I laid out my aluminum gas checks on a tray and put them in the toaster oven I use to powder coat. I cranked it up as hot as it would do and ran them for an hour. This oven has melted bullets while trying to figure out PC. So I figure it had to be round about 500 degrees. I thought they would change color? Some have mentioned that. Are they annealed?
No one? The sure seat tighter, so I guess they are!
I have annealed for 1 hour as low as 400* and they went on tight and eliminated spring back.
I've also gone as high as 500*. I think you would have to go much hotter to get them to change color. As long as their seating tight and they don't spring back a bit bigger after being sized, you should be fine. I size at .360" and the checks stay .360 after being sized.
What is your alloy?
If you know the alloy you can look up the annealing time and temp on line.
If you cannot find it I have the Aluminum Association manual somewhere and it has all those parameters for both US and metric alloys.
If you do not know the alloy you can approximate it in the data.
EDG
If your talking about the al., it's Ameri-Max .014"Originally Posted by EDG
Has anyone tried annealing the aluminum before making the checks
I recently tried annealing before stamping. I cut enough strips for 1000 checks (PatMarlins CheckMaker die) and dipped them into my lead pot (5 at a time) for about 5 seconds. Annealed. The softer material made great checks that hold tight.
I had a little lead try to stick to the strips. Once the strips were cooled I could clean the strips by pulling them between gloved fingers. Lead doesn't stick to aluminum very well so the debris came right off. I am thinking of taking the whole Amerimax roll and sticking it in the ove until it reaches 400 degrees and then let cool. If that doesn't soften enough I can always heat longer.
Common sense Gun Safety . . .
Is taught at the Range!
You've got the right idea ...in the lead that is. Listed annealing temps are about 750 to 800. 400 is way too low to actually anneal Al.
The aluminum heats up so fast when immersed in lead that annealing is done in a flash. I'm going to do some more this morning because I need to make some 22 checks. The other day I made 30 checks. Gotta feed the ARs in 5.56 and .300 blk. I've got to admit, I built an AR last month in 9mm just so I could get more trigger time with less reloading steps. PCd boolits in the 9mm leaves the bore shiny, no need to use plain based checks. I haven't found the need to anneal the soda can material when making those checks, or for 45. I'm still going to try it out but I just don't see where the thinner checks need it.
Common sense Gun Safety . . .
Is taught at the Range!
Well annealed a bunch of strips in the BBQ at 700 for 20 minutes.
The PM check maker still rattles the whole shed.
How thick is your metal?
How solid is your bench?
What press do you use and how solid is it mounted to your bench?
How solid is your shed floor?
I've always made my checks, then annealed and they go on tight and shoot great. Last night i annealed a strip of al. and then made the checks. Couldn't tell much difference as far as making them on my hammer tool. The difference came when i tried to put them on the boolits....they popped on so tight i could hardly pry them off and they haven't been sized yet. They were also much easier to file to the height i like them to be.
Can't wait to shoot them and see if they group even tighter, which they already gave tight groups the way i've been doing it.
I've annealed aluminium strip I use for making gas checks. It does make for less effort, particularly for the punching out stage. Depends on the hardness state of the aluminium to start with as to how much effect, if any, you will notice. From memory I think there are 7 hardness stages (work hardening that is) until the metal will fail; H0 = fully annealed, maximum softness, ductility and malleability but minimum strength to H7, maximum strength but too hard to work. If you buy aluminium sheet from a metal stockist it will usually be in H5 condition. Obviously annealing aluminium in H0 condition is a waste of time. Also a factor is the exact alloy in question.
Happily there is a way to determine annealing temperature of aluminium. Simply rub some soap on the surface; when the correct temperature is reached the soap turns black.
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As i said in my above post a while back i've been making the checks then annealing and have some good proven loads that average just over an inch @ 100 yds. I tried annealing the al. strips first and then make the checks the other day. Today i shot them with a known load and got almost 2" vertical strings for 2- 5 shot groups. I know 2 groups is not enough of a test but i was surprised at the vertical stringing as that load shoots rounded 1.1 to 1.3" groups Don't see why annealing before or after would make a difference in group size. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this or even tried it. Of course i could have just had an off day shooting too.
Hey 35 Shooter!
JeffinNZ has been doing some testing with different aluminum alloys based on there tensil strenght. Prelimanary results are showing that the harder alloys are more accurate than softer. One reason the litho graphic plate is more accurate than other alloys. You should read his blog than goes over his results. Annealing aluminum and leaving it soft may cause for poor accuracy in lead bullets. James
READ THIS http://floydpics.wordpress.com/2014/...-all-the-same/
Last edited by Sagebrush7; 09-28-2014 at 10:31 PM. Reason: ADD
Thanks for the link Sagebrush7. I certainly came home from the range a bit confused about the results today. Lol i may have confused myself with my own bad shooting though. I certainly can see no common sense reason they would shoot any better annealed before or after forming, although i noticed they went on a bit tighter annealing the strip first. So i expected them to shoot better that way and was surprised when they didn't. So far annealing after the check is formed has worked best for me....but again, maybe i had an off day.
Your right about the lith plate...that stuff shoots great out of my rifle.
I'll check Jeff out, as it sounds like he's really delving into it...Thanks again!
I looked up the physical properties of lithographic plate and have ordered the same tensile strength aluminum rolled sheeting. Being certified it is more expensive but not as exspensive as C210 copper. Hornady is using C210 copper for there checks. By me matching the same tensile strength of material, I believe Sages Outdoors will have a superior product for there customers.
Good to know Sagebrush7...okay the lith plate that worked for me in the whelen was .012".
Can you match that thickness in the al. your talking about?
At the moment i'm using .014" amerimax for my 35 whelen. The .012" lith sizes on so tight it absolutely won't come off...just hard to find around here.
35 Shooter, the .012 litho is hard to find used. New sheets are running $15.00 and up. Maybe the guys on the forum will chim in again and sell us some!
James how big is a sheet for $15? I have .012" in coil form in litho spec (3103 half hard) slit to suit any tool.
Sir Winston Churchill said "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."
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