Any one here have one of these? I wanted one but didn't want to use the only source of purchase to get one but finally had a relative order me one and the thing works! I made a couple hundred in what seemed like a few minutes as i was having fun playing with the thing. I made some from sheet aluminum and some from laminated soda cans and a few from brass. The maker has assured me that the loaded ammo will be every bit as accurate as the expensive checks and since my dad gave me a lifetime supply of sheet aluminum i am hoping to never have to buy checks again although i do still have several thousand copper and brass checks to shoot up. There is some concern of oxidation with aluminum but i intend to mix up a very thin solution of alox or xlox and coat them for storage.

Aluminum forms a layer of oxidation about as fast as you can clean the surface, though you can prevent the white blooming kind of oxidation the way you describe.

I believe some form of that tool has been around for a long time. You'll find sheet copper at roofing suppliers, if they have any thin enough for you? I've seen 10 mil copper foil in hobby shops for hammering against molds to form decorative objects. You can get aluminum sheet in, I think, 10 mils and one other thickness as roofer's flashing. Pretty cheap at Lowe's and other building suppliers.

There was an article on "cheap" gas checks in Handloader I think a few months back. I'll see if I can find it.

The report they had was not a good one, but they may have had a different technique or tool.

Perhaps somebody with a better memory than me knows which article it was. I'll look for it. I'm sure it is laying around here somewhere.

There was an article on "cheap" gas checks in Handloader I think a few months back. I'll see if I can find it.

The report they had was not a good one, but they may have had a different technique or tool.

Perhaps somebody with a better memory than me knows which article it was. I'll look for it. I'm sure it is laying around here somewhere.

Please do try to find it as i would be interested in why the cheaper checks received less than desirable feedback.

The author was trying to find a really cheap material to make them from. He discussed plastic milk jugs, paper milk cartons, etc.

:(

Plastic gas checks???
:confused:
rc

Yep! Merrill Martin did the first write-up on them I saw in Precision Shooting. He called them P-wads, being short for polytheylene wads. He would take a sharpened case and cut them from a sheet of .063" low density polyethylene (LDPE). They are inserted with the less-rounded side opposite that from which you started the cutout placed over the powder. This is so any rounding of the cutter side edge of the disc doesn't affect bumping up in lower pressure loads.

The LDPE is a slippery thing and acts as a phase change material to absorb heat applied to the base of the bullet. Martin suggested it melts just enough to coat the bore a little and act as an added lubricant for the next round. It takes up a little more powder space than a metal check does, falls off the bullet after muzzle exit (not healthy for chronometers), but does seem to put a stop to any and all leading when used. They can be stuck to the bottom of a bullet with a bit of lubricant for easier handling during loading. Neco (http://neconos.com/) sells a tool for inserting them. They also sell the pre-cut wads, but made from a different polymer with color coding to show which way they should be inserted.

Those color coded wads are about a nickel apiece, though. Not an expense I'd want if I were trying to save money on gas checks. I'd rather buy or make a sheet metal punch set for my arbor press and use it with the LDPE. You can get 4x8 sheets of the stuff from a plastics supplier for about $30 these days. Allowing a 5/8" square to cut a .45 wad from, that's almost 11,800 wads worth for about a quarter of a penny apiece, plus tooling.

I found the month online, haven't found my original yet:

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl255partial.pdf

I bought one last night after a lot of reading and waiting, as he didn't have what I wanted available. It looks as though I'll be getting a Harbor Freight 1 ton arbor press to go along with it. Now that I've committed to the .45 cal freechex maker, I suppose that the others that I'll use will come as I use up my supply of Hornady checks...

I bought one last night after a lot of reading and waiting, as he didn't have what I wanted available. It looks as though I'll be getting a Harbor Freight 1 ton arbor press to go along with it. Now that I've committed to the .45 cal freechex maker, I suppose that the others that I'll use will come as I use up my supply of Hornady checks...
Let us know how it works out.

Michael Grace

I tried to make a check a few minutes ago, and it seems that the check was a bit on the large side with the supplied piece of aluminum. However, I only made one, and it looks pretty good....I'll definitely get the arbor press as I really don't think hitting the thing with a hammer ( or in my case, a hammer handle) is going to be good on my fingers...

I got my arbor press assembled and did a few more checks. I was lucky to find that Harbor Freight had a Half ton model. Saved about $20 or so!

They definitely come out better using the press, and a whole lot easier, too.

Scott... How did you laminate some soda cans?

I've been thinking that on my next "big adventure" I'd see if I could find some sheet copper or brass... Anybody got a suggestion as to where? Lowes, maybe? The paper that came with the device says "single layer material only a maximum thickness of .011.....

Lowe's has aluminum roof flashing in two thicknesses. One is 0.010". The other might be 0.014", but I've forgotten? You can look it up online, I'm sure. Heavy copper sheet is available from a roofing supply, but the only place I've run into the soft 0.010" sheet is in a hobby shop. It was used with molds and ball peen hammer to make ashtrays and decorative gee-gaws. You can probably find it online, too. Brass shim stock from a tool supply, like MSC or Enco will work, though it will be harder than the copper.

I buy shim stock from McMaster Carr (usually same day shipping). I tried shim stock with my Freechex but the stock I had was a bit too hard; didn't cut cleanly. McMaster Carr has other metals in various thicknesses, but I haven't tried them yet.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#shim-stock/=2bwhj5

Their copper shim appears to be a hard alloy, too, not soft. I think, though, you could take the brass and anneal it by heating to dull red with a propane torch and quenching it in water. Try that and see how it forms?

After making about two dozen or so checks I found that when I put them on the base of the bullet and ran them through the lubrisizer, the checks stayed in the lubrisizer, rather than the bullet. I e-mailed Charlie and told him what was happening, and he said that a new mandrel with a slightly smaller diameter will be in the mail Monday.
I offered to send the first one back but he declined....


Can't beat that for service!

After I e-mailed Charlie about my checks being WAAAYY to big and staying in the lubrisizer, he sent me a different mandrel and a sample of 0.014 aluminum. I punched out a few checks and ran the bullets through the sizer and you couldn't ask for a better fit. They even fit better than my Store boughten checks in the red box!

Annealing the store bought checks keeps them from springing back and makes for a better fit.

Pictures pictures, we need pictures. :D


Michael Grace

It's hard to see a silver check on a lead bullet, but what would you like a picture of? The checks look like any other, but made of aluminum flashing rather than copper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GNCVcD4DmE

There's a link that got my interest up.....