Gascheck glue/Thicker alum

[1Shirt]

Have a 30 and a 44 GC maker, and while they turn out acceptable if not the greatest looking checks with alum cans, I am afraid that they are loose enough if not inside the case neck to drop off inside the case. Am also interested in application befor/after sizing, lubing etc. Have read that some are using glue, and I would be interested in what kind, how applied etc. Also have read about the "Alum Bottles", but can't seem to locate any, must be doing something wrong. Think is was Budwiser, but all I can find in the local area is in cans. Thanks in advance for all who respond to this thread.'
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Calamity Jake]

I have some of the old Lyman brass(41) GC that are held in place by the case neck and come off upon exiting the muzzel, I did not like that application so I use a small drop of instant setting Super Glue to hold it in place. One small drop of glue in the GC, install boolet, let it set long enough to set up then size and lube.

I have had no problems with this application.

[AZ-Stew]

1Shirt,

It is Budweiser that comes in aluminum "bottles". The only one's I've seen are 16oz. The wall thickness is a uniform .015 - .016 from just below the shoulder to just above the base.

I don't know whether your tool will handle material that thick, but there you go. Let us know how it works out for you.

Regards,

Stew

[RU shooter]

Instead of bottles For about 10-12 buck go to Home depot or lowes or your local hardware supply store ,Look for painted alum trim coils they are .011-012 thats thicker than 2 plys of can matl. almost 3 plys! and one small coil makes alot of chex ,not free but cheaper than if you bought that case of bubbawizer.


Tim

[S.R.Custom]

It comes unpainted, too, and goes by various names like break metal, coil stock, fascia metal, and valley flashing. Take your calipers, it comes in various thicknesses.


Instead of bottles For about 10-12 buck go to Home depot or lowes or your local hardware supply store ,Look for painted alum trim coils they are .011-012 thats thicker than 2 plys of can matl. almost 3 plys! and one small coil makes alot of chex ,not free but cheaper than if you bought that case of bubbawizer.


Tim

[TDC]

Just a thought.... Some fuel system cleaners for autos come in small aluminum (16oz) bottles. I have no idea how thick but I know it's certainly much thicker than soft drink/beer cans...

Clean your fuel system and make gas checks at the same time....

I'm interested to know what you find in your research that works well...

Terry

[JeffinNZ]

Have you considered going 2 ply as I do with my Freechex?

0.0118 plied up with sode can 0.0042 = 0.016

I know some of your soda can o'there are 6 thou so a 2 ply check will come out at 12 thou.

BOER RANCHER: You out there to comment on you ice tea can alloy??

[leftiye]

Tried aluminum siding for a thicker check? Aluminum (corrugated) roofing mught be just the right thickness.

[RayinNH]

I measured some aluminum drip edge that I have, .015 thick...Ray

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hello, All, Thanks for some more good information, starting to make my own cks...S.L.

[HORNET]

Got a local newspaper printer? Most of the aluminum printing plates run about .012" and they sell them as scrap after using them. They need lot of ink cleaned off but the price is right and a couple of plates should last a long time. It's a very soft alloy that bends easily.

[1Shirt]

Followed the suggestions, went to Ace Hardware, bought alum flashing .092, came home punched out and formed 3 checks. It is a little hard to punch out, but sure does form a nice looking check. It is however still quite loose, so will try some of the instant super glue. Seems like that has to be a pain in the tush, and slow, but will try anything once and maybe it may not be as slow as I think it is.
Has anyone tried any glue other than super glue with sucess. I tried Gorilla Glue, and it expands and sorto of oozes out the sides and up above the side of the check which can't be good going down the tube. (Maybe I used to much however, and will continue to play with it.) With the price of checks being what they are commercially, it is worth playing with this stuff as long as you have time.
Thanks guys for the info.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[leftiye]

Do Hornady checks fit tight on your boolits? If so, your forming punch is a little too big. Easy fix, put it in a drill chuck and hold a stone against it. .092" ought to be plenty thick, would be my guess. Ditto on gorilla glue - Won't work anywhere that you want something to stay put while curing unless clamped tight, then it oozes out all over and still won't hold(because the part of the glue where you want it to be is too thin).

