Aluminum GC cost more than copper???

Just for curiosity's sake I bought some munimula (as per Ruff n Reddy that's Aluminum spelled backwards) PB checks from Sage's and was/am surprised these thin aluminum checks cost more than standard thickness copper ($28 vs $25 per 1K). It's not a big deal but I am having difficulty getting my head around the price difference being back-ackwards to the cost of the parent metals. The only justification I can come up with for the pricing disparity is the labor/difficulty of counting out those light weight checks. LOL

An aside, I am quite surprised how well these aluminum checks look installed. I haven't had the chance to fire some yet, but dang they look good prior to loading. Thinking seriously of getting some for my 44 mags.

In Australia, we're paying between $90 and $120 per 1K for Hornady. Doesn't sound expensive to me!

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Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace

In Australia, we're paying between $90 and $120 per 1K for Hornady. Doesn't sound expensive to me!

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Even factoring in the 25% exchange, that is nuts!

Last time I bought gas checks from Sage's, aluminum checks were an average of $6/1000 cheaper than copper. Not enough to make it worth my while. However, I do/will purchase, small shank gas checks from them in aluminum...........since that's the only way they come. The fly in the ointment is that they do not list the 44 caliber small shank gas checks, the last couple times I check their site. I'll probably have to call them, soon, since I'm on my last bag of a thousand. No provisions to leave an email, to that effect.

Winelover

I guess my post wasn't written very well. I was not complaining about cost in general, but rather trying to understand why PB (plain base) checks which contain less base metal than standard checks and are the cheaper aluminum versus higher cost copper metals would be more expensive.

That's a question for Mr Sage.
I knew his Dad, James, and talked with him several times. I understand them to have different equipment for different GCs. If they happen to be making PB GCs with PatMarlin dies, there is lots more labor involved than other designs, and I'd expect the price to be higher...probably like twice the price. That's just my guess.

Same amount of labor and the thinner metal could be harder to work or have more waste .

Your boolits do look cool ... I like the gas checked wadcutters ...What cha got in mind for those bad boy's ?
Gary

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Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace

In Australia, we're paying between $90 and $120 per 1K for Hornady. Doesn't sound expensive to me!

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If you ever need any 30 cal checks, cheap enough to put in letter post. I make my own

Oley, do you simply slip those PB checks on and size? They get swaged into the bullets? Lubrisizer? Lee die? These are new to me except:

I tried something similar 20+ years ago when I got my first (should have kept it) 500 S&W. I put those .500 cheks on plain base .458 bullets and pushed them through a Lee .459 sizer using a Rock Chucker.

I only made bout 25, it took almost all my 200 lbs weight. I'd have killed the press soon.

Cu costs about 3-4 times more than Al.

I am contemplating using blinds blades since after living in the house for 20+ years I have accumulated quite a few broken blinds. That should bring the cost down considerably.

Petander, they just slip on and run through a Lee or NOE sizer, GC end first. The aluminum is so thin it doesn't seem to require any noticeable additional effort.

You need to be gentle with them though as they'll tear, at least in my Lee dies. I run them down about 3/16" or so in my LAM to get them started straight then through the Lee dies. I've tried to seat them and size at the same time by running the bullets upside down too, but that didn't give me warm fuzzies (bullets didn't pass the look test).

I have no idea why they're more expensive but I've used them for 5 or so years (always from Sage's) and they've always been more than proper GC's. I have a couple PB molds that shoot fantastic and from time to time I like to push them hard out of my Freedom Arms. I've used them in 30, 357, 44, and 45

They work well but are somewhat of a PITA. Gotta do whatcha gotta do...

Beagle gave me some PB aluminum gas checks he made with Pat Marlin dies. They were made from drink cans, so the cost was about nil. Anyway we were comparing notes on some 32 S&W and H&R loads and he wanted me to try them to see what i thought.

My impression was if I needed gas checks they would do fine, even with some S&W Long rounds I mistakenly loaded to H&R levels. I just don't load that many handgun rounds to a level that requires them, so the pill bottle full I have left from our experiments will probably be a lifetime supply. 8-)

Froggie