plain base 45 gas check

[yonky]

does anybody know what the blank size is for a 45 plain base gas check,with pats tool, and what width of aluminium to use?

[RobS]

I asked for the male part of the die to be a bit larger so it could form the checks for my .454-.455 diameter boolits. I've also put them on .452 boolits with no problems. I don't know if Pat made mine any different or not but it works just fine on all my various 45 cal boolits.

I'm using .005 copper sheet but it seems to be a bit too soft as the copper doesn't always want to cut but rather stretch and then bind up in the die. I now cut two strips at a time and that helps.

When I cut .005 brass sheet I didn't have the stretching/tearing issue that I had with the copper; the brass was stiffer material.

[PatMarlin]

Your dies are no different Rob.

I designed them to work the wide range. One of the areas where the Checkmaker™ shines.

Guys are asking me what width to cut strips so they can precut or I think someone's selling precut strips. Good idea by the way, but a good paper cutter makes accurate strip cutting a breeze.

The only problem with this is- due to possible slight machining variations on slot cutting it presents a problem if your strip is a few thou to wide for instance. You could wind up with a pile of strips to tight, and then you would have to trim to fit. Trimming a few thousands is really a mess.

If the strips are to narrow, you could possibly get a warped, or edge shy cut disk which will not form a nice check. The dies are designed to use minimal material waste, yet cut a nice disk to form a nice check. This is important!

Ideally, what I would suggest to be safe is to cut your strips to fit your dies when they arrive. If someone is selling strips, the best solution would be for them to cut strips to your spec.

Different calibers use different width strips. Some are the same, some are very close.

I can't be held responsible and add to my spec tolerances workload (have enough of that now thank you) the issue of strips!

[PatMarlin]

Link to 45PB dies:

Using the Checkmaker™ 45PB Pistol Caliber Dies
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=133265

[RobS]

Your dies are no different Rob.



I figured that all the dies were the same but didn't know for sure.