Anybody try glue or glued paper gas checks?

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  • Last Post 04 June 2023
Clod Hopper posted this 28 May 2023

I was thinking how well gas checks work, but of course most of my molds are plain based.  I have had some success with powder coating the whole bullet, but have trouble covering the bases evenly.  I wondered if Sticky glue or Elmers, or Gorilla glue would work by themselves.  Or glue a paper check on too.  I will test them this week, but will watch here to see if someone can steer me away or towards the right direction.  I have Pat Marlins excellent GC tools for .30 and .35.  But they don't work on plain base.  Could you glue pop can disc on?  

Dale M. Lock

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Hornet posted this 28 May 2023

   If you have enough distance from the bullet base to the bottom of the case neck to keep everything in the case neck, you can try all kinds of neat tricks. There was a fad for a while(decades) of setting a wax wad in the case mouth (or cutting the wad from a sheet using the case mouth) and shoving down when seating the bullet. Lots of fantastic claims were made but I'm not sure that you can even buy the special wax sheets anymore.   

Black powder cartridge competitors frequently used card wads or poly wads under the bullet base, and sometimes wax wads.     

There have been loads worked up using the old slip-on Ideal/Lyman gas checks seated backwards under a plain-based bullet to allow running them at normal gas-checked velocities that have been reported as successful (at least by early CBA shooter Frank Marshall). I think that you'd need to size the crimp-on checks down to bullet diameter to try this since they're usually well over normal sized bullet diameters.

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David Reiss posted this 28 May 2023

Some years ago I tried gluing on cardboard on .45 acp plain base bullets in an attempt to reduce leading. I used a fashioned cutter of some cartridge on cardboard from the back of a writing tablet. 

It worked in reducing leading to almost 100%. 

None of the wads remained attached to the bullets. I found most of them about 10-15 ft. ahead of the shooting point. If memory is correct, I believe I was using Elmer's school glue to attach them. 

Accuracy was not affected and remained good. 

I stopped doing it only because it was labor intensive. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
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Duane Mellenbruch posted this 28 May 2023

CFVentures soft gas checks were offered for many years by a gentleman in Bloomington, Indiana.  After several years of folks reporting he had gone out of business, he finally gave up and closed the doors.  I have no idea what fantastic claims were made, but I found them to improve the gas seal in barrels with variable dimensions.  Such as blunderbus taper or hour glass taper. I do not use this application on all cartridges, just those with special needs.  As always, your mileage may be different.  I am fortunate enough to have a fair stash of these sheets.

The instructions were to charge the case, press the sheet over the case mouth and press with a finger to cut the disc while it is in the case mouth.  Then seat the bullet making sure the wax remained in the neck of the case.  There are several who profess to know what these sheets are made from, but the owner did not divulge the source of the material.  Kind of sad that it might be lost to history.

 

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Eutectic posted this 28 May 2023

You might look up my article in TFS #168 March-April 2004 on applying homemade gas checks to bullets. The method works with both plain base bullets and gas check bullets. The check extends up the side of the bullet, the same length as a standard factory check. I use this method mostly on plain base bullets.

Steve

 

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sluggo posted this 29 May 2023

I bought one of pat marlins plain base gas check makers in .30 cal. I made some up from some .003 aluminum pop cans. They iron on well. They group along with his regular gas checks ( in my 30-40 krag). Not sure if it was worth the effort. Plain base at 1600 fps does not lead with linotype anyway.

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Bill*B posted this 29 May 2023

Dental base plate wax (available via eBay) can be pressed into service, as Mr. Mellenbruch described for CFVentures.

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JeffinNZ posted this 29 May 2023

LDPE (low density polyethylene, recycle mark 4) works well.  I load a full charge of H4227 in my .32-20 under a PB 31133 departing at 1800fps with superb accuracy.  

Coffee can lids and such are generally LDPE.  Punch them out, seat over a full charge of powder.

Cheers from New Zealand

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Fiddler posted this 29 May 2023

I've used inverted gas checks for many years. They stop leading and usually improve accuracy.

The caution is: use them in straight cases, 38/357, 44 mag, 45 ACP, 32 ACP. Don't use them in any bottle necked or tapered cases. Like the 38-55, it gets larger in diameter after the straight neck. They do need to be run through a sizer to be able to get them started.

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leadhead2 posted this 29 May 2023

I had those wax sheets years ago... never saw much of a difference when using them.

Stored then in my reloading cabinet. The mice loved it. Went to get it out one day, and

you could see where they chewed it up. Pretty funny really after telling it.

leadhead

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 29 May 2023

i still have a pak of several CFVentures wax sheets ... i traded the nice CF guy something or other for them ... anybody interested ... whatchha got to trade ? ...

and back to the thread :  i always thought that brass or aluminum tacks would be an interesting gas check for a plain base cast .... ...  ...  the pin would upset the rear of the bullet a little, but so does that 30,000 psi hammer ...

ken

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Lee Guthrie posted this 30 May 2023

"Wax checks".  Still have a large box of them.  Used to put them under a Gould HP in .45-70, and have tried some in .375 Win and .38-55.  Never did any testing to see if they lived up to the hype, but also never experienced bad leading when using them.

 

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Clod Hopper posted this 31 May 2023

 Thanks to everybody who responded.  I have glued on some paper checks and will try common plastic lids.  I do not have the TFS 168.  There is an article about LDPE in the first 50 editions of TFS, all of which I have in one book.  

Dale M. Lock

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Pentz posted this 31 May 2023

I run PB bullets out of my 32-40 bench rifle with no issue of leading, using Schuetzen lube, 14.2 of 4100 over a magnum primer at 1450 fps.  Groups are within the 10 ring at 200 yards.  Not sure why one would want any type of check/wad.  Having a mould made for my throat and bore is the key in addition to the right lube.

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Clod Hopper posted this 04 June 2023

I did not know I had to mark this one solved.  It is as far as I am concerned.  I learned lots including some stuff I forgot.  BTW, I was shooting what I thought was a WW alloy.  When I tested it it was 10 BHN.  This was a new NOE 360-160-HP SWC four cavity mold with no GC.  It tore up milk jugs in .38 Special very well, but was leading.  I shot a possum last week six times with a commercial hard cast SWC in .38 Sp, and he got away anyway.  Next morning, my wife says "Did you shoot the possum in my flower bed?".  I want a load that expands easily and does not lead the barrel too much.  Eastwood PC is on order, since my Harbor Freight PC did not work too well with shake and bake.

 

Fantastic mold BTW?  I warmed it up and got two usable bullets the first cast.  I have three other NOE molds, all work great.

Dale M. Lock

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