single pass check maker

Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
I found a guy that has a small shop on facebook that sells check makers fo $60 delivered. He says 3-4 weeks for delivery right now. He also has some decapping rods made out of tool steel. I sent him an order for a .35cal. check maker.

Dave's mini machine shop is his FB page.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
Thanks for the heads up.
I looked him up...and thought about ordering a 41 cal GC maker...thought about if for an hour or so.
Then I realized if I just ordered 1K Gator GCs, that'd be a lifetime supply and I wouldn't have the problems of sourcing the correct material and the hopes and prayers of getting a "unique" sized GC maker that is the correct unique size...you know, all the different 41 GC shank sizes and stuff :p
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
why the 41 is like that is beyond me.
the gun makers get it right, but a gas check shank is beyond the scope of mere mortals.
I waste about 25% of my 41 cal checks, even after punching them open,,,, frustrating.
 
Gary

Gary

SE Kansas
Tomme boy said:
I found a guy that has a small shop on facebook that sells check makers fo $60 delivered. He says 3-4 weeks for delivery right now. He also has some decapping rods made out of tool steel. I sent him an order for a .35cal. check maker.

Dave's mini machine shop is his FB page.
Click to expand...
I saw that too TB, I think I'll buy one as a pattern and make all the rest that I might need.
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
fiver said:
why the 41 is like that is beyond me.
the gun makers get it right, but a gas check shank is beyond the scope of mere mortals.
I waste about 25% of my 41 cal checks, even after punching them open,,,, frustrating.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know we've talked the 41 GC thing a number of times over the years.
My personal situation is this...and is even more exasperated even more than what the industry has done.

I have the Ideal/lyman 410610 and found when I cast with mold extra Hot, the vintage Ideal/lyman GCs seat easily, and I currently have a lifetime supply. btw, I had a few unsized bullets laying around (for age hardness testing, maybe?) but they are ones with sharp edges, so were not cast with extra hot mold, I measured the Shank, .400 and I suspect by casting hot, not only is the base edge rounded, I imagine the diameter is about .001+ smaller. The Gators must be a wee bit smaller than the vintage Ideal/lyman (I didn't measure them).
Now, I also have a 5 cavity Arsenal 410-200 RF mold, four are PB and one is GC. Here's the kicker and why I was considering this purchase I mentioned about. The GC shank of the Arsenal mold is .391 The Gator GC is spec'd for .397 and seats real loose, but will squish/crimp on. Maybe I'll hone out that cavity a wee bit?
 
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fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
a couple thou wouldn't hurt for sure.
the thing is you have to know what thickness the material you'll want to work with will be.
then you can do the math for the internal stem and final outer diameter of the check.
if you match up for the arsenal your gonna be making checks for just the arsenal and wanting a larger internal stem for the lyman.
 
Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
What is everyone using for material? I was trying to look up some copper strips but there is not much out there unless you want 1000 ft rolls or more.

Also looked at the flashing sold at Home depot and the thickest looks like 0.010". Is that going to be too thin? I had some aluminum checks before and they all fell off just picking them up after sizing. At least on the 35 cal anyway. 30 cal I never had any problems coming off. With PC the bullets I don't want them to come off while shaking them when putting on the powder.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
might have to put the check on after coating?
the flashing I have here is 0012 it is what the ACE had.
I think it's like 8"s high or so and come in about a 30' roll for pretty cheap [airc 12-15 bucks]
 
JonB

JonB

Halcyon member
When I bought my 22 cal Freechex III from James Sage, he included some .008 Lith-plate. It works very well, and makes a 22 cal GC that sticks tight to my bullets.

More about Lith-plate, 8 years ago, James sent me some 41 cal GC samples. Some were made with .011 Lith Plate, they were formed well and did stick tight to my Ranchdog bullets ...which is another shank size, that is different from anything else on the planet (thanks Lee custom dept).

Now I haven't checked out the local newspaper or print shop, but it's rumored that you can get used lith-plate from them...it may not be free...it may need to be cleaned of ink. It has a coating on one side. My personal belief is when a GC is formed with that coating on the outside, it is beneficial for it's trip down the barrel.
that's my 2¢

These are some 22 Bators with the Lith-plate GC, these have blue coating, sometime the coating is white...and maybe other colors?
22 lith GC and bator.jpg
 
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Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
I have an almost unlimited source of free litho. But it is all 0.019" or thicker. I guess I will grab my calipers and hit up the different stores to see what they have. One thing I seen with working with the litho plates was they seemed hard. I might have to anneal it if I can find some thinner stuff. I will have to stop at one of the smaller printing shops that uses the 1/4 sized sheet compared to the larger ones I normals get.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Tomme boy said:
What is everyone using for material? I was trying to look up some copper strips but there is not much out there unless you want 1000 ft rolls or more...................
Click to expand...
It's been a couple years, but I've bought quite a bit of aluminum coil stock from "Gil," who is "Yonkie's" US-distributor. I can't even remember where Gil is but somewhere in the midwest. Both Gil and Yonkie have been straight-up characters and the material I've gotten has been first rate. Gil has sent me samples of thicknesses to make things easier in choosing. He has sent me copper samples at least twice.

I can dig up some contact info if you want.

My 'check-makers are all Freechex III, from Charles Darnall. Every time I talked to Charlie, I got the impression he was about to fold up his tent and get out of it, but he was still going a few years ago. Another super guy and very, very helpful.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
OK, looks like Gil is pretty much out of the coil stock business at this point.

Younkie's site is defunct, although he still sells GCs in Europe. Looks like he's not messing with us any more.:sigh:
 
Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
@Kevin Stenberg



From a couple of factories that print. I used to build duck blinds on boats as a side gig. I sheeted them in the litho plates onto either square tubing or conduit depending on what they wanted built. At the time my old lady worked there and was able to grab 4-5 sheets when ever she could. I had a lot built up to have on hand for the summer months to build the blinds so I did not have t0o go search for them.

I still have a 2" stack of the 48" or 52" plates at a friends storage shed. At least they were there last year anyway. Plus all I would have to do is make a call and get them from the factory as I know many people there that still are working there. What's really nice is the blankets. They are rubber and canvas and are somewhere between 1/16" and a 1/8". They work really well for sound deadening insulation.
 
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