Testing alloy and powder

[John]

I think I have loaded the last of the LY 30 cal checks I owned but I am not sure I have shot them all. My stock includes some sierra 22 cal so I guess I am a scrounger.

 

[Ian]

Wow, Sierra gas checks? That would make you a "vintage item collector", not a scrounger.

 

[Rick]

I have a partial box of Sierra 7mm checks. I stopped using them because there will never be more and an empty box isn't much fun.

 

[fiver]

I got a couple of boxes of the plain brown lyman press on checks, I dunno how they ever 'flew-off' anything they are about twice as long as a hornady and are a bear to get on the shank.
the rcbs checks I have appear to be brass more than copper but they won't be going over my chronograph unless I get a cheap-o chrony brand or sumthin.

 

[Brad]

All the Lyman ones I ever used looked more like brass. They didn't crimp on at all, just a slip fit.
When I first began casting in the mid 80s my then future FIL had me using Sierra checks for my 270. Bullets got a crude sizing thru a 310 tooL sizer held mpby an adapter in a regular press. He didn't have a 270 and wasn't gonna buy an H&I die for him Lyman sizer.

 

[9.3X62AL]

I don't use an expensive chronograph, and I don't routinely shoot through or over one unless I am diagnosing a problem or exploring new ground. Over the years, I have found SOME correlation between low SDs and accurate downrange performance, but the relationship is more like handmaid and queen than a royal marriage. Most of my moulds producing gas check shanks show a tight fit onto their respective checks (usually Hornady, a few newer Lyman, and the 6mm Gator). With a few designs, I am required to "spread" the check's opening a bit to ensure square fit, and have employed various punches or round objects to accomplish this. A little tap goes a long way here. Summed up, I have yet to blast a chronograph with a gas check flying off a bullet base. I am firmly knocking on my wooden puter desk as I type this.