Gas check question

[hammerhead357]

This past weekend I cast some Lee 45 cal. 300 gr. rfn boolits. I tried to apply gas checks tonite and the shank was just a little to large. I decided to expand them with a punch and hammer but after about 200 I thought why not anneal them first rather than after expanding them.

So I annealled one and it was any easy push on fit. So my question is should I just anneall all of them and then push/force them on or go ahead and expand them and then anneall them?

I would like to eleminate one step here if I could. I don't have a lot of experice with handgun gas checks and have never had this problem with rifle boolits. The alloy is just WW and boolits are frosted.

I know I could just spring for one of SwedeNelsons gas check shank swagers but that is another step in the process that I would like to avoid.

Any help or suggestions would be great....Wes

[44man]

If you can push them on, don't bother expanding them. You are good to go.
I like mine tight and have to press them on some boolits. Others I have to tap the boolit on the bench.

[runfiverun]

if you are gonna size them down i'd anneal then size/lube.
i like a snap fit also.
but have punched open a ton of them for the tight fit.

[hammerhead357]

44man thats the problem I can't get them on without shaving some lead. If I anneal them first then I can force them on with out shaving any lead. So I guess I will anneal them entire box and then force them on and size/lube them. Thanks for the replies

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Hammerhead357,

I read sometime back about annealing GCs in quanity.

Seems as I recall that the GC were put into a short piece of pipe with a cap screwed on both ends and then the set up was heated.

I think they wanted the air/ oxy to be forced out of the pipe before they really tightened the caps??????????????????.

Seems there were some positive sides to this.

Maybe it was in some Cast Bullet Asso. info I rec'd way back when.

Maybe someone can refresh this info for us.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[44man]

The darn things have a coating on them that turns black. The pipe keeps out oxygen.
I ignore the black flakes and just shake the loose stuff off. I tried acetone soaking first but the stuff is tough.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

44man,

Sounds like you have been there done that.

Can you give us a bit more "how to" info.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[44man]

A lot of guys put them in a skillet and put them on the stove. I just set them in a pan and pass my propane torch from one to another so each just changes color. I don't make them red hot. Just enough to burn the coating, really.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

44man,

I think I recall there was some decrease of groups.

Comments on that?

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[hammerhead357]

I had read of the use of a piece of pipe with caps but seems like a lot of effort. I think the first I read of annealing g/c was in an article written by Ross Seyfried several years ago, in that article he used the pan technique if I remember correctlly.
I had just never tried it but after expanding them with a punch and then annealing one I think I will go with the pan on a burner approach. Prolly use a turkey frier burner outside with a skillet and see if that works.
The one that I annealled last nite with a propane torch did turn black I thought maybe I got it to hot but from 44mans post it doesn't sound like it. Just have to deal with the coating and the black...Wes

[44man]

44man,

I think I recall there was some decrease of groups.

Comments on that?

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
I found annealing increased accuracy with water dropped WW boolits in my .44 but had no real change with harder lead. I do not anneal for my .475 or 45-70 or harder boolits in the .44.
The change in accuracy was small anyway.
Gas check hardness will still depend on alloy and velocity anyway and a dead soft check should be treated like a PB although it is a little better.

[454PB]

I've never annealed gas checks, but I do anneal fired .22 cases for swaging home made jacketed .224 bullets. I dump about 500 cases in my old Lyman 10 pound casting pot and cover it with a piece of tin. I place the filled pot on a 1000 watt hotplate and turn it on for 30 minutes or so, then turn it off and let everything cool. The cases do discolor some, but it can be cleaned off later.

[HORNET]

IIRC, those threads on annealing in a section of pipe recommended putting a piece of paper inside with the gas checks to consume any oxygen that was present and leaving one of the caps a little loose to allow pressure to vent as things heated up. The paper trick also helps prevent decarburizing steel when heat treating it in a foil wrapper. They also suggested that you could run the checks through the tumbler to clean off the black coating left by the coating.