DonL
posted this
17 January 2018
According to its maker, the die can punch out thicker discs using .0100" sheets instead of the .0045" cans I'm using, but the diameter of the gas check it forms is really dimensioned for the thinner metal I'm using.
Making these checks for a plain-based bullet is a slightly different ball game than making checks for bullets designed with the recessed shank. Not as much room is available on the circumference, since the bullet's already at finished diameter. For that reason, thinner metal is pretty much required (unless you want to break your lubrisizer when swaging it on, I guess).
However, for the dies Patmarlins sells for gas-check-style bullets, yes, you can definitely use thicker metal. That's what those kind of dies were designed to be used with, so you probably should.
I should add that, in my case, I am adding the gas checks to bullets that have already been sized to .458". I am then seating the checks while pushing them through a .459" H&I die. I'm doing it that way because I heat-treat the bullets (before heat-treating I size first, so the surface doesn't get work-softened while lubing them later).
That said, with these gas checks on, I may not have to heat-treat anymore. Perhaps I will be able to begin using these bullets without having to harden them (I'm pushing them out of a .45-120 at velocities of 1,600 fps). I'm in the process right now of testing to determine that. The alloy I'm using is wheel weights with some lino and 50/50 added, to bring the tin content up to around 2%.
