Homemade Gas Checks

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Wm Cook posted this yesterday

Has anyone had any experience with Pat Marlin’s gas check maker? I bought a .30 cal die during the COVID crisis and never used it. I came across it while I was in the shop today and it got me thinking. Thanks, Bill C.

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sluggo posted this 9 hours ago

I have his .30 gas check maker. It works as advertised. It kind of comes down to using my reloading time for making checks or other reloading activities. I could not tell the difference between factory made or his. It seems like factory made gas checks unlike primers and powder are usually available. As long as factory made checks are available I will use them. Pat does make a plain base check maker. It sounds interesting but I have not tried it yet.

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Spindrift posted this 4 hours ago

The Pat Marlin check makers have worked well for me. Where I live (Norway), gas checks have become hard to find; hence the need to make them myself. There is a little learning curve involved. A few pointers:

1) Material. 0,3mm aluminum works well for .30

2) Cutting strips. First, get a good quality paper cutter. Preferably all-steel. Second, make gauges: a rectangular piece of metal where you cut a slot in one end, with a depth corresponding to your desired strip width. This makes the process of cutting strips quick, accurate and safe. Keeps your fingers away from sharp stuff.

3) Installing the die. The stacked tolerances of die and press production might cause the cutter to bind in certain positions. Try to rotate the die until you find a position where the cutter moves freely inside the die body. Then, leave it without fixating it with a lock ring. A little play allows the system to self-allign under force. This way, you reduce wear and cut better discs.

4) The discs might look flat, but they aren't. One side is (very slightly) concave, with rounded edges. The other side is convex, with burred edges. When you feed the discs into the forming die, place them with the burred edge facing up. Give the forming die a little rattle. The disc should self-centre easily. And the burred edge will end up facing the shank of the bullet, aiding in grip. If you can't feel a burred edge, then two discs have mated, burred edges facing.

My home-made aluminum checks have better grip than commercial alu checks. I have not been able to find any difference in performance as compared to copper checks. The workload of making them is partially offset by the ease by which they are installed. They slide on the shank almost like a slip-on check, yet grip the bullet like a crimp-on.

As for plain-base gas checks, the short answer is "they work".

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