FS: Used .22 Freechex

[rhubarb]

For what it's worth, here are a few .22 AL Freechex I picked up at the range. These were from one to thirty feet in front of my bench. I don't know if they were all shot the same day as I've shot hundreds of these dudes in the last couple of months. These were launched from a 1:9 20" Bushmaster behind a 225415 boolit that might or might not have hit my 24"x36" target.

Question: Should checks fall free or stay on the boolit? Will it matter if some do or some don't? I weighed 10 of these aluminum mites (before shooting) at a total of 1.8 grains. Less than 0.2 gr each. Being spread acrosst the base of a 53gr boolit, I find it hard to imagine these checks affecting stability. On the other hand, some of these checks look to have not enjoyed the trip down the barrel. I'd expect some wild shots if a little helicopter was stuck on a boolit.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=13809&stc=1&d=1243301597

[dk17hmr]

Gaschecks should stay on the bullet.

I would try a small dot of superglue on them, if they dont crimp on tight where you can turn them on the bullet.

[jdgabbard]

You might also try doubling the thickness of the check, I've read about several people doing that with better results.

[JeffinNZ]

I don't mind if they stay on or come off as long as it is one or the other but not a mix of both.

What thickness material are you using? Charlie's latest version is for 8-10 thou material.

[Flash]

They only prevent gas cutting so what's it matter if they come off or not? I don't cast for 600 yard varmint loads so if they come off of my bullets, who cares??

[ETG]

My concern would be the turbulance/disruption they cause as they come off. I can't imagine a check peeling off without having come effect on the spin/balistics.

[AZ-Stew]

If they all came off at the same distance from the muzzle, there probably wouldn't be much difference. Losing the check changes the weight and aerodynamics of the boolit. If the checks leave the boolit at varying distances from the muzzle, accuracy will suffer.

Regards,

Stew

[beagle]

Oh boy...a can of worms opened.

Lyman's old printed materiel say they are designed to come off after exiting from the barrel.

From my experience and my druthers, I want that check to stay on all the way to impact.

I can't see how accuracy can not be affected by shedding part of the payload in flight and I attribute this to the many flyers that I get with cast .22s....to the point where I'm super gluing checks on some of my .22 cast HPs and I get better accuracy./beagle

[wilddog45]

I have tried freechex in both .225 and .309 sizers and they both come off and stay in the top of the sizing die. I have tried single and double thickness beer cans, aluminum bottles and tuna can tops and I cannot find any combo that works. You can stick them on Lyman boolits and they just fall off. Seems like glueing them on would slow production ALOT. I am sticking with gator and hornady chex.

[beagle]

Gluing does slow production a lot. I'm talking gluing Hornady checks here. It's slow but worth the effort from my results the last year or so.

I have a 225438HP that's a particularily bad actor when it comes to shedding checks. A little super glue turns my M77 Hornet into a blackbird getting machine./beagle

[rhubarb]

I've used aluminum soda cans so far. Around .004". The sample of copper that came with the Freechex tool was .005. The aluminum checks are mostly snug. The copper Freechex were tight.

I've tried double thickness and .011 aluminum roof flashing. They both resulted in a check with half of one side cut off. That's just too thick. The Freechex forming die is too tight.

I loaded up 10 rounds today with what has been my best load so far with the 225415, 15.4gr IMR3031. This load has been generally a little over 2" at 100yds. I super-glued the aluminum checks. First five shot group was 1.6". That's good. My goal all along has been 1.5 MOA. Next five shots spread to 4.5". Result? More testing needed.

[JeffinNZ]

Rhubard my good man. (Big fan of rhubarb just quietly, have two plants in the yard)

My 225415 and 225462 would not shoot well with 4 thou alum soda can material or 5 thou Cu. I opened up the forming anvil to .232 (same OD as Hornady) and used 10 thou alum and got much better results.

Charlie is now making his .22 FC and FC II to my specs. Mandrel .214, anvil .232 and they work great.

Now the other thing to consider is my 225415 has a VERY short GC shank and the FC II makes GC's 50 thou tall which is too tall for that bullet. Your 225415 may be different however as Lyman vary their cherries a bit.

[ETG]

Has anyone tried sheetmetal/shim stock instead of aluminum? A lot of surplus ammo are steel jacketed so I don't think steel GCs would be a problem.

[StrawHat]

Has anyone tried sheetmetal/shim stock instead of aluminum? A lot of surplus ammo are steel jacketed so I don't think steel GCs would be a problem.

ETG,

Not sure I would want a steel coated bullet going down my bore. Most government don't care about barrel wear, they just get another barrel or rifle. My pockets aren't that deep so bare lead or paper patches for my bores.

