Hornady 44 caliber gas checks

Matt_G

Matt_G

Curmudgeon in training
Anyone using these?
My Marlin 44 Magnum with a microgroove barrel sure does better with gas checked bullets.
Went to pick up another 1000 to keep the stock level up and found they are unobtainable.

I then looked on Hornady's site and they weren't listed.
So I wrote them asking WTH.
Here is the response I got:
"We do apologize about these being obsolete. I will let our New Products Division know there is some interest in getting them back up and running."

So if any of you use these, you may want to go out to Hornady's website, send some feedback and rattle their cage a bit.
44 caliber checks are product #7130.
 
Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I have both Hornady copper checks and Sage Aluminum checks. To be honest I won't miss the Hornady's. The sage aluminum are about half the price and I can't tell one whit of difference between them as far as performance goes. My only 44 is a magnum rifle and the only difference I can see is looks. The aluminum doesn't look "right" and the bottom edge appears more rounded. Performance wise.........no appreciable difference. I push a 240gr. semi-wadcutter to just under 1800fps. with either.

I guess what I am saying is I'm cheap. I can't see paying a premium for the Hornady's.
 
Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I believe Sage makes copper checks as well. I was concerned about the rounded base of the Sage checks when I first got them but my rifle can't tell the difference. It is a 22" long 1:20 twist barrel, CVA Scout 2 single shot with a 1-4 Leupold scope on it. It will shoot inside 2 1/2" at 100 yds with the NOE 234gr (240 with my alloy) with either 2400 at about 1650 or WW 296 at 1790.
My experience is with only one rifle and one mould, but it works for me. The package was to take advantage of Michigan allowing centerfire straightwalled cartridges in the "shotgun only" part of the state. It fills my needs as is.
 
CWLONGSHOT

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
LWymans and Hornady checks are extremely expensive if you can get them. I switched to Sage Outdoors gas checks, a number of years ago, when it was suggested to me and never looked back.
As a matter of fact, I just got in 4000 yesterday. I'm waiting for 35 Gators, to come back in stock. Some calibers, they have multiple different checks available, they offer aluminum and different thicknesses and different heights, they offer copper and they offer lGator checks".
They're all a little different. The prices are about half to 2/3 of what you're used to with Lyman or Hornady and they're very good quality.

CW
 
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farmboy

farmboy

cookie man
I have been using Sage's checks for quite awhile now and plan to continue using them as I have about 25 thousand in various calibers. Work great for me...put them on and they go on straight and stay on. Good price and fast shipping.
 
T

Thumbcocker

Active Member
Has anyone had problems with Sage gas checks? I've got 1500 .30 cal ones that will not fit the shank on any of my .30 caliber molds.
 
D

Dusty Bannister

Well-Known Member
Try annealing a small batch to soften the cup. Assume these are copper??

There is a tool that can be used to round off the base of the cast bullet to remove any flashing under the sprue plate or fins where the blocks come together. Think outside case deburing tool.

Cast a little cooler so the bases are slightly rounded and might allow the cup to slip over the shank a little easier.

Make a punch to very slightly expand the skirt on the check to slip over the shank.

If none of these work, sell them to someone with a mold with small check shanks.
 
Reloader762

Reloader762

Active Member
Thumbcocker said:
Has anyone had problems with Sage gas checks? I've got 1500 .30 cal ones that will not fit the shank on any of my .30 caliber molds.
Click to expand...
I've been using the Gator 30 cal. checks sold by Sage for many years, the only issues I've has is that with some molds after powder coating the shank dia. makes it a bit harder to get the check seated, so for those molds I gas check first and powder coat with the check applied.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I make .22, .30 and .358 gas checks using Charles Darnall's FreeChex III from aluminum.

ALL of them come out round-edged, but they all work just fine, yielding accuracy no different than with Hornady copper 'checks, which concerned me for a while and I tried my best to convince myself that it would be disastrous, but couldn't do it. As long as the entire circumference of every bullet is the SAME, the profile of the base does not seem to make any difference. Note that I'm not a competitive target shooter, but I'm no slouch either.

