Using the Gas Check Seater

[Leadmelter]

Group
Any hints on using this device. Do you seat all the gas checks first and then lube or do you take the seater out after it's job is done and then lube?
Thanks.

Gerry

[mpmarty]

Seldom use a gas check and when I do my benchtop is my seater. I put the check on the boolit and smack it base down on the top of my loading bench. Then I send it through a sizer to crimp on the check.

[pistolman44]

as long as they slip on and look straight I just size them. If not then just press them Down on a flat surface. I have one that came with my Lyman 4500 but never had to use it. If you have a oversize gc shank then I would use the tool.

[Ben]

This is the way I seat gas checks :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=130387

[Wayne S]

First, I get settled in my recliner, a towel in my lap, some music on, then I inspect the bases, IF there are any "tits" from the sprue cut-off sticking up I trim them off,
Then I seat the GC's that will snap on by hand, molds that cast bullets that are hard to seat, I put a little bevel on the shank with the NOE tool, the GC that won't snap or press on, I seperate then use the NOE GC seating tool with a Lee hand press.
HELL, I'm retired so I have lots of free time, and use the DVR to record programs so I can fast forward through all the BS ads :bigsmyl2:

[DIRT Farmer]

Both of my Lyman 22 moulds require the gas check seater. The checks are crooked on about 1/3 of them if I seat them ysing my fingers and the bench top. My squirrel loads run 3inches at fifty with out it and less than 1 inch at fifty using it in the 22 hornet. I seat all the GCs then lube the castings.

[JIMinPHX]

When I first looked at a gas check seater, I had no idea how it was supposed to be used. Then I saw a video on you tube & found out that it's proper use was far different than I had expected & actually made sense. I ended up still not using it though, as my gas checks fit well enough that I can just seat them as I size.

[Recluse]

I use a Lee push-through sizer to seat the gas checks for all my rifle boolits. The Lee pushes them through nose first, which I prefer. I then run them through the lubesizer with a sizing die that is .001 larger so that it becomes a lube-only process.

:coffee:

[44man]

I find the Lee dies have a tendency to loosen or push back checks on some boolits so I push them through base first after lubing by hand.
My RD mold needs checks seated with my home made check seater. Others get the tap on the bench method.

[adrians]

i use mpmarty's method, i usually cast pb boolits anyway (1600fps is all my bad shoulder wants anyway) :evil::violin::twisted:

[williamwaco]

I use the tool that comes with the Lyman 4500. Seat all gas checks first then size.

If you don't have the gas check seating tool, Use the wrench that tightens the seating dies. Set it flat accross the top of the nut that holds the seating die in place.

Set the bullet and check on the flat of the wrench and use the nose punch to press down on the nose of the bullet to seat the check. This assures a check seated squarely and the proper nose punch protects tyhe nose from deformation.

[Larry Gibson]

I use the tool that comes with the Lyman 4500. Seat all gas checks first then size.

If you don't have the gas check seating tool, Use the wrench that tightens the seating dies. Set it flat accross the top of the nut that holds the seating die in place.

Set the bullet and check on the flat of the wrench and use the nose punch to press down on the nose of the bullet to seat the check. This assures a check seated squarely and the proper nose punch protects tyhe nose from deformation.

That's exactly what I do also. A flat base square to the axis of the bullet is essential for best accuracy. GCs, especially crimp ons that are a tight fit, many times do not seat compleatly and crimp on with the base sqare to the bullets axis when using just the regular sizers (Lyamn, RCBS, Star or the Lee push throughs). Consistent accuracy is many time enhanced with properly seated GCs prior to sizing and lubing the bullet. With lose slip on GCs it doesn't seem to matter which method is used as long as the base of the GC shank fits squarely to the bottom of the inside of the GC.

Larry Gibson

[Ben]

Larry :

A flat base square to the axis of the bullet is essential for best accuracy.

I couldn't agree more, - - - this may be " over - kill ", ( in the link below ) but there is not question about the the gas check being seated square to the axis of the bullet. The bullet cannot ( as long as it is sized .360 ) tip over to one side or the other out of alignment with the axis of the bullet that you're seating the g/c on.

Ben

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=132288

[W.R.Buchanan]

One thing to be considered here is the fact that a perfect boolit has a dead square edge at juncture of the base and GC shank.

You can't shove a dead square base into a radiused corner in a gas check without something moving.

This is the primary reason why gas checks don't seat perfectly in the first place.

