TRYING TO GET STARTED

[dhtaxi]

Nothing like British engineering well done Duncan I am going to make one of them to morrow.

[DuncaninFrance]

Nothing like British engineering well done Duncan I am going to make one of them to morrow.

You been lurkin Dave me lad?

[dromia]

Why do you need to do this Duncan?

If the gas checks are loose then there is either something wrong with them or the mould.

As gas checks form the gear that engages with the grooves you want them no smaller than the boolit diameter.

That should crimp them to .315" which should be OK but that process should be unnecessary, if the boolit shank is too small then there would be more benefit beagling the mould.

Seems like a solution looking for a problem.

[dhtaxi]

I think his problem Adam is that Duncan was given bad advice he bought a mould that was undesize.
He bought a sizing die and gas check seater that is to small.
So he is casting his bullets and he has deduced that they are coming out of the mould at a average of .311.
The problem is if he puts them through his sizing die to seat a gas check they are going to come out at .309.
My understanding having spoken to Duncan on SKYPE is that he is keen to to use a gas check but he does not want to reduce his bullet size from .311 by usng the sizing die he was ill advised to buy. So he has come up with a cheap and effective way to seat the gas check with out reducing his bullet diameter. If I have got this wrong Duncan feel free to correct me..

[dromia]

Yes I've got that Dave, but you should be able to seat gas checks with a push fit, perhaps using your press, you shouldn't need to crimp them on after.

[DuncaninFrance]

Spot on Dave. The bullet base is too small and the gas check just falls off hence the 'crimp' tool I made. Once seated with it the checks stayed on while I tumble lubed them. 72 lubed and no gas check came off.

[DuncaninFrance]

Here we go again!
Having cast a large number of bullets and quality checked them then batched them by weight they were gas checked and lubed and then loaded to HXP cases. I have bought a Lee universal case expander tool and this was used to open the neck of a couple of cases prior to loading the gas checked bullet.
I tried 5 cases and each gas checked bullet formed a bulge in the neck preventing the case from fitting into the breech.
I had 2 loaded cases left that came when I bought the rifle plus 8 lubed bullets. Checking these against mine showed my gas check base to be .318" and his to be .313".
As the ammo was not able to chamber with the gas checks fitted we decided to load 2 batches, both without gas checks. Half had 1 grain of Kapok and both had 1.35 grams / 20.8 grains Tubal 2000. Bullet weights between 155 & 157 grains. Bullet o/d .311 - .312".
Below are the results shot at 50mtrs on a 200 mtr target, still conditions. Rifle as bore sighted before I shot and I used a benchrest.









You can see from the 3rd target that the 2 remaining rounds that came with the rifle are OK. I presume from this that the answer is to fit gas checks but how do I fit them so they don't bulge the cases and prevent the round chambering?

[NuJudge]

For rifle bullets I usually use a Lyman 45 or 450 lubricator/sizer. It brings the gas check diameter down and applies a lubricant to the grooves. You need to bring down the outside diameter of that gas check.

Do you have access to a set of reamers? If you could drill a hole in a Steel plate slightly smaller than the bullet diameter you want, you could then ream it to a nice .313" or .314", put a tapered entrance to the reamed hole by emery cloth or crocus cloth on a conical mandrel or piece of wood, and gently tap the bullets through base first. Things may go a lot easier if you anneal the gas checks in SWMBO's kitchen oven.

If you're not feeling adventurous, they must have tool & die shops in France.

CDD

[DuncaninFrance]

Thanks for the info again. I think I might try to 'Beagle' the mould. I found a good article on mould enlargement by John Goins, aka beagle on Castboolits. All I need to do now is find some aluminium tape! I don't have any reamers but I know a man who does

[dhtaxi]

Duncan get your self a Lee sizing die in .314 problem solved.