My hypothesis regarding this is that is it is not nearly as important (or important at all) that you have a square-edged base, but you want the edge all the way 'round that base to be uniform. I don't use a lot of gas checks to begin with, but on the 222R, I use them on every bullet, simply because its an easy way to get VERY consistent uniformity along the circumference of the base with a gas check as compared to a bare bullet base.

Now that gas checks are being made by a number of small suppliers, I'd think twice about investing in the tooling myself. I do have some flexibility in messing with thicknesses and am not reliant on the supply chain. "Out of stock" means nothing, as I can just make more when I want them, but for what others are selling gas checks for today, and for no more than I use them, I'd probably buy a lifetime supply of gas checks instead of the tooling.

I doubt Hornady is missing our business anyway.
 
Rally

Rally

NC Minnesota
Thumbcocker said:
Has anyone had problems with Sage gas checks? I've got 1500 .30 cal ones that will not fit the shank on any of my .30 caliber molds.
Click to expand...
I had problems with most gas checks fitting square or shaving lead, including the ones I make myself. I bought a check flaring tool from NOE and that solved my problems. My checks now actually are square on the bullets base, another step in the reloading sequence, but they work.
I also cut my aluminum strips for my check maker with a paper cutter, then put the strips in a pizza oven my daughter gave me. About eleven minutes on the rack anneals them, and the strips are noticeably softer.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
Switched from Hornady to Gator checks, over 15 years ago. Use to purchase them off a vendor on CB for 5-6 years. Since then, I've been purchasing checks from Sages. Both aluminum and copper. Both work, but at $5 difference/1000 I'll opt for copper, since I recycle my range lead and take the used copper ones to the local recycler along with unsaleable brass.

I also purchase Sage's small shank 44 caliber gas checks for an MP mould..............they are only available in aluminum, which they haven't offered in years. :( I have also used Sage's PB aluminum gas checks in 35 caliber. The work but availability is hit or miss..................I just as soon cast with a gas checked mould and use the copper checks.
 
T

Thumbcocker

Active Member
Dusty Bannister said:
Try annealing a small batch to soften the cup. Assume these are copper??

There is a tool that can be used to round off the base of the cast bullet to remove any flashing under the sprue plate or fins where the blocks come together. Think outside case deburing tool.

Cast a little cooler so the bases are slightly rounded and might allow the cup to slip over the shank a little easier.

Make a punch to very slightly expand the skirt on the check to slip over the shank.

If none of these work, sell them to someone with a mold with small check shanks.
Click to expand...
All of the molds work fine with Hornaday checks. I do not have the means to make a punch. It is not an issue with the softness of the cups, they just don't fit.
 
farmboy

farmboy

cookie man
Reading Dusty Bannisters post reminded me that I've had to anneal alot of my copper checks. I use a short piece of pipe that is threaded on both ends. Add the checks and a piece of paper, screw on both caps and place in a small fire. The heat of the fire will anneal the checks and make them softer and easier to stick on the bullet base.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
farmboy said:
Reading Dusty Bannisters post reminded me that I've had to anneal alot of my copper checks. I use a short piece of pipe that is threaded on both ends. Add the checks and a piece of paper, screw on both caps and place in a small fire. The heat of the fire will anneal the checks and make them softer and easier to stick on the bullet base.
Click to expand...

I've read that to anneal aluminum, it has to reach a certain temperature, but don't remember what temperature.

Still, if I lay a bunch on my electric hot-plate, on high for fifteen minutes or so, they get soft enough to bend into a tiny aluminum taco-shell with my thumb and forefinger, which I cannot do before this treatment. I've stuck the hot junction of a thermocouple on them while on the hot-plate and only read a bit over 400F.

It surely does make them easier to get seated correctly and t hey seem to stick better too.

One more reason (one more step) to use as few gas checks as possible. I only use them if I really, really have to.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i have 2 batches of Sages aluminum 30 cal checks.
one fits my 31 cal molds like a champ, and the other [recent purchase] is a better fit for the 30's.. and yeah i'm aware that they have the same shank size.

if the strips are a little different thickness it can affect stuff.
 
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