Vly
02-16-2007, 08:27 PM
Good thing I participated in the last Gator check buy or I would have continued on in my ignorance.
If asked, "What weighs more, a 35 cal gascheck or a 30 cal gascheck?" , what would you say? I would have picked the obvious choice and gone with the 35 cal check. Unpacking my recently arrived Gator checks - 5 k of 35 cal and 5 k of 30 cal - I was scratching my head as the 30 cal bag felt heavier. First I thought I must have gotten too many or too few of something. Then I looked closer at each check and saw the gauge metal of the 30 cal checks was greater than the 35 cal.
So now I was really curious and had to get out my Hornady checks and a scale and find out what was going on. Then I had to get out the micrometer and measure the thickness of the metal of each. The results are below -
Hornady 30 cal 4.5 gr thickness = .020
Gator 30 cal 4.4 gr thickness = .018
Hornady 35 cal 3.4 gr thickness = .012
Gator 35 cal 3.5 gr thickness = .016
And just for kicks Hornady 8mm = .018
Hornady 44 cal = .019
edit add -> Lyman 30 cal - 3.5 grs wgt thickness = .015
So it is evident the Gator checks are built to a similiar spec as the Hornady checks. My question is why are the 30 cal checks built heavier? It seems each size check has a different gauge metal used for each. Are they really that closely engineered???? Why not use the same gauge metal for each size?
If it really makes a difference, what does that mean for us who fantasize about someday making our own checks ?
What are the thoughts of the wise ones on the board?
If asked, "What weighs more, a 35 cal gascheck or a 30 cal gascheck?" , what would you say? I would have picked the obvious choice and gone with the 35 cal check. Unpacking my recently arrived Gator checks - 5 k of 35 cal and 5 k of 30 cal - I was scratching my head as the 30 cal bag felt heavier. First I thought I must have gotten too many or too few of something. Then I looked closer at each check and saw the gauge metal of the 30 cal checks was greater than the 35 cal.
So now I was really curious and had to get out my Hornady checks and a scale and find out what was going on. Then I had to get out the micrometer and measure the thickness of the metal of each. The results are below -
Hornady 30 cal 4.5 gr thickness = .020
Gator 30 cal 4.4 gr thickness = .018
Hornady 35 cal 3.4 gr thickness = .012
Gator 35 cal 3.5 gr thickness = .016
And just for kicks Hornady 8mm = .018
Hornady 44 cal = .019
edit add -> Lyman 30 cal - 3.5 grs wgt thickness = .015
So it is evident the Gator checks are built to a similiar spec as the Hornady checks. My question is why are the 30 cal checks built heavier? It seems each size check has a different gauge metal used for each. Are they really that closely engineered???? Why not use the same gauge metal for each size?
If it really makes a difference, what does that mean for us who fantasize about someday making our own checks ?
What are the thoughts of the wise ones on the board?