[1Shirt]

Thanks Leftiye!
1Shirt:coffee:

[AZ-Stew]

I hope you mean .0092, not .092. .092 is pushing 1/8 inch (it's actually closer to 3/32, but most pepole are more familiar with 1/8).

One thing I've been concerned about with these home-made checks is that with the thinner material, when they're sized to fit the check shank on the boolit, the thin material makes them too small to fit the bore properly. Anyone have any comments on this? Do the boolits obturate and make the checks fit the bore? Anyone measure any after firing?

Regards,

Stew

[missionary5155]

Good morning 1Shirt
The shank of your boolit where the GC seats sounds like it could stand a hair of "opening up".
I do not see any info on the mold(s) but mike the gas check shanks... very possible they are undersize.
God Bless you

[1Shirt]

AZ Stew, Yep, .0092! Never was real good with math or dec points either.

Missionary, Probably so, but think I will play with the super glue first.

Thanks for the thoughts guys!

1Shirt!:coffee:

[RU shooter]

One thing I've been concerned about with these home-made checks is that with the thinner material, when they're sized to fit the check shank on the boolit, the thin material makes them too small to fit the bore properly. Anyone have any comments on this? Do the boolits obturate and make the checks fit the bore? Anyone measure any after firing?

Regards,

Stew
You have to fill the difference between the shank dia. and the bore dia. with the chex, take the 30 cal. for instance. nom. shank dia. is .284 , Lets say your size to dia is .310, .310-.284=.026 divide by two= .013 or thicker matl. needed .Any thing thinner will leave a gap somewhere either between the chex and the bore or the boolit shank and the chex then you get a loose fitting chex.

Thats the general rule I try to follow anyways and has worked well for me.


Tim

[AZ-Stew]

RU Shooter,

I think you're missing the point. In another thread I mentioned that Hornady GC material ran from .018 - .020 thick, varying by caliber, but not linearly, i.e., the material didn't get thicker uniformly as the boolit diameter got larger.

Point is, if you have a commercial boolit mould designed to take a check with a thickness of .020, using a thinner material (arbitrarily .013 as you suggested, though I realize it may vary) will cause one of two conditions:

1.) the check fits the shank tightly enough to not fall off. If so, the OD of the seated check will be .007 smaller than the groove dia. Not likely a good seal, and likely that the check will probably not even be engraved by the rifling.

2.) The OD of the check is set to match the groove dia. of the barrel, leaving the ID of the check .007 too large to properly fit the check shank on the boolit. These will fall off before you can load them, unless you glue them on.

Scenario 1.) will probably be what most folks choose. My questions is: How much "checking" can be done by a GC that doesn't fill the barrel? Or does the boolit shank obturate, forcing the poorly fitting check to conform to the barrel?

Regards,

Stew

[JeffinNZ]

I think RU hit the nail on the head actually.

All my experiments lead to the same conclusion. It is CRITICAL that the void between shank and groove is filled completely.

You can't change the shank dia. and you can't change the groove dia. so logically the only thing you can change is the gauge of the material you are using.

If you are shooting regular .30 cal bullets with a .284 shank and want to size .310 the following applies.

.310 - .284 = .026 / 2 = 0.013

You need, as a minimum, 0.013 material. Now that might be a 2 ply check using 0.0065 material or 3 ply soda can checks.

Your mileage may vary.

[AZ-Stew]

Jeff,

My point, exactly.

What I read here, though, points to many folks having more concern with the fit of the check on the boolit shank than they do to filling the groove diameter of the barrel. This is why I started the thread about the aluminum Budweiser "bottles" with their uniformly thick sidewalls at .015-.016 thickness. This is much closer to the thickness of commercial GCs, and a far easier solution than using 2-3 layers of standard beer can aluminum.

I'd like to hear from those who have tried using single-layer, thin checks. How did they work?

Regards,

Stew

[JeffinNZ]

Single layer checks work just fine if they fill the void.