My 2 cents.

[ETG]

Try to find 5.45x39 or 7.62x54 that isn't steel. I have seen 7.62x54 - cheaper to replace the barrel more often than buy the commercial stuff.

[HiVelocity]

I'll probably "catch it" from some folks but here goes.

I'm just starting to get back into casting again after many years. I've bought several molds for specific rifles I plan to shoot [with or without our president's blessing].

I plan to explore paper patching on my cast bullets. Its worked 150+ years ago and it is still working today. Why not try it?

I've read where cigarette papers work well. I'll try this and add a thin coating of Johnsons paste wax, then let them dry. Time will tell, but I've already heard from others on this web site that swear by it.

Comments?


HiVelocity

[StrawHat]

I plan to explore paper patching on my cast bullets. Its worked 150+ years ago and it is still working today. Why not try it?

I've read where cigarette papers work well. I'll try this and add a thin coating of Johnsons paste wax, then let them dry. Time will tell, but I've already heard from others on this web site that swear by it.

Comments?


HiVelocity

Here is where you need to do some reading,

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38

Have fun, paper jackets work with some rifles, not all.

[rhubarb]

Jeff, how did you open up the forming anvil? The local building supply store has .011" aluminum relatively cheap. Might Charlie open it up for me if I send it back?

I've bought some Hornady checks and my groups have tightened up across the board, but I really want to get the Freechex to work.

[JeffinNZ]

Some 600 grit wet and dry wrapped around a .22 cleaning rod. Slip the anvil onto the rod and roll the anvil on a hard surface back and forward. Stop periodically and measure. Won't take long.

[Leftoverdj]

Gluing does slow production a lot. I'm talking gluing Hornady checks here. It's slow but worth the effort from my results the last year or so.

I have a 225438HP that's a particularily bad actor when it comes to shedding checks. A little super glue turns my M77 Hornet into a blackbird getting machine./beagle

Beagle, way faster than gluing is using a chisel to create burrs on the rim of the GC. Sizing locks the inside burs into the shank and irons out the outside burrs. Tap light. It doesn't take much.

[JIMinPHX]

The gas checks that I have bought & the gas checks that I have made with my own home-made punch all stay on the boolit until they hit the target. I recover all my gas checks in my boolit trap. I have made checks out of copper, aluminum beer bottles (not cans, bottles are twice as thick) & aluminum roof flashing.

[JDFuchs]

I would imagine it would do a lot to kill your groups. Changing the shape and mass at unknown times in flight will change the grouping. But a much bigger deal is if it starts to come off while in or leaving the barrel! A riffles crown and good shape to any bullets base are the quickest way to turn a rifle into a scattergun. A few months ago Handloader magazine had an article about deforming bullets. No matter what they did to the front end of the bullet It did not change much. The group may have opened up or moved around depending on what they did but did not do much. When they put a nick into the base of the bullet it destroyed the group! If anything causes the gas to not encircle the bullet evenly at the end of the barrle, crown or bullet base, the bullet is going to have a new force causing it to wobble right away.



Try to find 5.45x39 or 7.62x54 that isn't steel. I have seen 7.62x54 - cheaper to replace the barrel more often than buy the commercial stuff.

A lot of that is still in copper jackets, so its soft on the barrel. But will mean replacing an indoor back stop quick.

[JeffinNZ]

I shot some Lyman 225462's today at 50m/55y using Freechex .22 GC's made from 1) 2 ply soda can {2 x .0042}, 2) .008 alum and 3) 0.010 alum. Here are the results.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/DSCN1005.jpg

I had found that the .010 material was rather hard and when sizing the GC onto the bullet in my Lyman 4500 the soft ACWW bullets were deforming slightly on the nose from pressure ex the top punch. The material is the tear tops from baby formula cans. This did nothing for accuracy so I annealed the GC's and hey presto.

Pretty upset that the fourth shot on the bottom right target ruined the group and was shooter error. The other four shots measure 7/16.

Mental note: nestle behind rifle, align sights and squeeze trigger....not vice verse.

[XWrench3]

i am really new to this "cast your own stuff". where do you get gas check forming dies? and for what it is worth, i would not use a steel gc. even cheapo military steel jacketed bullets are coated with copper or some other soft material. steel against steel just seems like a very bad idea to me. copper, brass, aluminum, anything soft makes much more sense to me.

[JeffinNZ]

Ebay. Search Freechex.

[JIMinPHX]

Jeff,
How fast were you pushing those & what was the twist in your barrel?

[JeffinNZ]

1700fps and 1 - 12 twist. Rem 700 ADL. Nothing flash.