CF Ventures' Soft Gas Checks

[bonza]

A few years ago I bought a box of the Soft Gas Check material from CF Ventures of Bloomington, IN. I'm pretty sure I found out about them from an advertisement in Handloader magazine. Anyway, I think I've found a rifle that actually seems to benefit from them & would like to buy more.....problem is I cannot find any current information on the company or the product other than an 'out of stock' notice on a gun store's website in Utah (who I've emailed). Any ideas on where this product might be found?

[adrians]

I,m watching this thread with interest , i was gifted two sheets of this stuff but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.:popcorn:.

I have heard somewhere that Dental wax is essentially the same material,
but i'm always wrong.....:groner:

[GT27]

http://fflgundealers.net/cf-ventures.html

[DrBill33]

here is the URL
http://www.cliffsgunsmithing.com/Cat_SGC.htm

[bonza]

DrBill, thanks, but that's the URL for the gun store in Utah I mentioned above, not CF Ventures themselves. I've been in contact with the gun store, but they haven't been getting any response from their enquiries to CF.

[curator]

I think C-F Ventures has gone missing a few years ago. One would expect they would be "available" on this of all forums to sell their product if they were still in business. Dental impression wax is exactly the same thing. What the C-F folks did is to roll it into sheets of uniform thickness and package it. You can make "wax-gas checks" from bee's wax and canning paraffin with a little Vaseline petroleum jelly mixed in. You have to experiment with the percentages to get the right consistency. I have made sheets by floating them in a large tank when liquid but I could never get the thickness just right. Putting my homemade wax sheets in the Florida sun then rolling with pie-crust roller using 1/8" steel strips along each side allowed me to get the thickness right.

[btroj]

Search online for dental wax. You can get sheets of varying thickness easily.

[bonza]

Thanks for the tips.

[Dusty Bannister]

I have no problem contacting the source. Just check this URL and there is a link to the source. The other link was apparently a vendor. Dusty

http://www.caversham16.freeserve.co.uk/

[bonza]

Thanks Dusty, I have sent an email to the source in your link. Appreciate the help.

[bonza]

Received a nice prompt reply to my email. Here's the essence of it:

"Yes, the Soft Gas Check material still is being sold. As might be supposed though,

prices have gone up thanks to the "never enough" postal rates and, of course, the steady increase in the cost

of the wax components. Anyway, here are the costs now:



A five-pound box of wax sheets is $50 plus postage. Shipping usually is by USPS "Priority Mail Flat Rate."



Most people don't buy a full box of sheets. So, I finally decided to pro-rate based on the above costs. Now,

if someone has a specific sum to invest, this sum is divided between the most economical postal rate for the

number of sheets and the actual number of sheets which can be covered. This seems satisfactory for the

fellows, especially for those on fixed retirement incomes. It's not quite as good a deal as the base-price, but

it seems okay with the buyers.



And then there is the special price of a dollar ($1) for a sample, postpaid within the U.S. Here's the address

to use :



CFVentures

509 S Harvey Drive

Bloomington

Indiana 47403-1715

[dualsport]

A friend has sent me a sample to try out. I'm interested in hearing any advice or experiences any one has had using these wax checks. Thanks.

[leadhead]

I remember using them 20 some years ago in a 44 mag.
I don't remember them being that great.
Denny

[Dusty Bannister]

What was the problem you were having? Did it work?

[leadhead]

I don't remember, they just didn't do what I expected them to do.
Have to use them with plain base bullets. I remember a few years
later, the mice sure loved the stuff. Chewed thru the box I had it
in and did a number on it. I still got leading with it. Not with real
gas checks.
Denny

[Dusty Bannister]

Sorry, I had hoped you would recall the details. Perhaps it would have been something like my first experience with light weight cast bullets in the 30-06. Not having cast bullet data, I used the jacketed data. The fireball was impressive, the sound of the bullet whir got ones attention, but all shots eventually hit the ground. Yes, we do learn by doing. But most times we do not need to relearn our mistakes.

Do you think it possible that you were just exceeding the alloy strength? Dusty

[leadhead]

No, I was shooting handgun silhouette, and was using only
10.5 grs of unique. They were deadly accurate out to 100
meters, but after 40 rounds, the barrel would be leaded.
Denny

[Dusty Bannister]

Warm, but according to some of the data, not excessive. Any idea what the alloy or hardness would have been? A gas check could carry you over the hump if the alloy is too soft, but the SGC would not be expected to get you past a soft alloy issue. Probably too many years passed to really determine if the SGC was appropriate for your issue.

I know that it worked in my application with getting a bore to seal with severe pits and shoot cast as well as jacketed, which was nothing to brag about either. But it did stop the bullet keyholes that I had been experiencing. That rifle is about 10 years "down the road" by now. Dusty

[leadhead]

Have always used water droped wheel weights.
Later on I switched to a freedom arms .357, and
pushed 200 gr cast bullets past 1600 fps and had
no leading at all. But that was with a hornady gas
check.
Denny