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A friend just gave me a sealed factory box of 1000 Ideal 6.5mm Gas Checks that look like they are from the 50s. Brown paperboard taped shut top and bottom. Ideal label stuck on one side of it. I won't open it to see if they are brass or copper. Would this box and contents have any collectability? Thanks in advance, and please don't ask to buy them here. After I get some input, I will decide whether to keep them or sell them. Thanks in advance for input! Tomon
I treat them as any gas check, i shoot them. In my experience i prefer the ideal brand checks. I think they fit the boolit better.
If the box is absolutely pristine in every way, and you don’t need the checks, it might be worth storing them away for another 20 years or so and see what happens. Right now, though, I haven’t seen any collector interest in such things, and I go to a fair number of collector’s shows.
The old Lyman/Ideal checks were Barlow’s patent: made of thin brass and no “crimp-on” feature. The original idea was that they would protect the boolit base from hot smokeless-powder gases and fall off as the projectile cleared the muzzle. In practice, some fall off, some do not; and I imagine some come off at different distances than others.
This doesn’t seriously impact accuracy at normal CB hunting and casual shooting ranges, but is noticeable out at several hundred yards off a bench. Which is probably why Lyman makes the Hornady-type crimp-on checks now and the original design, except for those made from pop cans with gas-check makers, isn’t available any more. So the original type will eventually be collectors’ items; I just don’t know when.
Me, I’m doing all I can to make the few that remain in the remote future valuable by shooting what I have of them up now. :mrgreen:
Thank you, Sir!
Those same old style boxes, I still have three boxes of .30's, three of 6.5's, one of .35 and one of .45.
Over the years have found that they have their uses as well as problems.
Gas Checks are posted for sale in Swapping and selling for $50 shipped for anybody interested. Thanks for looking.
I’ve picked up numerous boxes of the old ideal checks while rummaging thru various gun shows and garage sales. They are a second and or third choice in most calibers as the crimp on style do exactly that…. Stay on.