gas checks on e bay

[Halfbreed]

Well Pat put a shake on it, I'm waiting for 458" and 308" for now, but when they start arriving I will certainly add to the list.
Thanks John

[rob45]

LOL .....We (myself and CB owner Ken 45nut) offered to help him do just that and he refused. That's why I started my business.

These dies are very labor intensive. The ONLY way you can make a go at it is with CNC and supporting equipment. I've spent a year in R&D and production with manual machines and now CNC- learned CNC programming and I've done this full time.

I can tell you it ain't easy no matter how you cut it, but I'm about ready to roll with full on production as my shop and production setup is progressing daily, running smoothly and nearing completion.

We shall prevail ...

Good to hear you're moving along. And you are correct- it's not easy.

I only have one of the FreeChecks made by Charlie; it's for 45 caliber.
Based on my single experience, Charlie is a great guy to his customers.
He was very thorough on asking questions before making the product.
What was my preferred thickness of stock, and how common/available was it?
How do my shanks measure on my bullets?
And more.

He basically did everything up front so as to ensure my complete satisfaction upon receiving the product, and it worked beautifully. I never dreamed that I could produce a gascheck of equal or higher quality than the commercial manufacturers.

My only complaint is that I have the original design, and although it produces very good checks, it is S-L-O-W.
I have not shopped on evilbay in quite a long time, and p-pal can stuff it as far as I'm concerned. So I do not know if he has a model out that allows faster production or not.

When you get things going, it would be interesting to know if your product allows for more production (while maintaining quality, of course).
The Hornady 7140 is not getting any cheaper.
Lately I've had to cut my shooting almost in half so as to maintain component inventory (especially primers); during that downtime I could be spending an evening producing the gas checks I need for the next month.

After you get the ever-popular 30 and 35 calibers going, let me know if you plan to put a 45 on the drawing board. I for one would be interested to hear about it, as I'm sure others would be, too.

[1874Sharps]

Pat,

It is free market entrepeneurial folks like you and Charlie the FREE CHEX guy that have made, and make this country great. I hope things keep going well for you!

[PatMarlin]

Thank you Sharps-

More Checkmaker™ 30's will be going out this week. I have 3 more programs to write and fine tune on my CNC then we are off to the races. 35's next, 35PB (plain base checks), then 44, 41, 45, and so on progressing from there. This is a full time business for me. Nice thing about CNC is once the program is written and tuned with the right tooling, you just change program numbers for caliber changes.

As for making checks, I find it the easiest part of the reloading process. You can whip out a pile of checks with your reloading press in a few minutes, and it's done. On to lube sizing and reloading.

I haven't gone into detail on promoting my dies lately, as I've wanted to have the production setup done so there won't be a long wait. New comers haven't seen what this design will do.

Some details with the design are:

1. It has a wide range of material thickness capability in one die caliber. 30cal is working from beverage can aluminum to upwards of .017 copper (and soft aluminum) sheet. I cut and formed .021 copper and it worked, but definitely overkill, to hard, to thick and not optimum for checks but the die cut and formed. I've sized from .308 to my .315 Fat 30's. Customer tests accuracy results have met or exceeded factory checks across the board.

2. The dies are very efficient in the use of your check material with an extremely small amount of waste. Look how close these cuts are with thin (35PB) Arizona Tea can AL, and you can get just as close with copper or aluminum thicker materials. When you are buying material, this is extremely important...



The other thing is you don't have to waste time and effort trying to cut that close. All of these cuts were moving right along. You don't have measure and think about it. You gage your next disk cut by looking at the last hole. Kinda gives you a quick marker for how far to slide the strip...

.010 half hard copper-



35PB dies...




30 Cal...

[klcarroll]

Well, ......I will certainly be a customer as soon as the .44 die set is released!





Kent

[PatMarlin]

Well Pat put a shake on it, I'm waiting for 458" and 308" for now, but when they start arriving I will certainly add to the list.
Thanks John

I'll be right wilth you John.

Here... grab a magazine ..

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/cele...5M?photo_num=1


...

[PatMarlin]

I forgot to mention the price will remain the same:

-Checkmaker™ Dies complete and ready to work with your reloading press
$74 plus $4.95 shipping USPS Priority mail... $13.95 international flat rate

-Optional ejector pins are $6.95 (accommodates loose fitting check shanks, some thin materials of varying harnesses)
-Extra ejector ram arms are $4.95 for the RCBS style (Hornady, Lyman, Redding, etc.,) $8.95 for the LEE style.

Free sample of my casting flux CFF- California Flake Flux™ included with all die orders.


I was going to include the optional pins for free, but material costs have gone up, and those little pins gobble up a bit of CNC time still, so I needed to recoup costs somewhere.

I plan on keeping these prices unless materials skyrocket, but I don't think they will do to bad. It's been up and down the past 2 years, so I think the average will be workable,.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Right on Pat, Glad to see you are getting there , I will be in contact, for your products.

[First Big Foot]

I am a newbie here.
Can someone please tell me how to make a home made gas check cutter/presser?
Or show a picture?
I bought a box of Hornady 30-30 and .44 about eight years ago, still only a third of the way through them. Is it really worth it to make your own?

