David Wile
Member
Hey folks,
I recently bought one of Charlie Darnall's .357 gas check making tools from him on E-Bay. I paid for it immediately, and Charlie sent it out to me just as immediately. I was eager to start using it and got a thin sheet of virgin lead to cut the discs from an aluminum soda can. Then I thought of using a hard rubber pad I use to do leather work instead of the lead sheet. While Charlie's instructions recommended a lead slab, I found the hard rubber pad to work very well for me.
Right away I was cutting perfect discs with the punch Charlie provided, and I quickly cut about thirty or so of them. The kit also contains an anvil into which the disc is placed, and a mandrel which is then used to punch the disc trough the anvil and form its final shape. I placed my first disc as closely as I could in the center of the anvil and punched it through with the mandrel. My gas check was a bust. It was not centered in the anvil and came out all wrong. I tried a dozen or so of my discs, but none of them made a good gas check. Yes, I read the directions, but something was wrong.
I thought my discs were too small for the anvil and gave Charlie a call to ask what the problem might be. We talked for quite some time about everything related to the gas check tool, and I wanted to try some more things to see if I could get it right. Charlie insisted on sending me a whole new tool set to try, and I received it two days later. When I opened the package, I noticed that Charlie had inserted the mandrel in the anvil in a different manner than I was using my first set. Suddenly I started to wonder if I was using the tool the wrong way.
I pulled the new tool set mandrel out of the anvil and checked the anvil from that end. Well, talk about being ashamed and dumb - I immediately realized I had been putting my discs in the wrong end of the anvil. I had been putting the discs in the bottom end of the anvil, and that was why the discs did not seem big enough for the anvil and moved around so much.
Using my original tool set, I put a disc in the correct end of the anvil, placed the mandrel in place, and a gentle tap with a plastic mallet produced a perfect .357 gas check that fits my Lyman 155 gr. bullets perfectly. I made several more perfect gas checks with my original tool to make sure I was doing it right, and then I made a bunch of gas checks with the new tool Charlie had sent me at no cost. All my gaschecks come out of the bottom of the anvil perfect, and they fit my #358156 cast bullets perfectly. I use my Lyman 45 Lubrisizer to seat the gascheck, size, and lube the bullets. In using them, I see no difference between my hand made gas checks and the ones I have always purchased from Lyman or Hornady.
I had to call Charlie and tell him that I now had two perfectly good .357 gas check tools because of my dumbness - and I only paid him for one! Charlie was as gracious as could be and didn't even make fun of me. I offered to send one of thea tool sets back to him, but he told me not to bother. Charlie Darnall is one square shooter.
I then offered to resell one of the .357 tools on E-Bay and send him the money, but he said I was welcome to sell the tool and keep the money. I told him that I could not do that to him and that I would be happy to sell the tool, ship it to whoever buys it and send the money to him. He really is a good guy, and his tool really does make excellent gas checks. I intend to bid on .30, .44 Mag, and .45 calibers as soon as he starts selling again.
In the meantime, if anyone is interested in buying one of Charlie's .357 gas check tools that I know works perfectly, I will be glad to ship it and send the money to Charlie. My E-Mail address is [email protected] , and my home phone number is 717-766-1026. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Charlie's tool set.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
I recently bought one of Charlie Darnall's .357 gas check making tools from him on E-Bay. I paid for it immediately, and Charlie sent it out to me just as immediately. I was eager to start using it and got a thin sheet of virgin lead to cut the discs from an aluminum soda can. Then I thought of using a hard rubber pad I use to do leather work instead of the lead sheet. While Charlie's instructions recommended a lead slab, I found the hard rubber pad to work very well for me.
Right away I was cutting perfect discs with the punch Charlie provided, and I quickly cut about thirty or so of them. The kit also contains an anvil into which the disc is placed, and a mandrel which is then used to punch the disc trough the anvil and form its final shape. I placed my first disc as closely as I could in the center of the anvil and punched it through with the mandrel. My gas check was a bust. It was not centered in the anvil and came out all wrong. I tried a dozen or so of my discs, but none of them made a good gas check. Yes, I read the directions, but something was wrong.
I thought my discs were too small for the anvil and gave Charlie a call to ask what the problem might be. We talked for quite some time about everything related to the gas check tool, and I wanted to try some more things to see if I could get it right. Charlie insisted on sending me a whole new tool set to try, and I received it two days later. When I opened the package, I noticed that Charlie had inserted the mandrel in the anvil in a different manner than I was using my first set. Suddenly I started to wonder if I was using the tool the wrong way.
I pulled the new tool set mandrel out of the anvil and checked the anvil from that end. Well, talk about being ashamed and dumb - I immediately realized I had been putting my discs in the wrong end of the anvil. I had been putting the discs in the bottom end of the anvil, and that was why the discs did not seem big enough for the anvil and moved around so much.
Using my original tool set, I put a disc in the correct end of the anvil, placed the mandrel in place, and a gentle tap with a plastic mallet produced a perfect .357 gas check that fits my Lyman 155 gr. bullets perfectly. I made several more perfect gas checks with my original tool to make sure I was doing it right, and then I made a bunch of gas checks with the new tool Charlie had sent me at no cost. All my gaschecks come out of the bottom of the anvil perfect, and they fit my #358156 cast bullets perfectly. I use my Lyman 45 Lubrisizer to seat the gascheck, size, and lube the bullets. In using them, I see no difference between my hand made gas checks and the ones I have always purchased from Lyman or Hornady.
I had to call Charlie and tell him that I now had two perfectly good .357 gas check tools because of my dumbness - and I only paid him for one! Charlie was as gracious as could be and didn't even make fun of me. I offered to send one of thea tool sets back to him, but he told me not to bother. Charlie Darnall is one square shooter.
I then offered to resell one of the .357 tools on E-Bay and send him the money, but he said I was welcome to sell the tool and keep the money. I told him that I could not do that to him and that I would be happy to sell the tool, ship it to whoever buys it and send the money to him. He really is a good guy, and his tool really does make excellent gas checks. I intend to bid on .30, .44 Mag, and .45 calibers as soon as he starts selling again.
In the meantime, if anyone is interested in buying one of Charlie's .357 gas check tools that I know works perfectly, I will be glad to ship it and send the money to Charlie. My E-Mail address is [email protected] , and my home phone number is 717-766-1026. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Charlie's tool set.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