I was on Swede Nelson's Website and noticed he had figured this out as well. (Duh, he is so far ahead of me on boolit casting and mould making it's like I just started!) He makes a little tool which bears a strong resemblence to the LEE female chamfer tool used to deburr the outside of case necks,,,, Only nicer made!

You take this tool and lightly chamfer the base of the Boolit so it will allow the Check to seat completely to the base of the boolit.

This doodad combined with Ben's check seater will make a perfect job out of this task

If you really want to shoot the best Boolits you can then I suggest you obtain these tools.

At the end of the day better shooters are that way, because they shoot better ammo.

Making better ammo is what this place is all about!

Randy

[williamwaco]

I was on Swede Nelson's Website and noticed he had figured this out as well. (Duh, he is so far ahead of me on boolit casting and mould making it's like I just started!) He makes a little tool which bears a strong resemblence to the LEE female chamfer tool used to deburr the outside of case necks,,,, Only nicer made!

If you really want to shoot the best Boolits you can then I suggest you obtain these tools.

Randy

I do.

Have you actually used this device?
Have you done any accuracy testing?

[W.R.Buchanan]

Bill: I haven't used Swedes tool because I can make my own, but his is nicely made and I don't have to speculate whether or not it will work right,,, sometimes you just know. I personally can tell by just looking.

And no I haven't done any empirical accuracy testing,,,,BUT

I am a machine designer and a competant machinist. I already know that you can't cram a square peg into a round hole, which is exactly why chamfers were invented in the first place.

And that's exactly what you are doing when trying to seat a gas check with a radius in the inside corner onto a dead square and sharp bullet base. There is not enough room and so lead which is softer than copper or aluminum must be displaced. This results in cockeyed seated gas checks even though it may be by a miniscule amount.

Since you can't control where exactly it is displaced, it's effects are random.

Random is not consistant.

Thus all Cast Boolits with gas checks have had their gas checks seated in a less than perfect manner since their inception 100 years ago. Sorry guys we been doin' it badly for along time! [smilie=b:

Accuracy comes from consistancy and this simple chamfering operation promotes consistancy in seating gas checks by allowing the base of the bullet to freely contact the bottom of the cup uniformly and completely.

Ben's simple tool is something I can make also, and it promotes consistancy in crimping the check onto the boolit, and the two combined will remove one variable from the accuracy equation. That variable is "How the gas check is seated" It will be perfect everytime.

I have seated plenty that weren't!

It has to increase accuracy. :lovebooli

Can you disagree with my logic? ;)

Randy

[williamwaco]

It has to increase accuracy.

Can you disagree with my logic? ;)

Randy


Randy,

I know two things for sure.

Some gas check bullets shoot great.

Gas check bullets with visibly crooked checks do not.


I find your logic and explanation flawless. I have neither the skills or the tools to make a device so I expect I will be trying one out through the cooler months. ( I can shoot more without worrying about barrel heating. )

[kelbro]

The only problem that I have with Swede's seater is that the die is too long to get any leverage on my Rockchucker. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

I'm also going to PM Swede to see if he has any tips.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Kelbro: You should note that on Swede's "Gas Check Seating Tool thread" (search "NOE gas check seater"), that it is mounted in a Rockchucker.

It shouldn't take any more than finger tip pressure on the press handle to seat the check?

All you are doing is pressing the check onto the bullet shank with this operation, it actually gets crimped on when you size the boolit.

You should not use any pressure at all.

Don't over think this process it is just a simple way to insure the gas check is aligned properly with the boolit.

That's all there is too it.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Bill: I think Ben was going to have Buckshot make some gas check seating tools up for public consumption.

Swede's tool is another route, and it is very nicely made, and not caliber specific.

You might PM them and see if you can get what you need. I'm sure neither tool will be very expensive.

Randy

[kelbro]

Thanks. Swede responded to my PM and I think that it's just me :) not the tool. Isn't that usually the case??

[JIMinPHX]

It shouldn't take any more than finger tip pressure on the press handle to seat the check?

That makes the assumption that the check fits on the boolit properly. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Some molds do throw shanks that are a little fat & require more seating pressure than they should.

[peerlesscowboy]

Group
Any hints on using this device. Do you seat all the gas checks first and then lube or do you take the seater out after it's job is done and then lube?
Thanks.

Gerry
I take the seater out after it's job is done and then lube.

John C. Saubak