[First Big Foot]

Hi: I was looking at your photos of the GC pressor/cutter, and thought it ingenious.
Are you the seller, or just a user?
I don't use a lot of them, but to be able to make my own sounds like an excellent thing.
Can you help me find such for 30-30, (and I assume that would also work for 30-06), and .44? Thanks

[First Big Foot]

I just checked, .30 gas checks are selling for $32.+, plus postage, on Ebay, and $28.49 plus postage on Midway USA's site. Am I missing something here?

[Halfbreed]

dang it Pat, I will also need a 35pb as well. Now ya did it.
Thanks man,

By the way will a Lee anniversary press work for these? Did I mention i probably will need a larger press too.

[PatMarlin]

I think the PB check is really awesome. That 358429 Keith is a little sledge hammer launched out of my Marlin 336 in 35 Rem at 1800-1900 fps, and has shown signs of being able to go even more. I found no sign of leading. Wonder what Keith himself woulda though about this?

I can't wait to get the a 45PB made for my 45 colts, my 454 Casull and my other Keith molds, and heavy plain base 45 cal rifle molds. You guys waiting on 45's don't worry... they's comin'. I'm a serious 45cal fan...

With the PB check you use thin material like can AL, or .004-.006 copper. Lube and size within the day or so- soon after you cast while the boolit is still soft.

I'm not familiar with the LEE aniversary press. I just drilled a ROCKDock™ base for one, for a customer.

Does that press have a primer arm slot in the ram?

[PatMarlin]

Hi: I was looking at your photos of the GC pressor/cutter, and thought it ingenious.
Are you the seller, or just a user?
I don't use a lot of them, but to be able to make my own sounds like an excellent thing.
Can you help me find such for 30-30, (and I assume that would also work for 30-06), and .44? Thanks

Welcome First Big Foot to cast boolit heaven! ..

I'm the manufacturer and seller of my Checkmaker™ dies. It's a new business and brand, that I'm now finishing up my shop production setup for.

I'm filling orders first come first and completing CNC setup currently for the 30, 35, and 35PB cal dies.

[9.3X62AL]

Pat--

Looking forward to seeing you again at NCBS, sir. Your Plain Base Gas-Check Maker is a GREAT idea.

1st Big Foot--Welcome aboard, sir. Gas checks, even at the prices listed, are priced obscenely. 35 caliber checks were about $4.50/1K when I got started with this hobby in 1981, and I know right well that my income during that time hasn't grown 7X. I use at least 2K of 30 calibre GCs every year, and if primers were more readily available I would likely double that rate. Same story for 35 caliber checks. Tools like Pat's would pay for themselves in short order.

There is also something inherent in boolit casting itself that applauds and supports efforts like those Pat is making. By taking charge of the component supply chain, you are no longer dependant upon component makers for the things you need to create ammunition. While I don't "fault" the primer makers for the most recent primer shortages, the shortages are nonetheless present and demonstrate the dependancy we have on that "Achilles' heel" in the ammo supply matrix. Panic buying creates a condition where the makers can't keep up, and the results are predatory pricing in response to that demand. Perhaps not by the maker, but the distributors and retailers are more than happy to make hay while the sun is shining. Yeah, that might be The American Way, but Al's Memory won't jettison the reminder of who "went buccaneer" during the lean times--and which suppliers stayed reasonable and continued operating with a reasonable profit margin as their business model.

[PatMarlin]

Whatch out for that Al...

He'll make ya famous ..

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Come on Pat, we can't wait for these products eather, sounds like the PB CK will be more must have tools....no wonder I'm broke all the time...keep up the good work.

[JSAND]

I think this is great, anything to help us get off of the Big Business IV that we find ourselves on these days. I am jumping in with both feet, reloading and casting. I have 2 more months in Afghanistan and then I can get started. I don't know yet what a lot of this stuff you guys are talking about is, but I am reading everyday and learning as I can, hope to at least know what I am looking at when I get home to my equipment. I think I may have already made a mistake I have ordered a Lee GC die 309 160grn and ordered 308 gas checks and a 309 Lee sizer. Do the 308 gass checks work on 309, have been reading various threads and the way it sounds they use 308 on 308 - 312 have I missunderstood what I was reading. Any help is appreciated.

[stubshaft]

I think this is great, anything to help us get off of the Big Business IV that we find ourselves on these days. I am jumping in with both feet, reloading and casting. I have 2 more months in Afghanistan and then I can get started. I don't know yet what a lot of this stuff you guys are talking about is, but I am reading everyday and learning as I can, hope to at least know what I am looking at when I get home to my equipment. I think I may have already made a mistake I have ordered a Lee GC die 309 160grn and ordered 308 gas checks and a 309 Lee sizer. Do the 308 gass checks work on 309, have been reading various threads and the way it sounds they use 308 on 308 - 312 have I missunderstood what I was reading. Any help is appreciated.

The 308 gas checks will work fine on boolits from .307 thru .314.

[PatMarlin]

Start thinking in terms of Caliber families JSAND, and it will start to make sense.

.308 and.309 are merely sizes (diameters) of 30 caliber family.

30 cal starts at .307-.308 and for cast shooters goes all the way up to .315-.316 for what we call the (Fat) diameter 30's.

Other calibers for example:

35 cal, 44 cal, and 45 cal, just to name a few. All of those have their various sizes within.

Thank you for your service and God's speed on a safe trip home soon.... Pat