I'm having trouble with my home made gas checks.

[zarfxo]

I recently bought a freecheck 3, an arbor press from harbor freight, and 1/2x.0145 aluminum roll from coil and foil. my problem is that my checks keep smearing. I am using a lee push through .311 sizing die. the bullet is a lee 155gr cast out of clip on WW. they are about 1 week old. I use to use hornady with no problems, and I have tried Vulcan checks with no issues. what am I doing wrong? I keep getting a little notch in each gas check, and that is also where it seems to smear 90% of the time. some of my Vulcan checks had the same little notch, but seated just fine. HELP! thanks in advance.

[tjones]

Hmm...are the checks fitting on the base okay before you are sizing? It the tool new or used? - tj

[BK7saum]

Are the boolits water dropped? I'd say the lead is too hard? I get smearing and tearing from water dropped boolits.

I also run some of my boolits base first through the sizer to keep then flush with the base.

I think if you check and size immediately after casting you'd have better luck.

One other problem I had was a lee die was a bit rough. I polished it with 400 or 600 grit and that let the checks slide through easier. Also try just a bit of lube on the check and boolit before sizing the check on. Of course if you're powder coating, then that could be a no go for you.

Brad

[RogerDat]

I found that the Lee case lube (cream in a tube) can be used as a size & gas check operation lube and then washed off to allow successful powder coat. The Lee case lube is water soluble so it seems to wash off easily. I put maybe one or two drops of dish soap in the water when I wash them off. Use a blow dryer after washing to dry them out.

I got somewhat the same smear down one edge when I ran through a Lee sizer to install gas check and used no lube.

[zarfxo]

the tool is new. and they do seem to fit the base okay. I have to push them on to the base.
they are not water dropped. I let them air dry, but they are about 1 week old. I will try casting some more and checking them immediately. the problem with this is I like to cast around 1,000, but I don't always have the time to size and check them. maybe I can try a smaller batch. I haven't tried polishing my lee die yet, but that is on my list today.
I am powder coating, so I am trying to avoid lube of any kind. I do have some of the lee paste lube. Ill try it on a handful.

[zarfxo]

I am contemplating a lube a matic, just so I can push these pointy bullets by the nose.

[JMax]

I have two LAMs and a Lyman 45, a FreeChex III with no smear when I lube and am very happy with all.

[zarfxo]

I am thinking about getting one. just need to get the funds together before everything goes crazy during election season.
well I opened up and polished the hell out of my lee push through sizer. that helped a little, but it still smears most of them. I used some lee paste case lube diluted with alcohol on a few and that works, but then i have to clean them off and let them dry, before i can powder coat. at least i can use them now. I'm still gonna try some fresh from the smelter and see how that goes.

[Forrest r]

You might try running a bullet thru the sizer and then put a gc on it and run it thru again.

Those 155's come out around .313. I was getting the same thing you are with my lee 160's (tl version of the same bullet) when I put a home made .0145 gc on them and run them up thru a .309 lee push thru sizer. It stopped happening when I'd size the bullet 1st then put a gc on the already sized bullet and then run it thru the sizer again to seat the gc.

Typically any time you see gc's that look like yours after being installed (ring + jags of metal) it's from too much pressure being exerted on the base of the bullet when it's being sized.

[Sagebrush7]

Sounds like that particular bullet you need to use thinner material. Get you some .012 Litho plate or .011 Gilbralter valley metal from Home Depot. Take your micro with you. Give me a private PM and I will fix you up with some samples. James

[gpidaho]

Sagebrush7 has given you good advice. Like everything else in or hobby, gas checks are not a "One size fits all" kind of a thing. I make my checks with the PM checkmaker and am always scouting for different thicknesses of metal (aluminum or copper) Measure the gas check shank with a micrometer and calculate the size needed. There are so many variances to work with mould to mould, alloy to alloy and casting technique that one thickness can't work for all. I have some boolits that work with just .009 checks and one example takes .016. Good luck Gp

[tjones]

A Star die which did the same with a different caliber (257). The throat had to be beveled and polished a bit more so as to allow the check to enter the sizer die which is a nose first arrangement. Raw checks were about .261+ and perhaps little large. -tj

[1_Ogre]

Try using a thinner aluminum, 0.014" is kinda heavy for what you are doing, try 0.010" or get some aluminum printing plates from one of your local printers. I made gas checks for years and unless it was for 44Cal, kept it at 0.010" thickness or less

[country gent]

A little swaging type lube might help some, the lee case lube is really pretty good stuff for this and sizing bullets. It can be diluted to allow an even thin coating easily. Also aluminum is softer than gilfing metal or copper, and isnt a slippery as those metals either. Look in the Lee sizer die with a good light see if there is pulled metal in the surface. It will look alot like jacket fouling in a barrel does. Clean the die good and with a wood dowel and flannel patches wound to fit tight polish the die some to smooth surfaces and lightly blend sharp corners between sizing bands leade angles in and out. A little flitz, simichrome or red rouge will speed this process some also. It wont take alot. A dowel cut 4-6" long a piece of cotton flannel or soft clothe 3-4" and long enough to wrap to a snug fit in die. Coat very lightly with polish ( a dab on your finger is plenty) work this into patch its length. With low rpms (30-50 rpm) and a fast back and forth motion not coming off of the pactch at either end work for a few minutes, you will see the flannel turn black, at this point a drop of oil or water on the patch and work a little longer. Die should be smooth and bright inside now.

[zarfxo]

thanks for all the advice guys. I'm still working on this issue.

[Sagebrush7]

Don't give up! Try a little STP. I use it everywhere, behind the ears , arm pits any where it binds up!

thanks for all the advice guys. I'm still working on this issue.

[zarfxo]

I am powder coating these. wont the stp interfere with that?

[Forrest r]

I am powder coating these. wont the stp interfere with that?

Yes it will, you'd be better off use a soap like dawn as a lube. I use dish soap as a lube to swage/uniform my cast cores for swaging 223 bullets. It works and is easily washed off. I used to use swaging lube on the cores and then I'd have to wash them with dawn and then tsp to get the swaging lube off of the lead.

[Retumbo]

My first ones looked Luke that too. I use a bit of tallow to help them slip through. I think it might have to do with the rough Lee push through die.

You could also try polishing the die and see if that works

[zarfxo]

Forrest r was right on the money. I tried running some bullets through my .311 sizer and then running them through a second time to check them and it worked perfectly. I then tried it with my .309 and it worked too. ten bullets each with not one single problem. Honestly I thought BS when I read your comment, but your answer was sound. thanks a bunch Forrest r. also thanks to everybody who commented with ideas. Maybe someday day I can be the fellow with all the answers, instead of all the questions.