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Thread: Cardboard gas check???

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Question Cardboard gas check???

    With the load I'm using, I don't think I really need a metal gas check. I tried shooting without a check on and got lots of leading. No leading with a check.
    I was thinking of a flat gas check punched out of milk carton cardboard. I would stick it on with hot glue, dip lube like I do with metal checks, and size when I need to in the Lee sizer.
    With the price of checks going the way it's going, if it would work, it seems like a cheap alternative.
    Has anyone tried something like this?????

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Yes. You have an idea there that can work for you, but plastic from coffee can lids is better. You can buy precut wads too, but usually not enough over a GC.

    Why? Take a knife and sharpen it real good. Feel it. Then cut into your cardboard milk container. Then feel your knife blade again. What do you think that will do to rifling under pressure?
    Reading can provide limited education because only shooting provides YOUR answers as you tie everything together for THAT gun. The better the gun, the less you have to know / do & the more flexibility you have to achieve success.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master


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    I've been playing around with a (some sort of wax GC soft) I think i bought them from Junior. Sorry don't have a link right now. Cold weather set in real hard and stopped experimenting. I shot a few with no leading out of a 30-30 using a Plain base 130 and a 170 gr GC design wthout a check gr 6-8 grains of Unique. It was so cold when i shot i couldn't go for any accuracy. These were red hard wax of some sort, thin sheets. One could make hundreds of them for very little money. I'll bet you could make these out of a stiff lube to do the same thing. I'll work on some more loads when the weather gets better.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master







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    Bass, You say that the milk carton wad is hard on rifling, and I am willing to accept that based on your analysis. That said, what is the wear factor with the plastic wads from coffee can lids, and also is there a plastic residue with these. Lastly, will these plastic wads work on blts designed for GC's, or just on regular plain base blts. Will try anything once, twice if it works out!
    1Shirt!

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Cardboard wads have been used for ages with BP-cartridges, never heard of any worn-out barrell.

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy Johnw...ski's Avatar
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    Cardboard Wad

    I had an old friend who would shoot at the range with an old 38-55 Winchester single shot. He would show up with his rifle and one brass cartridge and reload that one cartridge all day. He used cardboard discs he punched out of a corn flakes box to hold the powder in place and could shoot one inch groups more often than not, and this was done at two hundred yards.

    I can only imagine what he could have done if he hadn't worn out his barrel with cardboard.

    John

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    You have to make sure that the cardboard does not contain recycled cardboard as there may be abrasive contaminants in the cardboard. My brother works at a box factory and said that the parts wear faster in the machines that make boxes out of cardboard that contains recycled paper or cardboard than the machines that use virgin cardboard.

    -Yarro

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Johnw...ski, I understand what you mean. I too mourn the deterioration of such exquisite barrels to a mere .5 MOA at 200yds. Woe is me! Drat! Alas and alak!!!

    . . . . . Oooookay, where was I, oh yeah. . .

    What Bass Ackward said about a keen edge being worn by cutting paper is true. I worked in a factory where cutting corrugated cardboard was a necessity and found that a freshly honed blade lost fineness of edge pretty quickly, BUT, once the ever-so-delicate edge was worn, my knife maintained a useful edge for some time and wore more slowly before needing to be resharpened. The angles on the edges of the lands in a barrel are close to 90deg and the corners are not of a whisper-thin delicacy that a razor edge has. The corners in both cases will wear off until they reach equilibrium between the forces trying to wear them away and the strength of the corner shape. A minor amount of polishing through use in barrels results in a shape that will be there for a long time to come. The point made about abrasive contaminants in recycled paper is something to be considered. To avoid this, I make my card wads from paper used in food grade products like cereal/pizza boxes. Certain types of card stock works well, since the recycled papers will wear it as a badge of honor that they're saving the planet, hence warning me to not buy theirs.

  9. #9
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    maybe the cheap material the BP guys use glued in place with a litte lube on it.

    of course a .018 ¢ a GC you gotta be real frugal to wanna do better than that...

