aluminum gas checks

[hornady]

Long story short a good friend sent me some 22 aluminum gas checks. Personally I have no experience with the aluminum GCs. I have a couple questions, I assume they snap on like copper. But how well do they stay on once fired. And will they take as hot of load as the copper. Basically from those who have used them what do you think of them.

[dragon813gt]

There are threads about this in the gas check section. Some will tell you they fall off and aren't as accurate. I've seen no difference on paper. But I can control the check thickness which plays a big part in keeping them on the bullet.

[44man]

The check has one purpose, to halt boolit skid at the base and keep gas from going through rifling marks larger then the grooves in the barrel. That is it, nothing more. All kinds of stuff is attributed to them.
I never tried aluminum but don't see why they wouldn't work if the same thickness as the copper ones. Thinner is not good, already smaller then bore dimensions. If the size die sizes the check they should work but not as tough as copper so they might still skid.
I like checks to stay on to the target but it should do no harm if they all fall off at the same place out front as long as they provided the seal at the base.
My take is you can't get the same velocity that copper checks can reach. Now you get involved with the alloy same as you do for a PB. That means the boolit must halt skid before the base is reached.

[41 mag fan]

I've done a side by side comparison on Al GC, and Copper GC using a Browning 45-70.
The aluminum was harder to get on vs the copper, but the copper would have a tendency to fall off vs the alumnum would stay on.
What i found on accuracy, was the aluminum would shoot good using one style of lube and the copper would shoot good using another style of lube.
The aluminum would group good using Felix lube, but would open up using Bens Red
The copper would group good using Bens Red and open up using Felix.
I found it interesting that lube would play a role on the gc;s.
I figured one lube would work for both and that didn't prove true

[aspangler]

I tried both in my 8mm Mauser and the AL would not shoot as good as the CU gc's.

[w5pv]

I never tried the copper gas checks but the thicker aluminum do better in my gun than the thinner beer/coke cans.They stay on better and the accuracy is fine.About the size of a quarter at 75 yards.That is as good this shaky old man can shoot.I am shooting 40 grains of 4831 under a 200 grain lead gas checked boolit out of an 3006'

[44man]

Good experiments guys. Shows how little things can make big changes.

[williamwaco]

I have tried both in .30 cal.

I can see no difference.

Both are equally accurate and neither comes off.

[hanover67]

I have some .30 cal. aluminum gas checks. At first I had problems getting them to stay on the boolits when I lube/sized them. So, I annealed them by baking them in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour. That seems to have solved the problem and they now stay on. When I baked them, I spread them out on a piece of aluminum foil on top of a cookie sheet. Nothing to clean up and the foil works as a container to move them after baking.

[jonk]

I have an aluminum gas check maker from pat marlin. I don't use it too often, but mainly because of time issues. I've fired a few hundred bullets with aluminum checks out of 3 or 4 guns, side by side with copper. I'm satisfied that there's no appreciable difference in point of impact, accuracy, or leading- for me. YMMV of course.