Video of me using a Freechex II to make gas checks.

[vonnieglen]

I bought a Freechex II through Ebay to make 30 cal gas checks. I have had very good luck with it. I posted a video on Youtube showing the way that I use it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GNCVcD4DmE

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Thanks for sharing.....I have the FreecheckII in 30,44,45, and I think I will invest in that nice little press you are using there, beats what I've been doing.

[vonnieglen]

Thanks for sharing.....I have the FreecheckII in 30,44,45, and I think I will invest in that nice little press you are using there, beats what I've been doing.
I was using a mallet but the guy that sells them said that an arbor press could speed up the process. I didn't really get into the rhythm during the video. After a couple of strips my hand motions get dialed in and things start to speed up. Paying three or four cents a piece for primers doesn't really bother me, but paying that much for a tiny metal cup rubs me the wrong way. Right now even gas checks are in short supply, but maybe if enough of us start making our own the manufacturer will eventually be forced to lower the price to a more reasonable amount. It is satisfying to know that the raw materials for your projectile and gas check come out to less than a penny.

[skeet1]

Vonnieglen,
You were using aluminum to make your chex, does copper work just as well? I have a source for scrap copper sheeting that I would like to use.

I was also wondering if these can be purchased without going through Ebay from the manufacture?

Skeet1

[Shiloh]

I don't have one yet, but yes copper would work just as well. I saw some home made copper gas checks made from an old disc punch and cup. Possibly an old Corbin tool.

Shiloh

[vonnieglen]

At least one of the pictures on the Ebay ad showed the tool with some copper sheet. I seem to remember reading somewhere that some types or thicknesses of copper were more difficult to work with than aluminum. I think the ad said the Freechex II was designed to work with metal around .010" thick. I picked up the first and cheapest roll of aluminum I saw at the home improvement store. If I find some copper sheeting for a reasonable price I will give it a try. Others have said copper is probably easier on your barrel.

[vonnieglen]

I was also wondering if these can be purchased without going through Ebay from the manufacture?
Skeet1
I don't know if the guy who makes them will sell directly. I purchased mine for $39.95 through an Ebay buy-it-now offer where you are not competing with other bidders. I bought it and paid for it through Paypal and it showed up in... I think three days. I only live two states away from the seller.

[Springfield]

On his site he say he will only sell through e-bay. I have the 22 and .30 cal freechex tools. They seem to work OK, haven't shot any bullets with them yet.

[RU shooter]

Vonnieglen,
You were using aluminum to make your chex, does copper work just as well? I have a source for scrap copper sheeting that I would like to use.

I was also wondering if these can be purchased without going through Ebay from the manufacture?

Skeet1Yes copper works well as does brass

[kingstrider]

Cool video but that looks pretty labor intensive. How long does it take you to make a box of a thousand?

[rickomatic]

Cool video but that looks pretty labor intensive. How long does it take you to make a box of a thousand?


Near the end he says when he gets his rythem going, he can turn out around 400 per hour. That would mean you should be able to do 1,000 in 2-1/2 hours.

[jdgabbard]

You know, for what he sells that is one heck of a tool. And with the way you have your's set up, its is fairly quick too. I wonder how it compares in speed the the variant being offered here in the selling and swapping section.

Hint, hint, to those who have one...

[vonnieglen]

I have been following Pat Marlin's gas check maker group buy thread for a long time now. It looks like he is going to start sending them out this coming week. I hope someone will post video of that process. There are some good pictures of the tool and a description of the way that it works at this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=51605

I didn't really hit full speed in the video. If necessary I will warm up a bit and post video of a new world record gas check speed run. Even so, depending on what you value your time at it might not be worthwhile for many. But it does give you the option if you have a hard time finding gas checks.

I think it is much better to avoid politics in a forum such as this one, so I will not mention any current politicians. I think there are other considerations that make both of these devices very worthwhile to consider. It has been said in many different places that the Japanese considered invading the Western United States shortly after Pearl Harbor but that American educated officers nixed the plan. They knew that at that time a large percentage of Americans owned firearms and knew how to use them. In China, the Philippines and other Asian countries all the Japanese had to defeat was the military.

