Copper vs aluminium checks

[abunaitoo]

There was a thread about this.
Can't seem to find it.
Did a search, but it's not working good for me.
What was the conclusion???
Copper or aluminium????

[Rcmaveric]

I remember what your talking about. The consesus was under a specific fps there was no difference. I can not remember if it was 2100 or 2400 fps. Over the the specified fps and copper was better.

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[abunaitoo]

I remember it was a long thread.
I never thought I'd used the aluminium, but my loads are on the light side, and I'm playing with powder coating.
I was thinking aluminium, being cheaper, would be good for my type of shooting.

[pworley1]

Most all my loads are under 2000fps and I can not determine any difference between the two. I have found that annealing greatly improves the Al.

[sutherpride59]

227276

[sundog]

I've been toying with the idea that a PC'd boolit with an Al GC (PC after GC) would be just fine. Just gotta find some time to play with it.

[abunaitoo]

I've been PC with gas check installed.
Just seems faster that way.

[sukivel]

I quit using aluminum checks because so many were falling off...


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[35 shooter]

My homemade al. Checks work just fine at 2450 FPS. In my .308 and have gone well over 2500 in 35 whelen with light 200gr. or less boolits.
The checks are heattreated.

I was getting better accuracy in the whelen with al. than hornady copper. So far they seem equal to copper in the .308.
In the whelen I started using Sages 35 cal. half hard al. checks and they shot even better than my homemade checks.

[Rcmaveric]

How do you heat trear the aluminum checks?

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[35 shooter]

I think true annealing of al. takes something like 750*. I simply heat mine for an hour at 500* in the same oven I use for ht of my boolits and let air cool. It hardens the checks enough for my loads.

Some folks put them inside threaded pipe with end caps
And stick them in their lead melt, which would be more like true annealing i suppose. Haven’t found that necessary for what I do.

[mdi]

With a little knowledge of metals here, I don't think speed would be any different for a definitive reason to choose one over the other. Maybe fitting and remaining crimped? I've heard of fears of aluminum oxide damaging barrels. Difference in hardness? Not much difference between soft aluminum and hard copper (copper used in bullet manufacturer and gas checks is harder than copper wire most are accustomed to and soft aluminum isn't like pots and pans most are familiar with)...

Jes my thinkin'...

[Idz]

If Al is so hard on steel barrels why don't they make barrels out of Al and checks out of steel?

[Victor N TN]

I started casting about 1976. I have not been REALLY active all the time. But copper has done good by me, rifle or pistol.

[Love Life]

I like Hornady has checks with the little lip. Grabs the boolit better. I anneal my checks and then dump them in a citric acid solution to remove all scaling.