up paper towel.

Maybe it was a passing fad back then, and maybe they didn't work quite as well as the maker claimed but I had fairly good luck with them when I started using them and would like to try them again. It's likely they didn't hurt anything, and could serve to "season" the bore somewhat between shots. I have some .060" dental wax sheets that I will probably use but I am wondering what the dental wax might be missing.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I think that Philip Sharpe's Complete Guide to Handloading had a method of dipping a glass jar into a pot of melted wax/lube compound, allowing the layer to cool, then slitting it at one point and opening it out into a sheet. The mouth of a cartridge can be used to cut the checks out. If you want thicker disks, double or triple dip the jar, like dipping candles the old-fashioned way.

Sounds easy: pot. wax (with your choice of additives). A smooth-sided glass jar.

UPDATE: In my 'downloaded off the Internet' PDF version, the procedure is in the chapter on bullet sizing and lubing, including formulas.

dale in Louisiana

[mroliver77]

I still have a box of them sheets somewhere. I used them to "cure" a ruger shooting "hardcast" .357 boolits. Had bought a big box of these boolits and they leaded badly. The CF Ventures softchex helped a bunch. Forum discussion at the time kinda agreed it wax dental wax.

I also shot unlubed boolits of soft alloy in my Mauser using only a softcheck and 8 - 10gr Unique.

Cannot hurt to try yourn. I have made sheets out of boolit lube with good results too.
J

[Dusty Bannister]

C F Ventures, 509 Harvey Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403

<http://www.caversham16.freeserve.co.uk/>

Still in business and this is the stuff that helped get groups in a 303 Brit with a severely pitted bore. Dusty