Freechex - where to buy?

[375JDJ]

I'm new to this forum and I'm not familiar with the freechex and similiar tools. I did a search on e-bay for "freechex" and got nothing. Where can I buy this type of tool? Thank you. Steve

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Go back to e-bay and do a search on "reloading tool". You should find them listed there. The maker sells them only on/thru e-bay and won't deal in any other way. They work well. LLS

[Xcaliber]

Howdy..... I have been reading some of these posts and I gather that he is making them a fast a he can. ? I don't know if there is a waiting list you can get on and where. Someone here will point you in the right direction soon. I am new here also. Luck to you.

[375JDJ]

I tried on e-bay using "reloading tool" for a search. I got like 2,000 hits. But, still no luck finding a freechex tool or anything like it. Is the guy that makes the Freechex tool located in the United States? Thank you. Steve

[Xcaliber]

Go to YOUTUBE and type in FREECHEX and go from there. You can also GOOGLE and try that .. It won't be hard to find it... Luck to you..

[Xcaliber]

http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=23956&PN=1&TPN=1

Log on to this and maybe it will help a little more

[runfiverun]

just p.m. pat marlin here he makes them also.
might be a bit more money [maybe] don't really know cordarnalls price
but pat does outstanding work.

[Tom W.]

After you go to reloading tools you'll need to go to "dies".

[odoh]

Search ebay 'Gas Check Making Tool' and it should show. He's not running a listing at the moment ~ IIRC did mention he'd be out of pocket this month

[O.S.O.K.]

I've got a 30 caliber checkmaker on order from Pat Marlin myself.

Looking forward to getting it and playing around with different materials - hope the beverage can stock will work... or even two thicknesses - as it'd be easy to apply a little adhesive and laminate before cutting.

[Wally]

OSOK

I have tried aluminumm from beverage cans--it is too thin (.004") and flimsy to work well as it tears more than it shears. You are better off using aluminum flashing that runs .009". A roll will last you a long time and is not expensive. After you do so you'll like the way that the gas checks look, when made from it.

[JKH]

375JDJ,

The e-bay sellers name is codarnall, Charlie is a great guy to deal with and makes a really nice tool, it is hand operated but you can knock out 100 checks in 20 to 30 minutes without to much effort once you establish a rhythm.

I have tryed a number of different materials to make checks with that ranged from relatively okay to wow, why the heck did I even think that would work! Then I stumbled on some aluminum lith plates that newspaper printers use, they are made from .008" thick anealed aluminum sheets (the ones I get are that thick, I have heard that others may be thicker or thinner depending), this aluminum works the best of anythng I have tryed and Ihave sold a fair amount to members of this board (exclusively so far) who have all had good fortune with it. Flashing can work but is still harder and takes some serious hits to form a check, pop/beverage cans cut easy but are miserable to handle, very thin and tend to be brittle and will crack or chip plus they have poor elastic tension to grip the boolit base. So, shop around for some of this lith material, just so you dont think I'm just trying to drum up business if you get a tool PM me your address and I will send you some free of charge to make at least 3 or 4 hundred checks so you can try more options.

I havent seen one of PM's check making tools first hand but have read good reviews, codarnall's Freechex (definitely buy a Freechex II if you get one) are well made and work very well with a decent rubber mallet (good mass, hard enough to work right but will not damage the tool in any way), I have a .30 caliber and an 8mm tool and have found that with the lith plate material I can form a check with just 2 hammer hits, plus the fact that Charlie's tool's average $40 each it works out ot be a very good deal indeed. I have used mine while watching a movie (not with the wife around, she hates the whacking sound!) by using a 2' piece of 1" pine across my knees, otherwise I usse a pice of pine on top of my desk in my den/loading room and make lots of checks for very little money.

HTH

Jeff

[Mugs]

Found some .014 aluminum flashing today at Ace hardware. Worked good in Pat's checkmaker dies, will get a chance to shoot them soon.
Mugs
IHMSA 5940L

[Tom W.]

Mugs, What brand name it that flashing? The .014 works best for my .45 Freechex II, but our Ace Hardware closed up here, and the nearest one is 50 miles away... So I don't go that way too often...

[Mugs]

Tom
The label was to bad to read on the roll I bought. Was back to the store today. No brand or company name on the label. Part #68104 on the label it is also last 5 #'s on the bar code. 4"x 50' roll will make lots of ck's.
Mugs
IHMSA 5940L

[Tom W.]

Thank You!

[Zeek]

. . . (Steve asks about the FreeChec tool and where to get it.) . . . .
Paco Kelly invented the FreeChec tool. I partnered up with him, improved the design's performance, and made them for quite a few years, both the PB type (original type: a 1X thickness type for plain based CBs) and the GC type (my own adaptation: multi-layer type needed to come up to groove diameter from the check shank diameter). Also made other tools like: the Coaxisizer (my idea ~~> sizes nose and bands down or expands them up, as need be, to desired diameters); the Nexpander Tool (opens casemouth with a light tap. . . fits all cases 17 to 50 caliber ~~~> gunwriter Dean Grennell's invention); the SGB Tool (Shootist Allen Taylor's invention: put game-whumpin' flat-points on round-nose 22LR ammo); and quite a few others too.

