PDA

View Full Version : StarChecks



StarMetal
05-24-2006, 08:04 PM
I made this gascheck making tool for one of the members on the forum. I call it the StarCheck. The particular bullet the member has in mind is very suitable to aluminum flashing found at most hardware stores and the bullet is pictured here in fact, along with a piece of flashing with disks punched out of it, a punched disk, a formed StarCheck, and the StarCheck tool.

Joe

http://www.hunt101.com/img/408519.JPG

RugerFan
05-24-2006, 08:41 PM
Looks good. Does aluminum react any different in the bore compared to copper?

redneckdan
05-24-2006, 08:50 PM
will you consider making another tool? would 8mm work?

StarMetal
05-24-2006, 08:50 PM
Well, I don't know, but Winchester Silver tip pistol and revolver bullets are/were totally aluminun jacketed.

Joe

454PB
05-24-2006, 11:10 PM
Great idea. With the increasing cost of gas checks, that would be a great tool to have. Do you use a reloading press or arbor press as a power source? Would aluminum cans work for stock or are they too thin?

45 2.1
05-24-2006, 11:11 PM
There are several aluminum jacketed pistol bullets. I've been shooting Freechecks on PB and GC boolits for a long time. All aluminum does is foul the bore lightly with no problems associated with it. Just clean normally.

Starchecks, a real innovation there.

Frank46
05-25-2006, 02:32 AM
Joe, you ever condiser using printing press aluminum plates?. Down here they sell them pretty cheap as its a one time thing. Course you have to clean off the ink, but the plates sure would make up one large batch of checks,starchecks that is. Frank

StarMetal
05-25-2006, 10:53 AM
Frank46,

To be honest with you I've never seen any of those. Do you have any idea of how thick they are? That aluminum flashing in the picture is .009 thick or should I say thin? About the soda cans, you can use them in the Freechecks like 45 2.1 mentioned but for normal gaschecked bullest like from Lyman and RCBS for example, they are waaaaay too thin. In other words when crimped on they don't come out far enough to meet the diameter of the groove bands on the bullet, so they don't get sized. They say use more the one layer when making the check, but geez, you know how we all complain about regular copper checks coming off the bullet, imagine those layered soda can checks coming apart. Plus they are a PITA to work with.

Joe

bruce drake
05-25-2006, 12:34 PM
I've seen ads for percussion caps being made from aluminum cans before but I'd be interested in a set of these punches: 22 cal, 25 cal, 6.5mm, 30 cal, 8mm and 35 cal to name the ones I use regularly.

Bruce

Larry Gibson
05-25-2006, 12:55 PM
I've seen ads for percussion caps being made from aluminum cans before but I'd be interested in a set of these punches: 22 cal, 25 cal, 6.5mm, 30 cal, 8mm and 35 cal to name the ones I use regularly.

Bruce

I'd be interested also, especially if they were made to work in a loading press. I'd be real happy with .30, 8mm, .35, .44 and .45. Years ago there was such a product advertised but GCs were pretty cheap and it didn't sell. I'd bet it would sell these days.

Larry Gibson

Bucks Owin
05-25-2006, 01:31 PM
Cool tool!

Gee, it looks like you're in business Joe!

Write me down for a .358" and a .431"....:-D

Dennis

redneckdan
05-25-2006, 04:25 PM
I'd be up for an 8mm and a .30

Junior1942
05-25-2006, 04:35 PM
Joe, reckon you could make the disk a little larger in diameter and maybe beer can checks would crimp? I'm sitting here drinking a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon and thinking how cool it would be if I could make gas checks from the can--I'd be shooting PBR bullets!

Swagerman
05-25-2006, 06:00 PM
Don't know if you are going to make these for the fellers, but put me down as a paying customer for .431 if you do.

Jim [smilie=1:

redneckdan
05-25-2006, 06:04 PM
In case I came across wrong in the previous post, I too would be a paying customer.

45 2.1
05-25-2006, 06:48 PM
Now you started somethin Joe. Just how are you gonna get yourself out????? Actually, the old tools that were sold as Freecheck makers started out for PB boolits. Some enterprising fellow, me, convinced the man to make a 30 and 44 caliber set for gas checked boolits. They work fine and use three soda can layers to make the check. They perform just as well as the normal copper/gilding metal ones do. You cna make your own for PB boolits as outlined before in previous threads. The gas check models are more difficult and that is what Joe has done. Now Joe, since you got yourself into this, how about a few for me?