  10. #10
    Boolit Master


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    According to a friend whose business is making, repairing, and resharpening slitter blades, cardboard and other paper products are among the most abrasive materials to cut.

    Parenthetically, I believe that many custom knife makers test their blades by a barnyard Taber Wear Test -- that is, counting the number of cardboard or manila hemp rope cuts that occur before [a specified] dulling occurs.

    Were waxed cardboard concentric with centerline of bullet, and with zero overage, I believe the gas check would do what you want done.
    It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it. Sam Levinson

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Castaway's Avatar
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    When loading my hunting loads for my Trapper (45 colt) I've found a waxed cardboard wad is a significant help. By placing the wad on the powder (100% load density) the group size is cut in half.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Several people have used COW, corn meal or grits on the powder and eliminated leading as well as polishing the barrel.
    I do believe all of them used uncooked product, I cringe to think of topping the powder off with some hot, buttered grits! ;D
    drinks, NRA life, TSRA life, SAF life, CCRKBA, GOA, JPFO, CBA, Def-Con.

  13. #13
    Banned 45 2.1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blammer View Post
    of course a .018 ¢ a GC you gotta be real frugal to wanna do better than that...
    You got some gas checks for sale at that price.......??????????? BTW, that is about 55 1/2 gas checks for a penny. I'll buy all you got for that price.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by 45 2.1 View Post
    You got some gas checks for sale at that price.......??????????? BTW, that is about 55 1/2 gas checks for a penny. I'll buy all you got for that price.
    I will take 5k in the following calibers:
    Hell, at that price, just send me 5k in every caliber you have to be safe.


    I think there was a little mistake.
    .018 ¢ should have been $0.018, or expressed as 1.8¢.
    Which is still a good price, btw.


  15. #15
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    one cent is .01¢

    one point eight cent is .018¢

    right?

    or $18.00 a thousand?

    is my math holding up?

    Ok, I was off a bit, the Gator Check group buy for 30 cal was $43.00 for 2,000 shipped sorry... or .0215¢ each.

    of course if anyone wants to pick up at my house and save on shipping come on by! lol

  16. #16
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    as I think about this you guys are dang scary on how cheaply you want to shoot!

    and the scariest part is! IT'S RUBBING OFF ON ME!


  17. #17
    Banned 45 2.1's Avatar
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    one cent is .01¢ No,1 cent = $0.01

    one point eight cent is .018¢ No, it's $0.018

    right?

    or $18.00 a thousand? This is better

    is my math holding up? Nope, it's not.

  18. #18
    In Remembrance w30wcf's Avatar
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    Blammer,

    Ok, I was off a bit, the Gator Check group buy for 30 cal was $43.00 for 2,000 shipped sorry... or .0215¢ each.
    Easy mistook to make. When putting a . in front, that means less than number preceeding. 2.15 cents would be correct (2.15 x 1000 = 2150 cents / 100 = 21.50). If you eliminate the cents sign, .0215 each would be right (.0215 x 1000 = 21.50).

    I have found that a .06" thick LDPE (low density polyethylene) wad under a plain based bullet will give accurate shooting and no gas cutting / leading at 2,000+ f.p.s.

    w30wcf
    aka w44wcf
    aka Jack Christian SASS 11993 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
    aka John Kort
    NRA Life Member
    .22 W.C.F., .30 W.C.F., .44 W.C.F. Cartridge Historian

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    Beware the SofChek (Trade name of the red wax sheets)! They will melt in summer heat and kill your loads deader than a hammer.
    Sometimes you gotta wonder if democracy is such a good idea.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    I'm all for saving money, but I don't like to take on a whole lot of hassle in the process. If it's a hassle I don't mind doing - no problem. On the other hand, if it is a pain in the rump - then I'd rather spend the money.

    Cutting a cardboard wad and trying to glue it to the bottom of a bullet, concentrically, seems like it might be a lot of trouble. Maybe not, believe it or not I don't mind paper patching bullets, but then for those I'm not trying to do large quantities either.

    What if you dipped a GC bullet into a pot of melted hot glue (or any other liquid material that will set up), let it set, then run it through a sizer?

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check