Seating stubborn GC's

[Glen]

Most of the time, I just snap them on with my thumb, but as we all know, every so often you run across a mould that has an oversized GC shank and getting the GC onto that shank takes more than thumb pressure. In the past, the way I dealt with this was to place a small piece of 1/8" flat-stock over the sizer die and use the nose-punch to push the bullet down into the GC. This works fine (if the bullet isn't too long), but it's kinda slow.

Recently, I found a pair of well-used channel lock pliers at a pawn shop that a previous owner had taken the jaws to a belt sander and ground off all the teeth, leaving the jaws smooth. They cost me all of 50 cents, and it turns out that they work quite nicely for seating GCs onto recalcitrant shanks.

[leftiye]

I make a (punch?) that is the size of the boolit shank and has a rounded shoulder and flare the gas checks a little. Not to flame you at all Glen (I wouldn't presume to), but forcing them on can result in deformed bases and checks that don't hold.

[44man]

Flaring the check is the best. I have a tight fit on a boolit and when I tap the check on, on the bench top, then run them in the die, I can turn them a little. I can't get them off with my fingernail but I don't trust them.

[9.3X62AL]

Lyman and Lee molds seem to have the tight or loose GC shanks among my assortment--RCBS, NEI, and SAECO are better-behaved.

I do the punch-flare bit as described by Leftiye above. I have used the GC Seating Tool in the Lyman 450 with some success, but I still flare the checks first.

[NVcurmudgeon]

I anneal and flare the GC if the shank is too large. If the shank is too small I anneal only. Annealed GC are unlikely to springback and loosen up on the boolit. For flaring I use a homemade punch made from a polished 5/16" bolt for .30 cal. GC. For .35 cal. I use a .22 Hornet case (rim diameter .360") tapped into any 7 mm case.

[Bret4207]

1/2" ball bearing and a rawhide casting mallet. A light tap is all it takes, even less if I anneal the GC.

[Glen]

Good points gentlemen -- that will teach me to tell the whole story. I use the channel locks to get the GC's onto the shanks, THEN I size them normally, so they are still crimped on. The flat faces of the channel locks get them seated squarely on the base, and the crimp keeps them solidly in place. I haven't had any problems with this method so far....

[Lloyd Smale]

I use a pair of vise grips that are sanded smooth like your channel locks. I dont like putting on checks as i size as it just takes to long. What i usually do is take a couple thousand bullets in the house with me at night and sit watching tv and putting on the checks. It uses time that id otherwise be wasting and gives you a good chance too to inspect the bullets for rejects. Even going though the hastle of belling checks is just to time consuming and I guess if i had to got through all of that it would be time to dump the mold. The vise grip (or channel lock) deal works fine.

[arkypete]

Anybody else had the problem of some GCs being tighter then others from the same box? It seems that the 45 Cal. seems to be more prone to this.
I've had some checks that would not seat but the next would. I set the problem check aside for later use. I find the tight checks while seating the 45 Cal rifle bullets and use them on the 45 Cal pistol bullets.
Jim

[Bass Ackward]

Jim,

Yea. One check fails while another seems lose. But I like Glens idea as opposed to numb thumb syndrome.

Since I do everything through nose first sizers, I just set them on there and the force of the ram squares, aligns everything, and then seats flat and finally crimps 99.999% of checks without shaving. Assuming that they are annealed first of coarse. And if it's particularly bad, a light coat of LLA on the bullets does the trick for sliding them on better. I use it all the time in the summer or when I need to size .002 or more.

That's one BIG advantage to nose first sizing!

[cbrick]

Interesting thread that I missed last summer. I'm a big fan of nose first sizing using a flat punch that's large enough to barely fit the sizing die. The outside edge of the punch is near the outside edge of the check so the center isn't pushed in and the sides of the check is fully installed on the shank.

I've got a method of installing the checks that's a little bit of most responses in this thread. Glen uses Channel Locks, someone else uses Vice Grips and several size the checks first. Lloyd installs them while watching TV. I don't anneal the checks but I do size them and I have made up a couple of different styles of check sizers to do it. One is simply a tapered center punch with the end ground flat until the diameter of the taper matches the gas check caliber its for. Then put a very slight radius to the edge.

The other type I made from a Lyman "M" die and an RCBS extended shell holder. Its used in the Rock Chucker kinda like a punch press.



The picture on the left is of the parts, on the right assembled. The RCBS extended shell holder is milled flat and used in the press as an anvil. The plug from the Lyman "M" die is turned flat to the correct diameter for the caliber being sized.

With either the punch or the press method checks slip on the shank with zero lead shaving, no deformed checks and no sore thumbs. Like Lloyd when I have a bit of spare time I'll size up a bunch of checks in advance except I don't use the TV. Most of what's on the tube bores me to tears, strange huh? That's the industry I work in.