Gas Check Maker!

[Freightman]

I have a 30 cal ck maker I got from Ebay and I am a lazy person by nature so I chucked the punch (3/8" China) in my drill press instead of hitting it with a hammer. Well I can report it works fine. The punching out was a problem for me as a hammer hurts my thumb everytime I swing one ( old age and abuse) I even bought me a big nailer, a bradder, and finish nailer to keep from using one. now to find a way to form them with other than a hammer!

[VTDW]

Yep. I have found the .30 caliber one chucks up in my drill press and makes short work of them. Now, if I could just find the proper size copper...

[IcerUSA]

Can the GC Maker be made to work in a small Arbor Press ?
Just an idea .

Keith

[Buckshot]

.................Check MSC at; www.mscdirect.com and when the home page opens, up at the top you can type in Copper Shim stock, or brass shim stock as they have both. Commonly comes in a 6"x 100" roll. It's listed in thousandths of an inch thickness. Another place to check would be McMaster-Carr.

Alternatives for using a hand punch would be HSS drill or reamer blanks. Between fractional, Letter, Number and metric sizes you should be able to find an exact (or dang close) fit. This should eliminate the sharpening issues for some time. You can also search 'Carbide Rounds' as these would be the hot ticket for longevity.

................Buckshot

[VTDW]

Thanks Buckshot!!!

[billyb]

Yep. I have found the .30 caliber one chucks up in my drill press and makes short work of them. Now, if I could just find the proper size copper...

do a google search for basic copper, all thicknesses of copper for the hobbiest.i bought the .010 . they also is sheet copper on ebay. Bill

[crabo]

I think I have the proceedure right, someone correct me if I am wrong.

1. You punch out the discs with the cutter.

2. Insert the disc in a die and push it through to make a cup.

3. Install gc on bullet

Is that it?

Anything else to this? What is the best thickness or does it vary with what material you use, coke cans, copper or brass sheet?

Thanks,

Crabo

[Freightman]

A 100" roll would do aprox. 4-5000 30 cal cks at $50 a roll so $10 per m if your time is not a big deal this number will vary with how careful you are with spacing and waste.
With AL cans you need two to make it thick enough and to insure that they stay on a drop of super glue. Still no free lunch so, glue cost a little, AL is free, and still your time.
you younger ones will find it hard to find the time, I have a lot of that but I am retired, just short on money. Got to give up something to be free.
Different cans varry by quite a bit in thickness, coke type cans seem to be the thinest.
The die is the heart of the tool, if you put two coke can disk in it is a little harder to form than one, but I used the bottom of a can it was a lot harder to form as it is three times a thick as the walls.

[Boerrancher]

What is the best thickness or does it vary with what material you use, coke cans, copper or brass sheet?

Thanks,

Crabo

Yes thickness is important... no more than important, critical. Also, not all cans are the same thickness. If the check is not thick enough it will not seal properly and hot gas will blow bast it cutting the sides of your boolit and leading your barrel. I have posted several times on various gas check threads how to calculate the thickness of the material you need. If you can't find one of those posts send me a PM and I will do a walk through of how to calculate them. I am not going to make those who don't need to know suffer through a post that tells them how.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[VTDW]

Boerrancher,

This work? Subtract the diameter of the shank of the boolit from the diameter of the bore. Take the difference and divide by 2 in order to know the thickness of the GC material?

Dave

[VTDW]

Got to give up something to be free.

Good one Freightman and sooo true.

Dave

[felix]

Thickness of the material depends on crimping ability of the check, so take that into consideration as well. For example, Larry the Gator will not accept a roll of metal that is not within 0.0002 of the desired thickness (all the way across and down the roll) required for a certain shank size. He has returned many times rolls sent from the mill. His dies are held to the same tolerance, and are replaced when they fail his testing before a run requirement. He uses carbide dies to extend the number of checks made before replacement. Way too expensive in time and materials for home production. Larry's checks are far beyond the quality offered by Hornady. ... felix

[Boerrancher]

Dave,

You got it, not much to it but I have, not here thank goodness, seen folks struggle with a simple math problem such as that.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[kjg]

I was browsing at the local Ace Hardware store and found roofing copper, but a tad thin roughly .005", then found alluminum roofing stuff on the label it said .0115" now I know soda cans at least one s i have mic out at .005 and .006, i'm wondering how well the alluminum sheets would work, they have them in rolls pianted white and brown, or natural alluminum color, what do ya think fella's . kjg

[Boerrancher]

I have to have .012 thickness, but depending on how thick you need the sheets will work well. I used for a long time pieces of aluminum siding. I would personally use the sheeting that was painted, just to help reduce oxidation if you are planning to store the material, gas checks or checked bullets for any period of time. Aluminum Oxide is Very abrasive. The only thing on the planet harder than Aluminum Oxide is a diamond. Aluminum is slow to oxidize but it can happen.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe