Freechex Free Gas Checks

[AzRednek]

Thx Doc for keeping us posted. I've been under the weather lately or I would have been playing with the Freechex tool. Hopefully in the next month or so I may be cutting some for handgun bullets. Phoenix temps are just beginning to dip below triple digits. I'm looking forward to it cooling off and firing up the lead pot. If you're experimenting with the 7.62X39, Lee has a .312 mold in their surplus list for only 14 bux and a few for the mailman.

 

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/surplus.html

[Dr.Hess]

Thanks for the link. I ordered two single cavity moulds, the 312 160 gr and the 309 200 gr. I don't plan on loading the 309 200 gr, but, you never know. My 30-06 Mauser likes big heavy bullets. Total was $32 on both with shipping. I prefer double cavity moulds at least, and 4 cavity if I can get them, but for $14 with handles, WTF. That cast boolit site had a posting by someone saying that one boolit shape worked well with his freechex and the other did not, so I'll give that a try too. These 160's will be heavier than what I'm shooting in 7.62x39 now.

[Dr.Hess]

Well, I took a few shots this weekend. First off was 3 of my 10-12 year old reloads with FMJ's in steel cases. I could cover the holes with a quarter. I'm calling it 1.5 MOA. Next up, 4 I just loaded up with factory (store bought) gas checks from my coffee can cast/sized/lubed back 10-12 years ago. They were all over, stringing vertically mostly, 10-12 MOA. Next were 3 cast with no gas checks at all. They shot the same as the factory gas checks. Next was 3 more of the old stock FMJ's, which string about 1.5 MOA vertically and 3-4 MOA horizontally.

 

This is getting strange. I'm wondering now if the steel cases aren't damaging the lead bullits when I load them. I'm going to try belling the mouth more. The steel cases don't bell very much in the press. Maybe my accu-crimp is causing issues.

 

I think I might pull another 7.62x39 rifle out and see what happens with it. Maybe a SKS.

 

[Spiris]

You might be on to something doc. Do you have any brass cases to try? Perhaps the steel cases are not releasing the cast bullets properly. I would try some with no crimp as I would think that the steel cases may take more to obturate the neck for a good release and maybe tearing up the cast bullet with the crimp. Who knows!

 

Spiris

[Dr.Hess]

I haven't had time to mess with it much, but on my last experiment, I loaded some store-bought checks and free checs made from the 016 aluminum. They basically shot the same. I was getting 5+ MOA. I pulled a couple bullets from loaded rounds and found that the bullets were being deformed/shaved quite a bit by the steel case mouths. I think this is my current problem. The steel case mouths don't "bell" very well in the powder die. I have to be very careful how the bullet gets started in the seat die, and also I'm getting a little hydro lock in the seat, pulling the bullet back up sometimes, so I have to watch that.

 

I wish I had a couple hundred rounds of 7.62x39 large primer brass, but I only have about 5 or so that I've scrounged over the years. The rest is steel stuff, and I'm getting limited reloads from those before something happens, like stuck in the chamber or split neck and I have to pitch them. Only some of the steel cases I have are suiteable for reloading too, so that limits my supplies. I need to find a range where people have been shooting the steel stuff.

 

Anyway, as it stands now, I'm saying that my freechex, as modified and using aluminum 016 sheet (not cans), and punched with care centering the tool and discarding rejects, are shooting as well as store-bought checks. I just need to work on my other parameters to improve my accuracy to an acceptable level.

 

Incidentally, this is the only rifle round I have every reloaded with cast bullets. I've cast and reloaded tens of thousands of lead pistol ammo and thousands of FMJ rifle ammo, but this is the first cast bullet rifle round I've done, and the first with a gas check.

 

Does anyone have any links showing how to ID and control lead alloy? I'm using wheel weights, but I'd like to know what is in there.

[AzRednek]

Doc do a search of the yahoo group of bullet casters. If I can find it later I'll post a link. There is a couple of metallurgists that hang there that could probably answer your question about the composition of wheel weights. I'll see if I can scrounge some 7.62X39 boxer primed brass. I know I have a few pieces somewhere.

[Dr.Hess]

Thanks, Az, if you don't need it. I'm set up for large primer brass. They come in large and small primer, depending on the manufacturer.

 

[Larry Gibson]

Dr. Hess

 

Here is a report on the first test of the GCs I make vs Hornady's.

 

I’d cast up 6-700 bullets with the GB C325-190-FN 6 cavity mould several weeks back. They’d finally aged as I let them air cool. Alloy was 60/40 WW/linotype. A friend had given me 350 +/- 1939 Turk 8x57 cases he’d pulled the bullets and powder out of. He didn’t like using corrosive primers so he gave me the cases. I neck sized them with my Redding NS die and belled the case mouth with a standard M-die. My intention was to load them as “throw away” cases for perhaps a jack rabbit shoot or two this winter. I usually pick up my cases and would in this case and dispose of them properly but if I lost one or two in the sage brush I wouldn’t have nightmares about it like with my W-W cases.

 

The load would be a proven one with that bullet, comfortable to shoot, accurate and powerful enough for 200 yard shots. Some times jacks like to run out a ways and sit. I would load them with 31 gr of milsurp 4895 and put a ¾ gr Dacron filler over the powder. The bullets would be sized .325 and lubed with Javelina. One of the members here made me a couple GC makers and they work very well. One will make .30 and .31 GCs and the other makes .32 GCs for the my 8 mm cast bullets. I made close to 1000 GC one evening while watching a couple good movies. I set a lead block on one leg and work off that. I purchase 50’ x 6” rolls of .012” brass stock and cut it into ½” wide strips. These “feed” in the GC maker real well. I can get close to 2800 8mm GCs per roll of brass stock. The cost is about $9-10 per 1000. The GCs using the .012” shim stock crimp onto the shanks of all my 8mm cast bullets. Beer can and other tin can material are not thick enough and have to be doubled to work. I could go the beer can route or other types of cans but the brass shim stock is easy to work with and makes good GCs. A photo is below of the GC maker, some cast C325-190-FNs, some loaded cartridges and some of the home made GCs.

 

The thought struck me as I was seating them on the cast bullets; how good are my home made GCs? So I put some Hornady GC on some of the bullets and kept them separate throughout the loading process.

 

I got to the range today to test the GC difference. I was using my M24.47 M98 Mauser for the test. This rifle is in full military trim with the exception that she wears a Leupold 6X scope. This rifle will shoot Sierra 175 SPs into moa or better. It also has been a very good cast bullet shooter.

 

Got it close to zero in less than 10 rounds and cleaned the barrel and let it cool off. Speaking of “cool”; it was pretty chilly at the range today. Cold and damp and a 3-5 MPH wind coming off the Puget Sound from 9-10 o’clock. With the barrel clean I fired 2 foulers and then fired 10 shots for group using the Hornady GC’d bullets. The 10 shot group size was 1.55”. Velocity was right at 1800 fps. I let the barrel cool and then cleaned it. I then shot 2 foulers and another 10 shot group with my home made GCs. Velocity was again right at 1800 fps and the group size was 1.65”. Interesting note was that after the 2 foulers were fired with each group the first 5 shots went into right at 1”.

 

That demonstrates that the bullets from this particular GB mould are pretty uniform I did not weigh the bullets or attempt to sort by cavity. I just cast them and gave a visual inspection of the bullet for defects when seating the GC. Not a conclusive test but the results were close enough given the 10 shot groups that it the home made GCs I made are very comparable to Hornady's for accuracy. Further testing with more of the 8mms and then some .30 & .31s will be done down the road. Sure can’t complain so far….now where are those pesky wabbits…….

 

Larry Gibson

 

[Dr.Hess]

I wuz in Texas this weekend visiting friends. One of my friends has hog problems in the field behind him. That's the first I've seen of the damage those things do to a field. Amazing. We didn't see any while we were there or there'd been at least one less.

 

That's interesting results, Larry. 8mm with cast boolits is pretty impressive. I have a lot of variables, and my cobbled together 7.62x39 small ring Spanish 94 is no tack driver like your's. Everything that could be Bubba'ed has been. Your results show me that I am on the right track here, and are very encouraging.

 

Have you ever tried 010 or 012 Aluminum stock? Also, I'd like to see a picture of your maker. It didn't show up.

[Dr.Hess]

It's hard to believe it's been a year and a half since I messed with this. Damn, time flies. Tempus Fugit.

 

Well, Charlie the Freechex guy has the Freechex 3.0 out now. It is a marked improvement over the 1.0, but at an increased cost, of course. This one is all-in-one action. You feed in aluminum with the tool grabbed in your drill press (not on) or in an arbor press, and every push has one completely formed gas check coming out. 010 to 012 material only.

 

I also bought a 309 bullet sizer die for my lubamatic. A little experimenting this afternoon, using the not-a-Harris bipod on my rifle (which worked out very well), had some interesting results. My best groups were from my old collection of store bought gas checks sized at 311. They did about 3", with vertical stringing. I need to work on the rifle some more. The frechex 3.0's sized at 309 with 012 AL did about 4.5" (50 yards). My 1.0 frechex with .020 AL sized at 311 did about 6". I need to size some at 311 with the 3.0 frechex and see what they do.

 

All of these were with real boxer primed brass, given to me by Az (thanks, again). I had no pressure signs and all cases extracted nicely, unlike my steel case reloads which "had issues". I also have some other bullet moulds in 30 cal, 180 and 200 grains. I've been using the 7.26x39 bullets from that mould as I still have a half a coffee can and I haven't got to casting the new ones yet.