Checks too tight

[Lead melter]

I cast up some of the Boomer Mikey 380-230-GC boolits yesterday and got a chance to lube and size today. Using the Gator 375 checks, these jokers fit on the shank tighter than a miser's pocketbook before sizing. They leave small 'dents' in the bottom of the check where the Lee push through .379" sizer ram presses. They can't possibly be seated squarely and flush with the boolit base.
Just wondering, would annealing the checks beforehand make them soft enough to press on by hand before being run through the sizer?
It's a real PITA to seat them straight and I get about 15% loss of the checks.

[Sprue]

I cast up some of the Boomer Mikey 380-230-GC boolits yesterday and got a chance to lube and size today. Using the Gator 375 checks, these jokers fit on the shank tighter than a miser's pocketbook before sizing. They leave small 'dents' in the bottom of the check where the Lee push through .379" sizer ram presses. They can't possibly be seated squarely and flush with the boolit base.
Just wondering, would annealing the checks beforehand make them soft enough to press on by hand before being run through the sizer?
It's a real PITA to seat them straight and I get about 15% loss of the checks.

Just the opposite here. I casted up some 358156 GC's last night and my Lyman GS's are too loose. No matter what I changed in trying to get them crimped was fruitless. I tried annealing them too to no avail.


Later on I did the Beagling thing with some duck tape, just to give it a try. It worked, but theres room for improvement. I'm going to just chuck up the mold in a lathe and remove .001 or so and then see how the Checks fit.

About your issues, I read somewhere that you could exlpand your GC's with a bolt or something.... I forgot what I read exactly now.

Keep after it and Good Luck!

[R.C. Hatter]

I believe Sprue was referring to the use of a 1/4"x20 Stove Bolt chucked in a drill press and used
as an arbor press to expand the gas check edge sufficient to seat properly.