Foil tape gas checks?

[keeber]

Color me stupid, but has any ever tried making gas checks from foil tape. I don't really shoot enough to consider buying a check maker ATM but I would like to experiment some. Would it be thick enough to be a viable material? What are the nominal sizes of a check pre forming? I figure they could be eyeball centered and installed easy enough tail first through a sizer.

[Ben]

You can make a gas check out of most anything. It isn't about " just making a check ", the purpose of the check is to seal the bore on the base of the bullet. Your idea of the foil must consider the thickness of the foil ( mine is .002 " )

Hornady .30 cal. gas checks are .016 " thick. I have never had any success to speak of using aluminum at .009 ". I have had success at .014 " with aluminum.

Measure the g/c shank on the bullet , then measure the thickness of the g/c material. If those number don't add up to a good seal in the bore of the firearm, don't expect much in the accuracy dept.

Example
.30 cal g/c shank dia of .284
g/c thickness................ .014
g/c thickness................ .014
_____________________
Total ............................ . 312

If you size the above in a .310 sizing die, you'll end up with a good seal on the base of the bullet for the typical ( if there is such a thing ? ) standard .30 cal rifle bore.

My thoughts......others may differ..................

[keeber]

Thank you for the reply and information. I've been casting for a couple three years now but have virtually no exp with checks. Along the lines of your information, would it be reasonable to say it would work on a standard non gas check based boolit?

[Ben]

I'm thinking something as thin as the metal foil would simply shred and tear with the action of the sizing die on a plain based bullet.

You can try it, shoot em' and report back.

Pat Marlin here on the forum has quite a bit of experience with putting g/c's on plain based bullets. Of course you'll need 1 of his plain based g/c dies to do this correctly.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Put the foil on like a paper patch and fold the base end over to cover most of the exposed base. I had good signs with that long ago. BvT

[.30/30 Guy]

+1 for Ben. You will not get any better advice than from Ben.