I believe that the threat of tyranny is largely held in check today by the fear those who would gladly take away our freedoms have... of those of us who own firearms and know how to use them. The recently released report from the Department of Homeland Security which stated that the number one threat to the country's security are not America hating Muslim terrorists but America loving right wing extremists illustrates my point. Right wing extremists were defined as people who oppose abortion, believe in improved border security, or just go to the wrong church. Gun owners and veterans who fought for their country's freedom got extra special mention especially if you have more than 5000 rounds of ammo laying around the house. We are living in a strange time.

Primers, powder, and ammo come from many different sources, but gas checks are made mostly by just one big company and then relabeled. This means nearly everyone who casts rifle bullets that use gas checks could be put out of commission by the closing of just one company. I think both of the guys trying to market these devices are patriots; I hope they each sell a million of them. :Fire:

[Boondocker]

I have been following Pat Marlin's gas check maker group buy thread for a long time now. It looks like he is going to start sending them out this coming week. I hope someone will post video of that process. There are some good pictures of the tool and a description of the way that it works at this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=51605

I didn't really hit full speed in the video. If necessary I will warm up a bit and post video of a new world record gas check speed run. Even so, depending on what you value your time at it might not be worthwhile for many. But it does give you the option if you have a hard time finding gas checks.

I think it is much better to avoid politics in a forum such as this one, so I will not mention any current politicians. I think there are other considerations that make both of these devices very worthwhile to consider. It has been said in many different places that the Japanese considered invading the Western United States shortly after Pearl Harbor but that American educated officers nixed the plan. They knew that at that time a large percentage of Americans owned firearms and knew how to use them. In China, the Philippines and other Asian countries all the Japanese had to defeat was the military.

I believe that the threat of tyranny is largely held in check today by the fear those who would gladly take away our freedoms have... of those of us who own firearms and know how to use them. The recently released report from the Department of Homeland Security which stated that the number one threat to the country's security are not America hating Muslim terrorists but America loving right wing extremists illustrates my point. Right wing extremists were defined as people who oppose abortion, believe in improved border security, or just go to the wrong church. Gun owners and veterans who fought for their country's freedom got extra special mention especially if you have more than 5000 rounds of ammo laying around the house. We are living in a strange time.

Primers, powder, and ammo come from many different sources, but gas checks are made mostly by just one big company and then relabeled. This means nearly everyone who casts rifle bullets that use gas checks could be put out of commission by the closing of just one company. I think both of the guys trying to market these devices are patriots; I hope they each sell a million of them. :Fire:

Well said sir and I also share your views. I wish both these fellas good sales. I am also following this thread as I want a gas check maker. Thank you for the video as it cleared up some thoughts I have had. Steve:castmine:

[vonnieglen]

For those unaware, I should also have mentioned that certain gas check sizes are also available throught the group buy login: http://www.groupbuys.dnsalias.com/login.asp

[n.h.schmidt]

The aluminum you bought at the home improvement store will work nicely. Its what I use and results are as good as with the crimp-on type copper.
The cost of aluminum checks is a tenth of the cost of copper checks if you are buying the metals at Menards or other improvement store. I have found it usefull to anneal the aluminum in my oven before punching out and forming. A hour of 400f will noticably take the spring out of the metal.
n.h.schmidt

[JeffinNZ]

Nice video, thanks. Great use of the arbor press. Keep up the good work.

[vonnieglen]

I really appreciate the friendly way newcomers are welcomed into this forum. It is not like that some other places. :drinks:

I broke out the stop watch and timed myself. 400 gas checks per hour is about where I am at when I get into a comfortable rhythm. On the video I was pushing the strip through the punch assembly with my right hand. Positioning the strip goes a little quicker for me when I pull it through instead.

[vonnieglen]

The aluminum you bought at the home improvement store will work nicely. Its what I use and results are as good as with the crimp-on type copper.
The cost of aluminum checks is a tenth of the cost of copper checks if you are buying the metals at Menards or other improvement store. I have found it usefull to anneal the aluminum in my oven before punching out and forming. A hour of 400f will noticably take the spring out of the metal.
n.h.schmidt

I am going to try this trick. These do fit a little looser on the bullets than the commercial checks. I read on another thread that super glue helps them stay on and tightens the groups. I might also try to find a little thicker material.

