I remember a few years ago seeing some drawings for making one of the forming tools to make gas checks out of pop cans, does anyone here still have a copy of that you can email me?

Thanks!

go to www.castbullets.com, and look at the one Pat Marlin makes.

The homemade one you are talking was probably the Hanned Line.

The manufacture is routine.

1. measure the OD of the gas check shank on bullets from your mould.

2. measure the thickness of the material you will be using for the GC.

3. make a rod about .001" over the bullet shank OD.

4. make a die from oil hardening steel about 1.5" OD and 3.0" deep(tall) and drill a hole the measurement of twice the GC material thickness, plus the shank diameter thru the die blank. Polish it with mild lapping compound just enough to smooth it inside. Turn it over and countersink with a 7/8th inch bit about two inches. The formed GC's fall down this hole, and you can make fifty or so before you need to dump them.

5. The tricky step is measuring how tall the gas check step is on the bullet.

For Example, say the shank is .300" and the shank is .030" tall. The disc cutter needs to be that ID, so your discs are the right size to form. Make the cutter.

6. you need to countersink a round hole about .025" deep in the die top. The cut discs lay there just slightly below the face. That die now needs eight shallow triangular file cuts around the inner hole. Set a disc in the countersunk recess and tap the rod in carefully. You get a GC that looks like a bottle cap with the little puckers around the outside. It makes a great multi-point crimped GC, and the sizer/lube die irons them all out.

Was this the one you were thinking about? PM me if you have a question. Ask anyone here who has ever met me, I have a heck of a time talking without waving both hands in the air...

Rich

Or just buy one of the ones Pat makes.

Agreed. For 74 dollars you cannot beat it.

I have a booklet on making two types of check makers, 2 stroke and 1 stroke,I have it on pdf in 2 sections, if you want the files I will e-mail them to you. Ed

Pop cans aren't suitable for a high percent of gas checks because you need a thicker material and piling up layers of pop can aluminum just doesn't work out so well.

I designed a one stroke gas check maker that screws into your reloading press, but I didn't draw it up. If you have an mechanical aptitude they are easy to figure out. Some of the areas of manufacture are critical in detail and dimension and also should be heat treated.

Now there was an idea where you use pop cans to check a plain base bullet by making a modification to your bullet sizer die. Not wanting to "ruin" my bullet sizer dies I came up with one of my inventions to gas check plain base bullets without modifying that die what so ever. Usually this method is only good for revolver and pistol bullets, but you can do it to plain base rifle bullets as well.

Some bullet mould makers, such as Mountain Moulds, let you name the diameter (and length) you want your gas check base to be on the bullets your moulds drops. If you want, you can then have your bullets cast by your mould(s) to fit whatever thickness (and height) of gas check you are making.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
Some bullet mould makers, such as Mountain Moulds, let you name the diameter (and length) you want your gas check base to be on the bullets your moulds drops. If you want, you can then have your bullets cast by your mould(s) to fit whatever thickness (and height) of gas check you are making.

That's true but what percentage of mold out there are Dan's mold? With Lyman, Saeco, RCBS, LEE, and host of others you don't have that choice.

Here is a link to the drawings if anyone else is curious:

http://www.datafilehost.com/download-c7a0815b.html