Gas check seating problems

[DocSavage]

Need some help/advice,I'm having a heck of a time trying to seat gas checks on my cast bullets. The bullets are from a 30 cal NOE block and the gas checks are from Vulcan and are made of aluminum.
I'm down to where I'm driving them on with a small hammer and a top punch for that particular bullet. I did get a gas check expander from NOE but only ended up crushing the checks rather then expanding them. I usually use Hornandy gas checks but ran out of those. I have contacted Vulcan and waiting for a response from them. I'm going to contact NOE to try and figure out what I'm doing wrong with his expander. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[FAsmus]

DocSavage;

I have had this problem myself - not with aluminum checks but that shouldn't make any difference.

You don't need any special tools really, just go down and buy yourself a 5/16s pin punch from the local hardware store. Then, if you have a drill chuck big enough, chuck up the punch spin it up and use a good sharpening stone to grind a 45-degree angle on the tip. Make sure you do not grind any further back than the depth of your undersize checks.

If you do not have a chuck large enough to spin the punch you may carefully grind the same taper on the tip by hand. This will take a little longer and won't be perfectly even. Don't worry, just so long as it opens the checks enough they will seat normally on the bullet base the sizing operation will uniformly crimp them into place.

To use your new tool use only the lightest hammer you can find to tap each one gently while they rest on some sort of solid anvil - enough - but never too much. I use a 2 ounce ball-peen and a piece of 1/2" cold-rolled steel plate for this procedure.

FAsmus

[mdi]

I read a while back of a member that placed his gas checks on a hot plate and warmed them. The checks expanded enough to allow easy seating...

[fourarmed]

Last time I had that problem, I ended up using the rolled steel shaft of an acid brush to bevel the base of the bullet. The brushes are dirt cheap at Harbor Freight, and are just the right size for .30 caliber bullets.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Before I'd call anyone, I'd measure the Boolit's GC shank and look at the Boolit mold drawing to see if it's the correct size. Then I'd measure the ID of the Vulcan GC...and also a hornady GC, if you had one.

It's best to know what needs to be fixed, before you fix something.

I have a MP 30 cal mold that has a slightly oversize GC shank. I had a old box of Hornady GC's, they fit just fine, but the new Gator brand GC's I bought recently, were a chore to install. I got a GC expander and it worked great to expand the copper Gator GCs to fit that boolit...but kind of time consuming. Then I ordered a new box of Hornady GCs...those were difficult to install, just like the Gators. Then I bought a box of older Hornady GCs from a member here (advertised in the S&S section) and those fit great...They obviously made a change at some point.

[DocSavage]

Measured the shank and it's within spec which is .283-.287. The shank is .285 ,tried to measure the gas check and it's tough going can't get the calbers to get a consistent measurement. The material is .013 thick aluminum.

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

Measured the shank and it's within spec which is .283-.287. The shank is .285 ,tried to measure the gas check and it's tough going can't get the calbers to get a consistent measurement. The material is .013 thick aluminum.

Doc, you may just need to use the thinner gauge checks. Vulcan sells them in 0.010". I use them for the 165gn RD boolits from my NOE mold. They work great, the other thicker checks from Vulcan just wouldn't fit.

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[DocSavage]

Contacted Vulcan checks thru amazon and they are going to exchange the aluminum checks for copper.

[Boolseye]

I will only use Aluminum checks that I make myself (.30 cal. Pat Marlin's Checkmaker), have not had good luck with purchased Al checks. Gator or Hornady Cu checks are great. Sometimes applying checks does take a plastic hammer and a few judicious taps on a surface (I use a piece of leather tacked to hardwood) Every GC boolit is different, there's a little art to it.

[DocSavage]

Apparently the aluminum gas checks are made with thicker material than copper
.0135 AL vs .010 Cu. I've been reloading jacket and cast bullets for the better part of 45 years and honestly this is the first time I've run into this problem with gas checks live and learn I guess.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Swede Nelson makes a tool specifically to put a slight flare on gas checks. He also make a gas check seating tool that ensures you get the check completely on and square before you send it through a sizing die. I have both and they work great.
http://noebulletmolds.com/

[Boolseye]

Swede Nelson makes a tool specifically to put a slight flare on gas checks. He also make a gas check seating tool that ensures you get the check completely on and square before you send it through a sizing die.

That's a darn good idea. I get them on square at a separate station before running them through the sizer. Sounds like I'm not the only one. To the OP's point: the beauty of a check maker is that you can tailor them to the thickness you need for a specific boolit and gun. I only have the .30 cal version, but it's indispensible for my big-bored Nagants. When you need to get a boolit up to .315", you need that thicker check material. If the shank on your boolit is too fat, it may be a problem with the mold. All of my NOE GC molds have perfect shanks, so that seems unlikely. Sounds like a check problem.

[nun2kute]

I don't have any experience with Al GC's, so I can't scrud for them. (Yet) But I did kinda have a similar problem a while back. But after I fought the GC on straight, I notice it was considerably more difficult to size the boolit also. Turned out the reason the shank was so FAT was because the whole boolit was too FAT. Got a smear on the inside of my mold, threw everything outta wack. Not say'n that's your problem, just hope'n I can teach someone new like me from making my mistakes.

[JWFilips]

Doc, you may just need to use the thinner gauge checks. Vulcan sells them in 0.010". I use them for the 165gn RD boolits from my NOE mold. They work great, the other thicker checks from Vulcan just wouldn't fit.

On the 165 NOE RD's I need the Vulcan .010 Copper checks also! Everything else drove me nutz!

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

On the 165 NOE RD's I need the Vulcan .010 Copper checks also! Everything else drove me nutz!

They must have switched over to copper for the 0.010" checks. I bought a couple thousand in aluminium two years ago. They work great for me.

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[Shiloh]

I found the Vulcan checks to be to large. You can pull them off.

Shiloh