Just got a gas check tool

[sundog]

Joe, and others, that's what concerns me - bright and shiny. Aluminium can be quite hard and abrasive. Are you SURE that no damage is being done? I guess we'll know after a few thousand, eh?

[Boerrancher]

Joe, and others, that's what concerns me - bright and shiny. Aluminium can be quite hard and abrasive. Are you SURE that no damage is being done? I guess we'll know after a few thousand, eh?

Aluminum in its self is not abrasive. Aluminum Oxide is very hard and abrasive. The only thing on this planet that is harder than Aluminum Oxide is a Diamond. (Being a Gemologist/Mineralogist helps in this area.) My good friend Tom has been shooting Aluminum gas checks for about the last 20 years. I have not heard him complain at all about premature bore wear. I know he has sent thousands of rounds down range with Aluminum gas checks. Aluminum from Beverage cans is painted on the outside, and lined with a clear coating on the inside. These thin layers protect the can from Oxidation. When you make a gas check and then coat it with a micro thin layer of lube, you have effectively created a second barrier to aid the other two coatings in preventing Oxidation.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[PatMarlin]

Does any of our Cast Boolit brethren have a bore scope?

[Larry Gibson]

Does any of our Cast Boolit brethren have a bore scope?

I have access to one, well two actually.

Larry Gibson

[PatMarlin]

That's great Larry but the next question is would you be willing to subject one of your fine shooters as a guinea pig to see if aluminum is doing any damage?...

[TheGunGeek]

For purely selfish reasons, I'd like to suggest making these in .243 soon. Sure, there may be more people using other calibers, but nobody makes gas checks for .243 any more. While one way to look at it is that there must be a reason why nobody is making them (such as a lack of demand), one must also consider that everyone using cast bullets with their 243 will really want one of these babies so you'd get a higher percentage of an admittedly smaller number of potential customers.

Something to consider anyway...

[Larry Gibson]

I've posted a thread in the GB results forum on a test with my home made 8mm GCs vs Hornadys if any one is interested.

Larry Gibson

[Von Dingo]

Is Charlie still making these die sets? E-bay is not saying anything.

[303Guy]

Aluminum from Beverage cans is painted on the outside, and lined with a clear coating on the inside. These thin layers protect the can from Oxidation.

Now that you mention it, .... I used to work in an aluminum can-end coating plant. The aluminum is is cleaned in an acidic or alkaline bath which removes a lot of the abrasive oxides prior to coating. Extruded cans are coated soon after forming so agin the oxide layer should be pretty thin. But most importantly are the results from those using aluminum g/c's. I have started using paper patches and paper is pretty abrasive, so ..... ?

[303Guy]

TheGunGeek, maybe 243 shooters are discovering that paper patching is more successfull!

[Tom W.]

Yes, I bought one last month. I watched a video on You Tube about a man using an arbor press instead of a hammer to make the checks. I bought a 1/2 ton Arbor press from Harbor Freight and believe me, it's worth the price, and my fingers will agree! I don't know how thay shoot yet, and they seem to fit a tad loose in my Lee 300 grain .45 Cal bullet, But I'll see how a slightly thicker material will work.

[inuhbad]

This may have been discussed before, but you can buy copper shim stock (even at the current high copper price) relatively inexpensive. We use a lot of copper shims at work and buy copper shim stock by the roll from McMaster Carr among other places. You can get the shim stock in about whatever thickness you want. I measured several different caliber gas checks that I have here and most were around .007" thick on the sides. I know you can get it for sure in .001" increments to .025" very easily.
I have lurked here quite a while but not posted much, sorry if I am throwing out worthless info.

Mike

Thanks for that info! I'll have to check out McMaster Carr for those copper shim rolls! Sure would be nice to be self-sufficient in everything related to making my own boolits!

[JeffinNZ]

Charlie is out of town right now but back on line soon.

