Gas check adventures

slug

slug

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Sudbury, Ont.
A couple of decades back, I tried making my own gas checks. It was workable, but leisure time was at a premium so I just went ahead and used store bought checks, two or three thousand at a time. However, I have a nice NOE mould 314299 for the .303B that casts nice bullets, but the gas check shank is too large and won't accept a commercial check without a good deal of aggravation.
Someone on here mentioned a check maker maker, BFB Machine Works, so I asked him {BFB} if he could make me one which made a check to fit my bullet. He said he could and he did. It's a real work of art and it came with instructions, some spare set screws, Allen wrench, several checks made with it and a couple of practice strips of two different thicknesses, so I could find which worked better for me. A complete package. I showed it to my chums at the local Wednesday morning gathering of ne'er-do-well gunthugs and they were all quite impressed with it, for the modest price of $98 delivered.
So I then ordered a maker for my Lee .22 cal. mould, which won't take Hornady checks, and Blair came through again.
A real class act.
 

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slug said:
A couple of decades back, I tried making my own gas checks. It was workable, but leisure time was at a premium so I just went ahead and used store bought checks, two or three thousand at a time. However, I have a nice NOE mould 314299 for the .303B that casts nice bullets, but the gas check shank is too large and won't accept a commercial check without a good deal of aggravation.
Someone on here mentioned a check maker maker, BFB Machine Works, so I asked him {BFB} if he could make me one which made a check to fit my bullet. He said he could and he did. It's a real work of art and it came with instructions, some spare set screws, Allen wrench, several checks made with it and a couple of practice strips of two different thicknesses, so I could find which worked better for me. A complete package. I showed it to my chums at the local Wednesday morning gathering of ne'er-do-well gunthugs and they were all quite impressed with it, for the modest price of $98 delivered.
So I then ordered a maker for my Lee .22 cal. mould, which won't take Hornady checks, and Blair came through again.
A real class act.
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that info. One of my hobbies is casting. I do gas check nearly everything I cast and shoot. I use store bought checks. I recently bought a LEE .22 cal. mould and now I can likely make some checks for the little boogers. I'll be ordering one soon!
 
That may have been me who referred you. Blair is fantastic to deal with and his prices are extremely reasonable. Great guy to deal with
 
Well, I ordered a maker for the LEE .22 bullet. Jeez, it was here in a day or two!! Great little package with clear instructions, sample gas checks, etc. So nice to deal with someone like this fellow.
 
Tried mine out today. I had a heck of a time to screw it into my Lyman turret press, but once I got it to the desired length, I made some with the included beer can material and with the included .012 flashing. The flashing ones worked very nice, but the beer can ones fell off. I am using LEE .22 bullets done with mostly WW. I didn't lube the bullets, as I want to try powder coating them. I am not a "target shooter" so if they work, I'll be using them in a .223 Norinco JW 105 and my old G.B. Crandall 22-3000, aka 22-250 with a Unertl scope.
 
kjohn said:
Tried mine out today. I had a heck of a time to screw it into my Lyman turret press, but once I got it to the desired length, I made some with the included beer can material and with the included .012 flashing. The flashing ones worked very nice, but the beer can ones fell off. I am using LEE .22 bullets done with mostly WW. I didn't lube the bullets, as I want to try powder coating them. I am not a "target shooter" so if they work, I'll be using them in a .223 Norinco JW 105 and my old G.B. Crandall 22-3000, aka 22-250 with a Unertl scope.
Click to expand...
Try doubling up the beer cans before punching
 
Well, here's an odd one. As posted above, I had a heck of a time to get the die screwed down far enough in my Lyman turret. Never have I had any trouble with any die before. BFB Blair wondered if the cork buffer maybe was galling the threads. Nope. I have an old Spar-t Lyman turret press, so I tried that. Worked like a charm! Neither press is worn, nor has the new one ever been abused or damaged. I guess it's just a wee bit of difference in the threads. Now I have to find the bleeping handle for the old one!
 
We got rained out overnight, and my better half went to Regina to get her sewing machine fixed, so I was free to attend to important business such as gas check making with my new toy. I found a chunk of .012 flashing in my garage, and doodled with the maker a bit. I found that it actually makes better checks without the paper on top. The edges are cleaner, plus I don't have to clean out the bits of paper.

Now it is obvious I have to cast some more .22 LEE 55 gr. flat point so I can seat a few more checks and powder coat them. I do have a supply of Hornady checks, so I might get all fussy and do some of each type to make a comparison.

A couple of years ago, I put in an order for 3 boxes of 32/8mm checks with Darcy when he was still in business at Maple Creek. Hornady didn't actually list them but he added them to a stock order and next gun show they were there. I could probably sell them and order a maker to cut that size as well.
 
just got my bfb gas check maker in 8mm and have to wait till i get the roll of l014 flashing to make up a bunch for reloading.
 
mg34 said:
just got my bfb gas check maker in 8mm and have to wait till i get the roll of l014 flashing to make up a bunch for reloading.
Click to expand...
Euramax/Amerimax makes a .014 flashing. The stuff on the shelves at hardware stores is usually all the economy stuff.

If they sell Euromax you can order in the thicker one at the contractor desk

https://imgur.com/sxvpZhV
 
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