StarMetal
05-25-2006, 07:16 PM
Well I see I need to fly out to Kalifornia and get together with Buckshot. Together we can make a video on cutting your own gascheck tools on a lathe, step by step to the finest detail. From choosing the proper steel, to grinding your tool, to setup, to how to measure to get the proper size and fit. Why you could think of me and ole Buckeroo as the Shadetree Mechanic that use to be an auto repair show on TV, except we'll call ourselves The Shadetree Machinist.

Whatya think Buckshot? You got a spare room out there since your daugther is grown and working, right? If not, how about Toby's quarters....there suitable living space there?

Joe

redneckdan
05-25-2006, 08:03 PM
I have no doubt I could do the machine work, tool access is the problem.

Jumptrap
05-25-2006, 09:24 PM
Sell the rights to Lee....in no time they'd have it made out of zinc castings and stove bolts........wait a minute.....you ever think of making the punch out of a grade 8 bolt? Then of course it'd be packaged in a little red plastic box and a story of how John Lee discovered this contraption while snorting LSD and file shavings.

RayinNH
05-25-2006, 09:35 PM
Junior, if you drank Coors you could be shooting silver boolits...Ray

Cliff
05-25-2006, 10:47 PM
I use the offset plates as mentioned to make my gas checks for gas checked .30's. Work great, the plates are actually an alloy of aluminum and another metal, dead soft and the plates are individually large enough to make a whole bunch of checks. They are probably about the same thickness as the aluminum flashing material, a beer can (beverage can) is normaly six mils thick I believe. I have used these as well, and as mentioned go up to three thickness and they don't come off the bullet. The printing plates can usually be gotten just for asking as the scrap prices are not that much and they do last a long time. Just my exoperiences. Good luck.

Frank46
05-26-2006, 03:01 AM
Joe, I have a couple in my pump house,will check the thickness and get back to you. Like I said, they would make one heck of a bunch of checks. frank

Buckshot
05-26-2006, 03:32 AM
.............Good job Joe. Now you need to set yourself up for production :-). I'd be more inclined toward a unit mounting in a press and fed strips. However what I'd like to see and what I'm willing to do to that end right now are 2 different things. I have way more on my plate so far as machining jobs go then I care to think about. I hate to wait so I'm sensitive to making others wait, and it's like an anvil hanging over my head.

Add in the fact that I have personal projects that have been on the back burner so long I can't even recall half of them! Casting boolits, what's that?

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

Frank46
05-28-2006, 04:28 AM
Joe, measured the aluminum plate I was telling you about. .009 thickness is what I have. The size of the sheets would be the average sheet of newspaper. Like I said, you could make a bunch of starchecks outta just one sheet. Frank

StarMetal
05-28-2006, 10:34 AM
Frank,

That's the same as aluminum flashing sold in most hardware stores. Fair size coils and relatively inexpensive. Thanks for taking the time to measure them. Right now I'm looking for some dead soft aluminum that is much much much thicker.

Joe

felix
05-28-2006, 10:45 AM
Soft and TOUGH, Joe! Must have good "drawing" potential. ... felix

StarMetal
05-28-2006, 10:53 AM
Exactly Felix....you know what I'm looking for. This will make you laugh Felix. While developing my check maker I found out right away that aluminum flashing was way too thin. In my quest to test it out I started searching the basement and garage for something aluminum that was thick enough. Well, you know those old big round aluminum bread pans, for mixing up the dough? Yup, had one of those. They are dead soft too. Cut some disks out of it and lo and behold that was it. So now I have to find stock that is the same thickness and as soft and "tough" as you say.

Here's something interesting Felix that maybe you can answer. In searching for more materials I found some copper that was the right thickness, but not real soft. So I annealed and it was dead soft then. But guess what, I couldn't cut the disks out of it. Not because it was too hard, but because it wouldn't shear. Too tough..or what Felix???

Joe

felix
05-28-2006, 11:02 AM
TOO tough, Joe. Too bad we can't find a "lead" like that for boolits! That would be perfect: a soft boolit for perfect obturation, and tough enough as not to shear. ... felix

georgemu
05-28-2006, 12:14 PM
Well I see I need to fly out to Kalifornia and get together with Buckshot. Together we can make a video on cutting your own gascheck tools on a lathe, step by step to the finest detail. From choosing the proper steel, to grinding your tool, to setup, to how to measure to get the proper size and fit. Why you could think of me and ole Buckeroo as the Shadetree Mechanic that use to be an auto repair show on TV, except we'll call ourselves The Shadetree Machinist.

Whatya think Buckshot? You got a spare room out there since your daugther is grown and working, right? If not, how about Toby's quarters....there suitable living space there?

