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FAQs for the 100-round case gauges


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Answers to commonly asked questions about the case gauges;

- My ammunition fits in my gun but doesn't fit in your gauge. What gives?

In a nutshell: it's better to reject a few good rounds than let a bad one through.

In detail:

Our gauges are reamed with minimum-spec (or close to minimum) SAAMI chambering reamers. The way SAAMI specifications work, a maximum-spec round will fit into a minimum-spec chamber. However, most manufacturers ream their chambers with SAAMI maximum-size chambering reamers so that as the reamers wear down, the chambers are still 'in spec'. Some manufacturers go even further in the name of reliability (these are often the same ones referred to as having "acceptable combat accuracy" in reviews)

Given variances in brass and reloading dies and your chamber, rounds that are beyond SAAMI maximum ammunition size may still fit in your chamber.

Since we don't know what size your chamber is, we make the gauge holes on the small size. That way anything that fits the gauge is pretty much guaranteed to fit your chamber, even if it gets a bit dirty. If some ammo doesn't fit, toss that into the 'practice' pile or 'check with barrel' pile.

In addition, if you load lead and coated-lead bullets, they are often .001" or more over the nominal bore size. This isn't a problem in-use as the softer lead conforms to the leade and rifling fairly easily, but in a tighter gauge they may stick. We make the. 40L gauge to fit slightly larger bullets, but even if they are in-size, if they have dings or aren't completely round (a frequent problem with lead), they can still stick. Pressing cases lightly into the gauge is acceptable once you determine this ammunition also fits your chamber.

A few of our customers that load oversize lead bullets instead of dropping the loaded rounds in bullet-first where they will stick, they drop them in the gauge base-first (this works best with .40 and .45 ACP). This doesn't check the bullet itself at all, but verifies the case is not bulged, which is usually what causes 40 caliber 'death jams'

- Whats this "Leade" you mention?

Leade is the taper at the front of the chamber that transitions the bullet from the chamber area into the rifling. It is also commonly called the 'throat'. Rifling lands are smaller than the bullet so they can bite into it and make it spin. The leade is where the lands taper down to meet the bullet. Leade is specified along with other chamber dimensions by SAAMI. Often the maximum OAL of a particular bullet is determined by where that bullet profile intersects the leade. This is important if you load your ammunition 'long'. Without a correspondingly opened-up leade (or "throated" barrel), your slide can be slamming the bullet into the rifling (or worse, back into the case) every time a long round is chambered.

Most of our gauges have the leade reamed in by the chambering reamer (Exceptions include the .40L).

- Why is my gauge shorter than a loaded round?

There are also a few reasons the gauge is shorter than a loaded round--

It reduces weight and material (even at only about $1 a hole, we're pretty sure you don't want to pay more for them).
It makes poking tight rounds out easier.
It decreases wear and improves consistency by providing a light gravity insertion force to minimize stuck cases if you load it up on a table, then lift.
Its easier to swipe a marker across the base of the cases while they are sticking up without marking up the gauge
OAL varies by bullet shape (see 'Leade') so it couldn't check for OAL in any case except the very maximum OAL and even that varies by firearm and magazine.

- What ammunition boxes work best?

We designed the gauges to work with the most common boxes, including Dillon & MTM. Berry's boxes also mostly work well. Boxes with slanted tops and special latches do not work as well. We suggest 100-round boxes, although some dextrous people can make two 50-round boxes work.

- What is the difference between the silver and black versions?

The black gauges are anodized for longer life and appearance. The silver gauges are not and are therefore slightly more accurate, but will wear out somewhat sooner (you should still get tens of thousands of rounds or more out of either). The black gauges have 1/4-28 accessory mounting holes while the silver ones mostly do not. Some gauges are not available in black.

- What is the difference between the .40 and .40L?

The 40L is the same as the .40 gauge except that the bullet leade area is made straight through .4015". This lets ammunition loaded longer than SAAMI spec fit entirely into the gauge and also provides a bit more room for lead bullets which are typically a bit oversize. It does not check the leade area, so you have to verify your OAL is ok separately.

- Which 9x19 gauge should I get? 9x19? 9 Match? 9 Supermatch?

Since 9x19 has been made for more than a hundred years in a vast number of countries, specifications and dimensions for it are all over the map. The 9 Match and 9 Supermatch gauges (the difference is the 9x19 Match is anodized while the 9x19 Supermatch is not) are reamed very close to the SAAMI minimum chamber spec and will sometimes reject a surprising amount of ammunition. This is good if you only want the very best ammunition for your tight-chambered custom gun or extra reliability for a big match, but could be annoying if you have a looser-chambered production gun. Those users will probably be happier with the regular 9x19 which is made a few thousandths of an inch larger.

- Why is there no chamber step in my .38SC gauge? Can I use that for .38 Super?

This is a weird leftover from the early days of the .38 Super cartridge. It was originally designed to headspace on the rim like revolver rounds of the day and SAAMI has never updated their specification to match what most modern gun builders use for chambers (that is probably a can of worms they don't want to open with a bunch of old guns around). Since there are no SAAMI specifications for .38 Supercomp or TJ or .38 Super Nonte (the most common headspace-on-the-case-mouth variant) yet, we had to go with the SAAMI reamer to avoid getting into a huge mess of which custom specification and gun builder is correct.

This means rounds will change where they sit in the gauge depending how much bullet crimp you use, so you'll have to determine with a few known-good rounds where the good ones should sit and compare others to that to check case length. Case bulges, most cracks and rim problems are still caught in any case

The gauge can be used for .38 Super but it will not check for oversize rims and case length since the rim recess is not reamed.

- Will you make me a gauge in XYZ caliber?

Maybe. We very rarely make one-offs because they are very time consuming and costly. However, if you want something we don't currently make, drop us a line and if enough people do that, we'll probably put together a production run.

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  • 4 months later...

One FAQ we get is "how long do the Shockbottle gauges last?"

This was one of the very first ones we ever sold. It was in-use at a commercial reloader day-in, day-out for more than a year.

They say it has somewhere around 800,000 rounds through it.

The anodizing is worn off the edges but the holes are still in-spec except for where it was dropped on one corner...

post-1846-0-62891800-1415223738_thumb.jp

post-1846-0-65173000-1415223749_thumb.jp

We can't guarantee your gauge will go three quarters of a million rounds, but by that point you can probably afford a new one :)

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  • 8 years later...

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