Lyman 45 and gas checks

[Spokerider]

I have a Lyman 45 coming soon. It looks to have been used very little ;).
Never having used a luber-sizer before.......

What is the best way to seat / crimp gas checks on boolits?

By placing a flat, true piece of metal over the die, placing a GC on it, then a boolit on the GC, and finally seating the GC with a gentle stroke of the lever? ........then onto crimping the GC during the lubing / sizing stage?

Is there another method? perhaps better?

About the crimping process of the GC, how does it happen? is it the sizing of the boolit in the die that "crimps" it firmly into place?

Thanks.

[7of7]

You place the GC on the base of the bullet, and then size/lube it. As the bullet goes into the sizer, it crimps the GC onto the bullet. ( crimping a GC on a 45 cal bullet isn't a gentle thing.. )It does take force, steady increasing pressure until the GC conforms to the size of the die it is being forced into. While you have the bullet down in the size die, may as well give the lube a little pressure and lube the bullet all in one shot. What I have found that does make it easier,.. I chamfered a better leadin to the sizer. Still, the 45's take some effort..

[454PB]

It depends on how well the gas check fits on the boolit base. Sometimes they simply snap on with a squeeze, and sometimes they are so tight you need to use the nose punch to push them on before running them through the sizer. Most importantly, they MUST be absolutely square on the base before being sized. A crooked gas check guarantees inaccuracy.

I use two methods, first (and the quickest) is a pair of pliers with the jaws ground smooth. Grinding them smooth prevents damage to either the boolit nose or gas check. The pliers work great on flat nosed boolits, but for spire point or round nose, I put a coin on the lubrisizer nut, place the gas check on the coin, the boolit on the gas check, and apply light pressure.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have a Lyman 45 coming soon. It looks to have been used very little ;).
Never having used a luber-sizer before.......

What is the best way to seat / crimp gas checks on boolits?

By placing a flat, true piece of metal over the die, placing a GC on it, then a boolit on the GC, and finally seating the GC with a gentle stroke of the lever? ........then onto crimping the GC during the lubing / sizing stage?

Is there another method? perhaps better?

About the crimping process of the GC, how does it happen? is it the sizing of the boolit in the die that "crimps" it firmly into place?

Thanks.

the short answer is: YES

Details:
Most GC's seat easily by hand, then just crimp them on while Lubesizing.
Some are more stubborn and you need some sort of device for seating the check squarely to the boolit. Lyman has a GC seater for the 450 and 4500 that fits under the depth stop adjustment bolt, but currently nothing for the 45.

Not too long ago, I was given a GC seater plate that was probably made by Lyman, but is definately for the 45. I am in the process of making a batch of them. Here is the thread http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?189537-Gas-check-installation-tool-for-Lyman-45

In the past, I have gotten by just fine without using a GC seater plate, but when you have a boolit with a shank that a wee bit large and is a stubborn fit for the GC. The seater plate makes all the difference in the world...btw, I use to use a penny, and that worked OK.
Good Luck,
Jon

[Spokerider]

Right on, thanks for the replies.
Jon, I read your thread on the seater plates earlier. It's a great idea you have come up with.
I have too many pokers in the fire to have the time to fab up such an item. I'll find a nice piece of AI to use for the time being.