tchepone
11-23-2012, 02:48 PM
I have been working with coils of .011" copper material which I purchased from Ian, (yonky@btinternet.com). This is a “Soft” product. Has anyone else used this material? It has turned out to be excellent for making 40 caliber checks with my Freechex III tool. To steal a phrase, I find it the "Mother of all Material", in this specific application, for making gas checks.
I am using it in a Herter 401 magnum revolver with bullets of 172 & 180 grain. The GC shanks on these bullets have some variation, from .392" to .396", alloy dependent. The bullets are sized to .4035" with a Star sizer, (the barrel groove is .403"). No problems of loose checks have been encountered during the sizing/seating process.
I have ran a considerable number of test loads and the accuracy has been up to my expectations. (I prefer to have this gun group under 3" groups at 50 yards). The best load has averaged 1.5" at that distance. It did take considerable testing to find the sweet spot with both bullets. I use a bullet trap and find a good percentage of the bullets still have the check attached. The trap does a number on the bullets so finding the check still attached tells me the fit is very good and the material is sufficiently hard to take the rigors of firing. I have also used many thickness's and types of aluminum, also from Yonky, but don't find as many of those bullets with the check still attached. I don't know if that has any importance because once the bullet leaves the barrel the checks job is finished.
I have also used this copper material in my PM 'plain base' tool. In that application I find it a bit too thick. It has a tendency to stick to the forming punch, as Pat indicated it would. It does cut nice disks and doesn't jam in the tool slot. I have not done a lot of testing in this application so I can't speak to the mechanics of attachment or accuracy. I have found the material is too thick for easy attachment to my plain base bullets. This is probably due to my as cast diameter of .404".
If anyone else has used this material I would be interested in your results, especially in 32/8mm caliber. It is my understanding that Yonky has more of this material available and I would like to order in the near future.
Thank you!
I am using it in a Herter 401 magnum revolver with bullets of 172 & 180 grain. The GC shanks on these bullets have some variation, from .392" to .396", alloy dependent. The bullets are sized to .4035" with a Star sizer, (the barrel groove is .403"). No problems of loose checks have been encountered during the sizing/seating process.
I have ran a considerable number of test loads and the accuracy has been up to my expectations. (I prefer to have this gun group under 3" groups at 50 yards). The best load has averaged 1.5" at that distance. It did take considerable testing to find the sweet spot with both bullets. I use a bullet trap and find a good percentage of the bullets still have the check attached. The trap does a number on the bullets so finding the check still attached tells me the fit is very good and the material is sufficiently hard to take the rigors of firing. I have also used many thickness's and types of aluminum, also from Yonky, but don't find as many of those bullets with the check still attached. I don't know if that has any importance because once the bullet leaves the barrel the checks job is finished.
I have also used this copper material in my PM 'plain base' tool. In that application I find it a bit too thick. It has a tendency to stick to the forming punch, as Pat indicated it would. It does cut nice disks and doesn't jam in the tool slot. I have not done a lot of testing in this application so I can't speak to the mechanics of attachment or accuracy. I have found the material is too thick for easy attachment to my plain base bullets. This is probably due to my as cast diameter of .404".
If anyone else has used this material I would be interested in your results, especially in 32/8mm caliber. It is my understanding that Yonky has more of this material available and I would like to order in the near future.
Thank you!