[Rocky Raab]

Out of curiosity as to why this year-old thread got reincarnated, I searched eBay and found a listing for .243 gas checks. For anyone interested, it is item 120434514007 and it is active at this time.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

It has been pointed out a goodly number of times that; the system of punching out and forming gas checks for various caibers out of Aluminum (beverage cans and whatever/or other metals one chooses to use) as machined and sold by Codarnell....definitely works and works well. However he chooses to market his product is his business; our concern is that his system works and is available to us for a reasonable price. He ships quickly, is amenable and user friendly. Yes it is reasonably fair for shooters to be concerned about what is sent down their barrels in terms of wear and tear, but it has also been very well emphasized by knowledgeable forum members that beverage can aluminum is specially cleaned and treated or coated to prevent oxidation. Anyone who has taken science in school at any level or school chemistry has been taught that to form an oxide of just about anything...it is necessary to have oxygen present. With any kind of coating or barrier there is no oxygen getting to the aluminum used in beverage cans. If one is using another source/type of aluminum the amount of oxygen exposure is extremely or infinitely minimal.....that means that you cannot measure it by any practical means and it would have to be multiplied by tens of thousands to approach any significant degree. For those who don't want to or can't believe that concept, it is totally possible to put and keep the gas checks ina zip-lock bag or a small jar or a small pill bottle with a lid and you can be assured that the amount of oxygen that would be involved would not have enough effect on the aluminum gas checks to form an oxide that would probably not register on any kind of electron microscope let alone abrade the steel of a gunbore. Nevertheless people do believe different things and they certainly have the right to do so and and have their opinions as well. In that regard I would then suggest using some other metal such as copper or brass, or simply continue to buy gas checks from Lyman and/or Hornady for whatever scamming/pricefixing prices they collude to charge. At the general price range being charged by Codarnall for his kits, you would always be ahead if you make 1000-1500 checks on your own and thereafter. And just for the record I have been using one of his kits for some time now in 30 caliber to feed a number of M1's, 30-30's, and 30 Carbines. They shoot just as well as any commercial copper gas checks I ever used and although it is a slow system of fabrication, the savings are large and to me worth it. LLS

[vonnieglen]

I've been using the 30 cal Freechex II that I bought from Charlie on Ebay for several months now. I put the video up on youtube using the tool with a Harbor Freight arbor press. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GNCVcD4DmE

I love making them. If I have a need for a little mindless entertainment, I cut up some aluminum flashing with my paper cutter and make a couple hundred gas checks. I have shot hundreds of rounds using them and they work very well. I haven't seen any evidence of damage to the barrels of my rifles. Using these and pan lubing with some of Lar's lube I am having no trouble with leading and the consistency from round to round has been good.

[WILCO]

I watched a video on You Tube about a man using an arbor press instead of a hammer to make the checks.

Here's the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GNCVcD4DmE

[WILCO]

I posted 7 min. too late!!

[Tom W.]

But thanks anyway. I was just glad to see the 1/2 ton model, It was about $20 cheaper!

As for Charlie being a bad business person... I had a question about my mandrel, and He answered it in a polite manner in less than an hour. I have no problems with the man at all, and am pleased to be able to to buy something that works well and is reasonably priced.

[David Wile]

Hey folks,

I have not tried the Freechex II model Charlie is now making. I have four different caliber sets of his first generation models, and the gas checks they make out of aluminum cans work very well for me. Then I had to see the video that vonnieglen made of his using the 2nd gereration model, and I am facinated by it. So far, I have not bought one of the new models, but I am going to have to find another caliber to justify buying one of Charlie's new models.

I wish I could buy a two cavity mould in 10MM that would take a gas check - then I would surely have all the reason I need to buy one of his new models. Does anyone know of a 10MM 2-cavity mould that is designed for a gas check? I use what I think is a Ray Thompson design semi wadcutter mould for .357 and .44 calibers; I wish I could get the same design in 10MM.

I'm still pumping out my own gas checks from Charlie's first generation tool sets in .30 and .45 calibers for rifles as well as the two pistol calibers. So far, I have not had to sharpen the punches on any of them.

Hey Jeff,

I know you started a long time ago with Charlie's first generation tool sets. Have you tried any of his new model tool sets as yet?

Best wishes,
Dave Wile