Gas Check Prices
- Thread starter Ben
- Start date
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
Sag doesn,t have them ,but not to worry NOE's got them for $29.00
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Even when gas checks were $10/k, I found it amazing that they cost what they did, meaning THAT much. Primers, which ere much more complicated ran about the same price as gas checks for a long time. Percussion caps are way simpler than boxer primers, yet they have trended above primers for a long time too.
Economies of scale would explain some of that, I think, but geez, man, not all of it.
Right now, I think everyone is asking more just because people are used to it and will grumble, but pay. I don't personally believe there is as much REAL cost difference as what we are seeing at the retail level. THAT part of the increases we've seen is artificial and the part we should be able to HOPE to see eventually dissipate.
There are a couple "new guys" making gas check makers now and the competition with the established few has prices which are getting closer to a thousand commercially-made gas checks. I know - more time with a tedious task, but it frees you from a merciless supply line, reduces dependence and adds yet another element to trying, testing, experimenting and perfecting (never mind the impossibility, the fun is in the trying) factor in shooting cast bullets. It's also rewarding to chunk out a hundred 'checks while between other tasks or ruminating on the next move on some task, because you start to accumulate something valuable as you go - like money in the bank or neatly stacked firewood.
Economies of scale would explain some of that, I think, but geez, man, not all of it.
Right now, I think everyone is asking more just because people are used to it and will grumble, but pay. I don't personally believe there is as much REAL cost difference as what we are seeing at the retail level. THAT part of the increases we've seen is artificial and the part we should be able to HOPE to see eventually dissipate.
There are a couple "new guys" making gas check makers now and the competition with the established few has prices which are getting closer to a thousand commercially-made gas checks. I know - more time with a tedious task, but it frees you from a merciless supply line, reduces dependence and adds yet another element to trying, testing, experimenting and perfecting (never mind the impossibility, the fun is in the trying) factor in shooting cast bullets. It's also rewarding to chunk out a hundred 'checks while between other tasks or ruminating on the next move on some task, because you start to accumulate something valuable as you go - like money in the bank or neatly stacked firewood.
Ian
Notorious member
Homemade checks aren't free. Have you priced a roll of Amerimax aluminum flashing lately? I as all pumped up to make a gas check maker a while back when Brad and all the cool kids were messing with it, but after realizing that the material alone worked out to just over a penny a piece plus all the time cutting strips and punching checks, I decided 3-4 pennies each for really nice copper ones wasn't so bad after all.
No, Ian, I get that. There's no such thing as "free firewood" either, except to the people who have never tryly worked and don't own a chain saw and don't appreciate the value of the labor it takes to cut up and remove it from their pretty lawns after a storm. I told someone the other day my average annual propane usage is 570 gallons and the reaction was that I was getting over somehow. I'm actually "paying" more through my labor and equipment investments than the guy paying for four times that much propane. But even when we scrounge lead, that isn't "free" either. It's all a trade. Which way do we turn to get what we want? When we're in a corner, we always find a way out, but it's never free and no one of us is in the same corner, under the same conditions at any one time.
Having the 'check-makers offer just one other resource if we can scrounge material AND spend the time. We pay one way or t' other.
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
Been wanting to say this for awhile, it may have just been the batch but, forgive me here I have bought "gator" checks directly and through Al several times, 3K at a wack, I have found Al's to be "better", the flanges were smoother and the bases were flat and yet I think they are from the same source, just saying
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RBHarter
West Central AR
The whole game revolves around trading time for money doesn't it ?
15 years ago I made the conscious decision I was not spending the money for gas checks and that come Hades or floods a check maker was out of the question . In a K-12 way 8th grade perfected paper patch. With the events that came with my first gas gun , an 7.92×39 SKS , I very begrudgingly bought 2k each in .270 and 22 cal . It made getting groups with velocity numbers needed for minimum energy requirements so easy .......... Okay fine lesson learned .
I looked at check makers again and found plans , mat'l lists and sliding scales for diameter.
I still don't want to spend $150 for a tool that makes one cup for 1 cal when I need them for 22 , 25 , 26, 27,28,30, 31 ,32 ,35 and 45 even at $50/1000 I can buy a lot of checks for $1050 .
Of course if it had a tool I could probably knock out 2000 checks during the yellow flag commercials during the Indy 500 and Ms down days while I endure the 147th showing of all 5 Toy Stories could probably net 10k easy .
15 years ago I made the conscious decision I was not spending the money for gas checks and that come Hades or floods a check maker was out of the question . In a K-12 way 8th grade perfected paper patch. With the events that came with my first gas gun , an 7.92×39 SKS , I very begrudgingly bought 2k each in .270 and 22 cal . It made getting groups with velocity numbers needed for minimum energy requirements so easy .......... Okay fine lesson learned .
I looked at check makers again and found plans , mat'l lists and sliding scales for diameter.
I still don't want to spend $150 for a tool that makes one cup for 1 cal when I need them for 22 , 25 , 26, 27,28,30, 31 ,32 ,35 and 45 even at $50/1000 I can buy a lot of checks for $1050 .
Of course if it had a tool I could probably knock out 2000 checks during the yellow flag commercials during the Indy 500 and Ms down days while I endure the 147th showing of all 5 Toy Stories could probably net 10k easy .
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
That right there is the sole reason for a lot of what I do, and I imagine it is for many others too. I've thought about getting a GC maker, but there are so many other things to do! But I agree, being able to turn out your own is an admirable effort in itself!
Tomme boy
Well-Known Member
When ordering from Sage you have to look at which of the checks you order. Gator checks crimp on like Hornady do. Then they also have Sage checks that are like the old Lyman that are just slip fit.
Gator checks are a little more $ also. I am not sure which of the checks Al actually has so that may make a difference on which you want. Then you have the aluminum that Sage makes also. They are not Gator checks. If any of the descriptions don't say gator in it then Sage is making them
Gator checks are a little more $ also. I am not sure which of the checks Al actually has so that may make a difference on which you want. Then you have the aluminum that Sage makes also. They are not Gator checks. If any of the descriptions don't say gator in it then Sage is making them
Probably my main reason too. The way I look at it is that if there are NO gas checks, at any price, then buying material to make them suddenly becomes more "economical."
Making them is a tedious, mind-numbingly boring task, but I set the press up and leave it up for a couple weeks or more. Every time I walk by it, I stop and chunk out a bunch. If I have to stop and ponder my next move on some other task, rather than standing in the shop with my thumb in my butt, I chunk out some more GCs.
May be a day too when someone who needs gas checks is willing to pay with primers, or something else you need. One of these tools can serve any one shooter, or said shooter's small circle as well. Any tool that makes me less dependent is a tool worth having,... except maybe one that makes dandelion seeds.
