Gas check shank to small.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Hey guys,
I need to thicken the gas check shank on my 2-cavity 38 mould. The gas checks seem a little loose, and I occasionally find the gas checks on the ground a few feet away from the muzzle, also I have random flyers all over paper. I have a Lee 38 mould which is a gas check design, the gas checks go on noticeably tighter and I can almost always recover the boolit with the gas check still in place. So what is a good way to thicken the gas check shank?

[BABore]

The best way is a mill and a boring bar. Indicate in each cavity and bore it to size and depth. I like to go only 0.045 to 0.050 deep as it will create a minor step shank which allows the top edge of the GC to wipe into. About a 20 minute job.

[Wayne Smith]

If you don't have a complete mill setup a reasonably sized dowel with some 400 wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around it will do the job. It did on my Miha 44/444, but that is brass and it was easy. Steel will be slower, aluminum probably faster.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Thank you, I do not have a mill, so I will give the sand paper and dowel a try. The blocks are steel, but I do not have much to take off and it is only 2-cavities.

[Ben]

I'm confused.....you say you have a Lee mold that is giving you problems because the g/c shanks are too small for proper fit , then you say the blocks are made of steel.

Didn't know that Lee made steel block bullet molds ? ?

Ben

[BABore]

I'm confused.....you say you have a Lee mold that is giving you problems because the g/c shanks are too small for proper fit , then you say the blocks are made of steel.

Didn't know that Lee made steel block bullet molds ? ?

Ben

Read the post again. Slowly this time.:groner:

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I'm confused.....you say you have a Lee mold that is giving you problems because the g/c shanks are too small for proper fit , then you say the blocks are made of steel.

Didn't know that Lee made steel block bullet molds ? ?

Ben

I am sorry I confused you Ben.

I have a Lyman mould which has an undersized gas check shank. Then I have a Lee aluminum mould which has a gas check shank that does its job. I would like the Lyman to be more like the Lee.

[Rocky Raab]

Whether steel or alunamingmum, this would seem to be about the easiest mould modification to make. Making holes bigger is simple; making them smaller is a booger.

I just bought a closeout mould from lee. It's a 265-gr RNFP of the Tumble-Lube design, but it has a gas-check shank. Being that Lee says NOT to size TL bullets, but the way to apply a gas check is during sizing, it may explain why this mould didn't sell well. Ya think?

Anyway, I plan to shoot some of them as-cast and LLA lubed. If they shoot well with that small shank exposed, I'll leave the mould alone. If not, I'll trim the GC shank out by hand or with my drill press. Ought to be simple.

[Ben]

2ndAmendmentNut :

Got it !

Ben

[Calamity Jake]

You could anneal the GCs to see if that makes a difference, less spring back.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Ok guys I made the shank bigger! I’ll have to cast up a few boolits ASAP and see if there is much of a difference. Maybe I will be able to make 10 or so tonight.
Thanks for all your help.

[runfiverun]

woah there.
apparently someone didn't tell you about the go slow part.
apparently you need to try a bit and cast then try a bit more [measure]
that kinda stuff.

[Buckshot]

2ndAmendmentNut :

Got it !

Ben

..............Sheesh Ben, lemme send ya some of these old age pills I'm taking. Prolly won't do you any more good then they're doing me as I read it the same way you did first time :-)

................Buckshot

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I tried the dowel an sand paper idea, and it actually worked quite well. I cast up a few boolits to test and sure enough the checks went on much tighter. However I thought to myself I have a handful of other gas check style moulds that I never use mainly because they are a gas check style. Anyways I went ahead an plain based the mould, the boolits look real good, will have to try them out soon. Oh and just in case anyone cares the mould that I am referring to is a Lyman 358627.

Thanks for all your help.