[oldhickory]

Thanks for the video, I just ordered a .30 FreechecksII from fleabay! :-D

[vonnieglen]

Thanks for the video, I just ordered a .30 FreechecksII from fleabay! :-D
I hope you will be happy with it. After reading your post I opened up Ebay; I noticed the seller has sold all of the Freechex IIs that he had in every caliber. He had one original Freechex left in 41 Caliber.

I haven't experimented with different materials, but I am a tinkerer and like it that I could. There are some other very interesting threads on different ideas on what to make them out of and how to make them work better. They are not exactly like the commercial ones.

Someone commented on Youtube that at 400 an hour he wasn't sure it was worth it. I guess it depends on how much you like to tinker and what you feel your time is worth. I am pretty sure that you could probably make more money per hour holding a sign that claims you are homeless and hungry. I like to be able to tell people my cast boolits are costing me less than a penny but not mentioning that I was paying almost 4 cents a piece on the gas checks was making me feel like a liar.

[stubshaft]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[vonnieglen]

Charlie, the guy who makes the Freechex II, saw the video I made and told me I was doing it wrong. He said the gas checks are not completely formed until they are pressed against a flat surface.

I noticed mine were not as tight a fit as the commercial variety but assumed that this was because of the thickness of the aluminum material I had picked out. After sizing they seemed to stay on alright. Someone else here suggested heat treating the aluminum by baking it for an hour in an oven at 400 degrees to take the spring out of it would help them to fit tighter and size better. On other threads here I read that some are supergluing there homemade gas checks onto their boolits which I also have tried.

I really haven't had any issues with mine, but I am going to make them the way the inventor intended and possibly put up a different video.

[vonnieglen]

I went ahead and tried forming my gas checks by placing the tool directly on the arbor plate and pressing the gas check against the hard surface. With the material that I am currently using it is almost impossible to tell any difference. I will load up some test rounds to see if there is any difference in the accuracy of these.

Charlie mentioned that the tool can be easily modified by the user to make gas checks that fit a little tighter if that is what is wanted. Depending on the material choosen I would think the results would be slightly different also. Currently I am happy with my results. I have started placing a drop of super glue on the base of each bullet and waiting till it dries before lubing. Another thread here indicated this was giving better accuracy by keeping all of the gas checks on all the way to the target. I haven't managed to get out to the range with my latest batch of glued on gas checks.

I prefer not to size to keep the water dropped wheel weight bullets as hard as possible. My molds fit my guns quite well with no sizing at all. Most of the gas checks I have been turning out can be pressed on with a firm push of my thumb. Others need a slight tap with a small dead blow hammer while the bullet is sitting in a small hole that just the nose rests in.

[rickomatic]

After reading your post I opened up Ebay; I noticed the seller has sold all of the Freechex IIs that he had in every caliber.

I read the thread on Saturday. I went to Ebay and ordered a .30 cal Freechex II. It got here on Monday. Man....you gotta love American capitalism!! :mrgreen:

[David Wile]

Hey folks,

I have four tool sets (.30, .357, .44, and .45) that are Charlie's earlier design which was made for using aluminum from soda cans. I have had success with all four calibers using just one thickness of soda can aluminum, and I had no need to glue them on my bullets. I simply stuck the rear of the bullets in my gas checks and sized/lubed them on my Lyman Lubrisizer. The gas checks stay on the bullets just the same as the Hornady and Lyman checks I have used for over forty years.

I don't really need one of Charlie's new Freechex II tool sets, but I was very impressed with the videos I saw with the arbor press as well as using the mallet. I expect I will buy one of the new tool sets simply because of its genium of simplicity.

Charlie Darnall makes all his own tool sets that he sells personally, and considering the rather small numbers of tool sets he sells, I would not be surprised to find his tool sets will be considered as prizes by collectors 25 years from now - much as Belding and Mull equipment is valued today. I may not live long enough to sell my Freechex sets for future premium prices, but that does not stop me from getting great value from a marvel of reloading equipment today. I have never met Charlie in person, but I have talked with him quite a few times, and he is a very delightful person to know.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[JeffinNZ]

I concur. Charlie is a very pleasant character and when you consider that each and every one of these gadgets is hand made on a lathe (no CNC here) and that he sells them so cheaply Freechex is an act of charity. I understand that the system Pat Marlin is producing is very cost effective also. Again, a fit of charity really when you consider the time someone puts into crafting such tools.