Help!! ALUMINUM GAS CHECK ????

[BackWoods Billy]

This is my 1st. gas check boolit and I don't know what is better . I can get some aluminum check for a good price. They are .014" thick .I'm going to us them on a Lee's 315 gr.boolit going around 1,150 fps. out of my 7.5" SBH. Please let me know if any of you have had good luck with aluminum..Thanks
PS Tried to find a thread on this and could not.

[Ben]

I can't tell you anything about calibers larger than .35 cal.

I'm not certain what you were searching for to find out about aluminum checks here on this forum but I've written over a dozen post here about using aluminum checks in .30 cal. and .35 cal. rifles. They work just fine.

Ben

[BackWoods Billy]

Ben. That's what I was searching for.LOL."they work just fine" Like I said,I have never used a GC before. Thanks and have a good weekend.

[Mugs]

Like Ben says "they work just fine". The groups in my avatar were with alum. cks. from a 30BR at 100 yrds.
Mugs
IHMSA 5940L

[.30/30 Guy]

I have put about 2000 .30 caliber aluminum checks from one of PatMarlins Checkmaker down range. I am very happy the results.

Also have been using 35 and 35 PB checks with my pistols. I give a big WOW! to the 35PB Checkmaker.

[1Shirt]

Those that I have made were not pretty, but they shot well. Bought some 30's and 35's off ebay, and see no difference between them and Hornady (except price).
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[BackWoods Billy]

That's what I like to here.Thanks guys.

[DukeInFlorida]

Aluminum is cheaper and works.

Copper is prettier, but also works.

[Tom W.]

I make mine from doubled over Pepsi cans, and haven't had a problem. I use the same boolit that you have in mind, too.

[RGMJ]

Hi Guys,

Sorry to rain on your "Aluminum is fine for GC". I called up Lee, asking if they could sell Aluminum gas checks. They said they tried it a long time ago and find that it scratches the barrel of the firearm. Aluminum oxidation on the surface (bauxite if I recall) is used in grinding wheels. Now that will surely scratch your barrels.

Anyway, can someone with chemistry background confirm this?

thanks to all!!

[mrbill2]

Without shooting enough copper checks through a barrel to wear it out, I don't see how you could make a determination that aluminum checks will ware out the barrel any sooner than copper.

[Ben]

RGMJ :

If you're basing all your logic on one comment from someone answering the phone at Lee, I think you may not have all the facts just yet.

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks for the info.I'm looking into the bauxite and that is the metrics -ore that they find the aluminum in. Ruby dust etc. is aluminum oxides. I will do more research on this.

[.30/30 Guy]

As indicated in a post above I have shot about 2000 .30 caliber aluminun checks through my primary rifle. If aluminum wears out barrels it takes more that 2000 of them. Those spiraling things in the barrel look as good now as when I started to use aluminum checks.

[mold maker]

Old wives tale,all over again.
Yep aluminum Oxide is what they make sand paper with. Gem cutters use it to final polish faceted stones. We're talking grit sizes in the range of 200/12000+. The possible oxides formed on coated alu pop cans couldn't approach that in a life time unless stored in extremely wet conditions.
Try using a pop can to sand something hard like steel. Really apply preassure, and rub it fast.
Each GC is going to make 1 pass through the bore. Just how many home made GCs are you really going to shoot???
What would you have to pay for that many factory GCs??
If you shoot 100 rnds a year, a box of factory GCs will last 10 years, and you will still only pay about $3.40 a year for checks.
If your still worried about the bore and aluminum oxide, use copper to make the GCs, and forget it.

[edsmith]

Mold Maker said it all.

[Ben]

Well spoken mold maker !

[30CAL-TEXAN]

Boy have I seen this dead horse beat to pieces on many forums!

Here we go again.

[Pirate69]

If you are REALY concerned. Lowes has an alumium flashing (0.014") that is painted on both sides. Don't have to worry about any oxidation.

[BackWoods Billy]

LOL....Well I just asked the question. I do shoot about 100-200 rounds a week..Thanks Mold Maker.I use 100,000 grit to shine up them gems real nice... I would like to fire lap my barrel..LOL..

[35 Whelen]

This is my 1st. gas check boolit and I don't know what is better . I can get some aluminum check for a good price. They are .014" thick .I'm going to us them on a Lee's 315 gr.boolit going around 1,150 fps. out of my 7.5" SBH. Please let me know if any of you have had good luck with aluminum..Thanks
PS Tried to find a thread on this and could not.

I switched to aluminum a couple of years ago and have fired in the neighborhood of 1000 out of one of my K-31's alone. They work splendidly and as I've fired more and more of them, I see a marginal increase in accuracy over copper checks. For this I have no explanation, but then again, who cares why?

Hi Guys,


Sorry to rain on your "Aluminum is fine for GC". I called up Lee, asking if they could sell Aluminum gas checks. They said they tried it a long time ago and find that it scratches the barrel of the firearm. Aluminum oxidation on the surface (bauxite if I recall) is used in grinding wheels. Now that will surely scratch your barrels.

Anyway, can someone with chemistry background confirm this?

Lee used to sell aluminum checks? I've been casting for nigh on 20 years and I don't remember ever seeing them. As far as them scratching the barrel, I'm going to give a Hi-O Hardy B.S. to that claim. The K-31 I mentioned above came to me with a gorgeously shiny barrel and after nearly 1000 aluminum checks through it, it's as shiny as ever.
I don't have a chemistry background, but if you just have to know if aluminum will scratch a steel, set a drill press to the highest RPM's possible, turn it on and hold a piece of aluminum to the chuck as it rotates. I tried it and all it did was make a shiny ring around the chuck.
If however my aluminum checks wear out the barrel of my K-31 I'll be here shouting to the world that aluminum checks are bad for barrels. And since I fire roughly 100 rounds through it per month, it shouldn't take much longer for me to find out!
35W

[Ben]

35W :

If you're planning on " shooting out a barrel " with aluminum gas checks, I certainly hope that you're a young man( and have a bottomless $ $ $ pocket book $ $ $ for primers and powder ) because it is going to take a LONG TIME ..................

[JIMinPHX]

Aluminum gas checks worked well for me in a .30-30. They did not do well in a gun with a chrome bore. That gun fouled terribly in just a few shots & the crud in the barrel was VERY hard to remove. I don't know why, but Aluminum & chrome don't seem to work well together, even with good lube. At least that was my experience.

[JIMinPHX]

Hi Guys,

Sorry to rain on your "Aluminum is fine for GC". I called up Lee, asking if they could sell Aluminum gas checks. They said they tried it a long time ago and find that it scratches the barrel of the firearm. Aluminum oxidation on the surface (bauxite if I recall) is used in grinding wheels. Now that will surely scratch your barrels.

Anyway, can someone with chemistry background confirm this?

thanks to all!!

Not a chemist here, but I believe that bauxite is the ore from which aluminum is made. Aluminum oxide is used as an abrasive for some types of grinding, but I have not found the surface of an aluminum gas check to be hard like aluminum oxide. I cut a lot of aluminum on my mill & on my lathe. I use HSS tooling for that most of the time. If it was hard enough to damage a steel barrel, I would need to use carbide to cut it & that is not the case.

[JIMinPHX]

Some of my early tests with aluminum gas checks can be seen in post #133 on page 7 here - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=45542&page=7

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks Jim.I save that link on my deck top to read later. I will be putting my 1st. check on a boolit this weekend if it don't rain and I can do some casting.It's kind of funny that I'm thinking of making them already..