Soft gas checks

3

358156hp

Guest
I was at the gun store yesterday, and snagged a golden oldie before it could go to ebay. I haven't seen the stuff in ages. CF Ventures Soft gas checks. If you're not familiar with it, its basically dental wax in sheets, and the idea was to press the sheet over your case mouth after priming and charging the case. It was really only a thin, hard wax cookie between the powder charge and the bullet base. Some likes them, some didn't. I tried a sample and didn't see much, if any improvement. Has anybody else tried them? I bought it because I wanted to play with the wax, and they were cheap.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Other than felt or wax grease cookies for black powder, I haven't tried that sort of thing.

OT but perhaps worth mentioning, some "soft" checks that I make and and still use once in a while, are some actual cups I make by punching discs out of Manilla file folder material and form into cups using a gas check seater, normal sizing die, and appropriate-caliber top punch to turn my Lyman 45 sizer into a cup swaging press. A little spritz with Elmer's spray glue, stick them on the bullets, and base-first size/lube to finish forming them to the check shank and Voila'! nearly free, lead-free plinking ammo for my .30-30s good to about 1600 fps.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Big write up in HandLoader many years ago on these like they would be the biggest thing since ice cream, never caught on that I could see. I never tried them because it seemed so much like just adding more lube and most bullets carry from plenty of lube to too much lube already.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I can remember the ads and articles. Always thought of trying them, never bought any.
 
3

358156hp

Guest
The only real function I noted with
Big write up in HandLoader many years ago on these like they would be the biggest thing since ice cream, never caught on that I could see. I never tried them because it seemed so much like just adding more lube and most bullets carry from plenty of lube to too much lube already.
There is also an instruction sheet with them that tells you how to melt the wax in lacquer thinner & acetone to make tumble lube!
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Lacquer thinner and acetone to make a tumble lube eh?

I bet Ben tried this at some point.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I remember the CF Ventures soft GCs. Never got a chance to try them. I did have some of the graphite sheets that were the forerunners to them at one time. I think they dated from the late 40's and came in a box of 10 ga balckpowder shotgun (original Rem/UMC stuff from the 20's I was told) components I got in a trade. I tried using them but they crumbled to pieces. IIRC they were a thin, waxy, black sheet about 4"x6", maybe a bit bigger. Reminded me of the eissen (sp) glass stove windows you used to get at the hardware.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Those are exactly the soft checks I remember seeing ads for.
Good to hear from someone who has used them.

Care to share detail of your experiences Dusty?
 

Dusty Bannister

Well-Known Member
Several years ago a friend had a really poor 303 Brit and jacketed bullets were a bit pricy. Naturally, I offered to cast some bullets so he could shoot a bit more reasonably. When I slugged the barrel, I noticed the similarity to a sewer pipe, and it was loose at the breech, tight in the middle and loose at the muzzle. One restriction, do anything I wanted, but do not alter the barrel since he still wanted to be able to shoot the jacketed bullets. So no fire lapping was allowed.

I tried to make some plinker loads, but they would not shoot with any consistancy due to keyholeing. I tried a starting load from the RCBS cast bullet manual, but used the SGC and came up with a load that shoot as well as the jacketed bullets. No custom mold, no special sizer, just a mold that was about right, the SGC and a decent load out of a manual. I believe that the SGC did help seal the gases behind the bullet enough to prevent gas cutting and massive leading. It was a bad barrel, but became a fun shooter but never a really great shooter.

If you have a barrel that leads, it is worth trying the SGC. If you have a reverse choke in a barrel, it is worth trying. Will it add lube to a barrel and produce fliers? I don't know, but if a guy can make paper socks for a bullet and not burn them, it is not too likely that it will melt the wax and coat the bore if only the edge of the disc of wax is in contact with the barrel. But it might be worth trying to see if that actually does or does not happen. Check the information from the link and see if you think it might be helpful.

I also use the SGC when shooting round buck shot in my 6mm TCU and 223 contender barrels. Minute of grass hopper to about 15 yards and a little pistol powder just for fun. If it is not fun, why do it? Dusty
 

Paladin

New Member
Hi fellas:
Dusty wrote and mentioned that "Soft Gas Checks" has been mentioned here, and that maybe some additional information about SGCs is in order. Since I've been selling them since introducing them in September, 1983, maybe I can help.

Soft Gas Checks started as a version of dental wax, but since then the formula has been tweaked in order to impart more toughness to the body of the final product. Dusty provided a link to Alex's kind creation of a limited UK website which posts the instructions on how to use and what to expect. However, the prices are obsolete: now (for a little while yet) a five-lb. box of wax sheets is fifty dollars ($50) PLUS shipping. Currently, the shipping costs a bit less than $12, using Priority Mail Flat Rate, medium-sized box. If a single sheet sample is wanted, this costs a dollar (for now, anyway). Send orders to:

CFVentures
509 S Harvey Drive
Bloomington, Indiana 47403-1715

I hope this is helpful,
Paladin
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
It doesn't get much more straight from the horse's mouth than that.

I may just see if I can find a couple guys who want to split a box.

Thanks for the post Paladin.
 

Rex

Active Member
I remember some years back that cutting plugs out of Styrofoam meat trays was the checker for barrel leading so I tried it on a S&W 686. All I got was a tiny bit wiser.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
..........biggest thing since ice cream,.......................

Or ice cream cartons, milk cartons, milk jugs, meat trays,.... Those were popular options that some thought made all things all better.

Wool felt wads over heavy charges of WC820 will stink the place up, but those actually worked for what I was doing. The smell disuaded me so I went another route. All of my experimentation on these things was when commercial cast was so cheap that I got away from casting for several years and caused myself a bunch of new problems - but discovered tumble-lubing.

I was grasping at straws then, but have learned enough that revisiting the "wax cookie" or "trash wads" could be an option for specific applications. They didn't help with undersized revolver throats or too-hard/undersized commercial cast though.
 

Rex

Active Member
My S&W 686 has awfully tight throats. My smallest push through sizer is .3575 and he bullets are still a hard push and pound through the cylinder so I soften the mix up and it works pretty good.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
My S&W 686 has awfully tight throats. My smallest push through sizer is .3575 and he bullets are still a hard push and pound through the cylinder so I soften the mix up and it works pretty good.
My wife’s 686 had that issue. I reamed them out and no more leading.