I made tools and also had a full-time job for 10 years, during which time I hardly saw my really neat wife. I decided that would not do, so stopped making the tools and sold the equuipment +++> EXCELLENT idea!!

The trick with getting the pop-can-material FreeChec to size-down and crimp-on without tearing is to use your weight (hands locked to handle-and-belt, then lower your weight slowly), rather than arm-power, so that the change happens slowly once the material suddenly begins to yield and form. At the time I made those tools, the cans were 0.006" thick.
Regards, Zeek

[Maven]

Zeek, Would you be Ed Wosika? If so I have one of your Hanned Line coax. CB sizers and really like it. It turns CB's with undersized noses into very accurate ones in my .30-06.

[Zeek]

Zeek, Would you be Ed Wosika? If so I have one of your Hanned Line coax. CB sizers and really like it. It turns CB's with undersized noses into very accurate ones in my .30-06.

Yes, that's me. I still think the Coaxisizer is a dandy idea. Which top punch do you use, the one that converts the boolit to a BOWM (Bench Or Woods Marshall) truncated cone (w/meplat of half the caliber's cross sectional area) or the other one that self-adapts to the boolist's existing point?
Zeek

[Maven]

Ed, I use the one that puts a meplat on the nose: Cuts a nice clean hole in the target too! For the sake of variety, I'd like to use the other punch (with Pb-nose conforming insert), but the FP one has flared enough over the years so as to make removal difficult, but that's a small price to pay for an excellent tool.

[JeffinNZ]

Thanks to Zeek for some clarification on the "FreeChec" and "Freechex" situations.

I know in the past Charlie has copped some rather uncharitable comments that he stole his "Freechex" principle from Paco which is quite obviously incorrect. "Freechex" creates gas checks to fit to gas bullets, "FreeChec" creates gas checked cast bullets. While the names are similar the principle is not.

[Piedmont]

JeffinNZ, Your last post doesn't make any sense. Could you clarify?

Zeek, I have your Coaxisizer die, Freecheck tools, and nexpander. All top quality. I wish I had bought every Coaxisizer you ever made since I have gotten into milsurps since you made these twenty some years ago.

[Piedmont]

In reference to Jeff's mention of confusion between tools and uncharitable comments brought on Charlie, one thing Charlie did was make a big deal of how he was the inventor of the concept and anyone else doing free checks was copying him and an imposter. Well this is tough to swallow when I'm sitting here with tools made by Ed Wosika from the '86-'88 time period that are basically the same as Cordanall's Freechex I except the punch on Ed's looks more refined.

Now nothing is new under the sun and I remember an article in an old Handloader magazine that preceded the Wosika tools where a home hobiest had done a variation of the same thing, but Paco and Ed marketed theirs.

[dlw]

Piedmont's posting argues that Charlie was making a "....big deal of how he was the INVENTOR OF THE CONCEPT and anyone else doing free checks was copying him as an IMPOSTER....."

Apparently Piedmont hasn't reviewed Charlie's description of FREECHEX on eBay. Charlie does NOT CLAIM that
he invented the "concept."
Charlie's eBay advertisement says,
"....FREECHEX II TM
is my invention and method of making aluminum gas checks from discarded
soda cans, or thicker material to about .010 inches. The point of
sale is strictly eBay. Any other offering for sale of this or
likeness item is a copy or imitation. I manufacture and distribute
these tools here in Camarillo, California for sale in eBay's world
wide market place. This kit is a forcing forming anvil, a plug cutter
and ram-mandrel. It can also be used with a common commercially
available hollow hole punch which is used to cut appropriate sized
disks that substantially center themselves in the anvil which is not supplied. I urge potential buyers to check my history of sales and
customer service associated with these standalone gadgets. These are
generally machined to the SAAMI specifications for caliber specific
shank dimensions. With variance given to the buyer's requests for
customization of the mandrel or forming anvil...."

Piedmont's posting does not refer to any other posting or email where Charlie complains that other people have copied him. Can he back up his statement with postings or emails from Charlie? Does Piedmont have any photographs of tools comparable to FREECHEX? As far as I know, Charlie is the only manufacturer of a tool that serves this market. Everyone knows that the CONCEPT of making aluminum gas checks is not new. And Charlie does not claim that he INVENTED THE CONCEPT as far as I know.

[Piedmont]

dlw, Thank you for posting that. I don't see how what you quoted is fundamentally different from what I wrote. Charlie says he invented it then he says "Any other offering for sale of this or any likeness item is a copy or imitation". Well the Freechek tool is definitely a likeness and predates Charlie's by more than 20 years.

I don't have photos of my tools from the 1980s, just the three tools themselves and so do other folks. Jim Taylor had an article with photos on the internet for a long time, I believe on the defunct Sixgunner sight. They may still be on the net somewhere.