am I using the right size checks?

[original]

I did my first casting a little while ago with the lee ctl312-160-2r and tried to put the hornady 30cal checks on and they were a very tight fit. All of them would not start off going on straight and had to urged on with a some light taps of a small hammer. I put the bullet tip on a soft wood board and tapped the checks on and while doing it the checks would shave off a little lead. I only did about ten then stopped, just didn't seem right nor have I loaded them yet. thanks.

[UBER7MM]

Original,

Welcome to the forum. Try an appropriately sized, old school half round head machine screw chucked in a drill press. They used to use them to attach license plates to cars, when cars had chromed steel bumpers and seat belts were optional. (I'm showing my age.) Press down on your gas checks to open them up a bit.

I hope this helps.

[original]

Thanks for the welcome. This is all new to me and I have read up on a lot of the posts here and find it hard to absorb a fraction of the info, great site. After my first casting session and not such good results I gave it a second try and everything came out great with all the pointers from this site, kind of felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Although the results at the range were not that impressive with the 45-70 but I am sure it will get there. thanks for the tip for the checks, I will give that a try next time.

[JWFilips]

Original,
As for your results: If you just cast your boolits Its best to let them age a few weeks before shooting them It stabilizes things a bit. Make quite a difference when shooting rifles. Just one of a dozen helpful hints you will get
Jim

[Blammer]

it appears your mould is a tad large, but not by much, in the GC shank area.

sometimes the alloy you cast with will vary "JUST ENOUGH" to make the gc's a pain.

[Taylor]

My hornady's don't like the NOE (.22) boolit either.Oh,I get them on,just have to go slower.That's OK,I'm retired,have time.I have some aluminum checks,that fit just fine on this boolit.Now if I could only remember where I bought them.I do remember he was a truck driver from Illinois.