JoeHow about selling plans for your StarCheck maker ?

gbair
05-28-2006, 12:23 PM
StarMetal

With the price of gas checks going up, I'd be interested in making my own. Hope you decide to start making them for sale. I'd be interested in the following: .22, .30, .35, .44, and .45

Greg

bruce drake
05-30-2006, 03:08 PM
Starmetal,

I'd take a bite on a purchase of a set of plans if you aren't setup to make them. I'd have to outsource the material but the key would be to have the knowledge.

Bruce

swheeler
06-02-2006, 09:06 PM
Joe; I know awhile back you said you needed a little larger lathe. I found you one, maybe two, the one has a 48" 4 jaw and should be just about the right size for making StarCheck punches, and would also let you work on some larger mold blocks. Shipping to Tennesse-priceless- hardy-har

StarMetal
06-02-2006, 10:20 PM
Scot,

Wow! I could turn out checks for those old 16 inch guns on the old battleship, they could shoot cast out of them for practice!

:drinks:

Joe

swheeler
06-03-2006, 10:17 AM
Throw a 2 inch carbide bit in that tool holder and do some "hoggin'" Bet your electric meter would fly right off the wall!

13Echo
06-03-2006, 11:30 AM
If you are looking for soft aluminum for your Starchecks try Aircraft Spruce. they have just about everything needed to build an airplane including sheet aluminum in all kinds of alloys, tempers, and thickness. You should be able to get a sheet of soft alloy such as 3003 or 1100 in the thickness you need in whatever quatity you need..

Jerry Liles

StarMetal
06-03-2006, 12:19 PM
Thanks Jerry.

swampmaster
06-14-2006, 04:43 AM
I would be interested in a set of, 22,24,30.33,35,44

BOOM BOOM
07-08-2006, 07:29 PM
HI,
I'll buy a 38, 44, & 7mm from you, or make my own if you'll post directions .
Ted , Matt & I have acess to a lath & milling machine.

Bucks Owin
07-12-2006, 03:03 PM
Frank46,

To be honest with you I've never seen any of those. Do you have any idea of how thick they are? That aluminum flashing in the picture is .009 thick or should I say thin? About the soda cans, you can use them in the Freechecks like 45 2.1 mentioned but for normal gaschecked bullest like from Lyman and RCBS for example, they are waaaaay too thin. In other words when crimped on they don't come out far enough to meet the diameter of the groove bands on the bullet, so they don't get sized. They say use more the one layer when making the check, but geez, you know how we all complain about regular copper checks coming off the bullet, imagine those layered soda can checks coming apart. Plus they are a PITA to work with.

Joe

Somewhere I have read about using alum cans for gaschecks on PLAIN BASE boolits.....

Can't remember where though dammit...

Dennis

45 2.1
07-12-2006, 03:07 PM
Somewhere I have read about using alum cans for gaschecks on PLAIN BASE boolits.....

Can't remember where though dammit...

Dennis

That is a Freecheck. Do a search and you will find several items.

georgeld
07-21-2006, 03:24 AM
Hey fellas, wake up call!!

Just go to any of your local tin shops, those a/c, heating outfits throw lot's of scrap material away in a bunch of various thicknesses. Just ask if you can rumage thru their scrap alum barrel. They'll laugh at you but, point the way to it I'll bet and I'd also bet they'd just give you about all you want long as you don't get too greedy.
They'd also cut some strips the right width needed if you'd ask. Expect to pay for that, but, it won't be much there either. Inch wide and 8' long?? How many could you get out of that??

Not any reason to buy new material, or fret about it though, just ask for a few minutes in the scrap box.

I have a shop/buddy nearby that has let me and others use the shop equipment to make what ever we want and charge's contractor's price's for the materials as he's too busy to work our things into the cycle. Sure is handy, but, he claims next April when he turns 65, he's gonna join the rest of us old farts. Don't know what I'm gonna do then!!

Well worth checking out guys, pass the buck back here once you do.
--------
Way back in 59 or 60 while working on the kid's hay crew one of the old Case tractors started knocking. One of the ranchers pulled the pan and cut a couple of those tall skinny Coors alum can's into strips and relined the bearings on it. It was still going strong in 67 when I was up there last just about the time he sold out. Said it hadn't given a lick of problem since. I do know he put a can of STP in it too as he bummed that from my old Chevy.

George

steveb
08-16-2006, 01:30 AM
Paco Kelly used to make freecheck tools I believe. Wish he still did and hopes someone picks up making these tools as I would be interested in a couple for sure. One for the 357Mag and one for the 44Mag.