Case Gauges

[Duane Thomas]

And what if that visually "good" casing splits when you load it? Wouldn't it be nice to have a way of catching that that didn't entail having to run your finger all the way around each and every loaded round's casing? For me, whether of not to case gage is a no-brainer. Gotta do it.

[DougCarden]

If I am going anywhere other than the practice range, the ammo gets gauged and the primer seating gets checked. Life is too short to go shoot a match and have crap ammo. Been there, done that.

I enjoy this competition stuff too much to be pissed all the way home because I didn't take the time to check the ammo before the match....

DougC

[Duane Thomas]

Time on the practice range is too (potentially) useful and fun to waste it on non-case gaged ammo.

[LPatterson]

"Fitting" in the gage is only part of the check. The tip of the bullet also shouldn't extend past the end of the gage.

Sorry but this is too broad a statement. I just ordered a set of Lyman case gauges and the OAL of the 9mm is 1.170, 40S&W 1.136 and 45 ACP 1.277. Lots of people are loading longer 9mm and 40S&W's and I have a couple of 45's that won't accept a Precision Moly 230gr RNFP over 1.225.

I case gauge because I want to know that a cartridge should drop into a barrel, however, the only way to know if the round will work in the gun is to use the barrel to check OAL.

[Sarge]

"Fitting" in the gage is only part of the check. The tip of the bullet also shouldn't extend past the end of the gage.

Sorry but this is too broad a statement. I just ordered a set of Lyman case gauges and the OAL of the 9mm is 1.170, 40S&W 1.136 and 45 ACP 1.277. Lots of people are loading longer 9mm and 40S&W's and I have a couple of 45's that won't accept a Precision Moly 230gr RNFP over 1.225.

I case gauge because I want to know that a cartridge should drop into a barrel, however, the only way to know if the round will work in the gun is to use the barrel to check OAL.

Exactly! The rounds I mentioned were nowhere near the end of the case gauge. I loaded some precision moly FP's with a very long shoulder. Gauged fine but would not chamber. That is what I was getting at. OAL on them was only 1.10-1.11.

[COMATZD]

Sorry but this is too broad a statement. I just ordered a set of Lyman case gauges and the OAL of the 9mm is 1.170, 40S&W 1.136 and 45 ACP 1.277. Lots of people are loading longer 9mm and 40S&W's and I have a couple of 45's that won't accept a Precision Moly 230gr RNFP over 1.225.

I case gauge because I want to know that a cartridge should drop into a barrel, however, the only way to know if the round will work in the gun is to use the barrel to check OAL.

This statement hits it for me. My JHP loads 'pass' the gauge in diameter and length, but my FMJ loads have a steep profile and would 'fail' the gauge on length. But I run everything thru the gauge, then drop them into trays to visually look for high primers. Takes me an extra 15 minutes for 500 rounds, that works out to ~2 hours start to finish on my 550b.

[98sr20ve]

"Fitting" in the gage is only part of the check. The tip of the bullet also shouldn't extend past the end of the gage.

Sorry but this is too broad a statement. I just ordered a set of Lyman case gauges and the OAL of the 9mm is 1.170, 40S&W 1.136 and 45 ACP 1.277. Lots of people are loading longer 9mm and 40S&W's and I have a couple of 45's that won't accept a Precision Moly 230gr RNFP over 1.225.

I case gauge because I want to know that a cartridge should drop into a barrel, however, the only way to know if the round will work in the gun is to use the barrel to check OAL.

Exactly! The rounds I mentioned were nowhere near the end of the case gauge. I loaded some precision moly FP's with a very long shoulder. Gauged fine but would not chamber. That is what I was getting at. OAL on them was only 1.10-1.11.

Case guage will not check nor is it designed to check for the bullet hitting the rifling. Ever chambers throat is different.

[ncboiler]

Interesting discussion. Up until I got my 550 press I never case gauged anything. I decided I would get the gauges with the new press just to have them. I should also add that I never shot USPSA/IDPA until a year ago.

Now, with a Limited gun on the way and the plan to shoot more, I will take the few extra minutes to make sure everything case gauges OK.

[jaredr]

If I am going anywhere other than the practice range, the ammo gets gauged and the primer seating gets checked. Life is too short to go shoot a match and have crap ammo. Been there, done that.

I enjoy this competition stuff too much to be pissed all the way home because I didn't take the time to check the ammo before the match....

DougC

that describes it pretty well for me. acknowledge that "prior performance is no guarantee of future returns" but my reloads have proven reliable enough (as I would think are those from many on this board) that I don't need to gauge every round in order to have a productive practice session with no ammo-related malfunctions. which is a fancy way of saying i'm really just too lazy to gauge all my practice ammo. on the other hand, when i'm going to a class i don't want to be the guy holding everyone up with equipment (or ammo) malfunctions, so I'll gauge every single round i'm taking with me.

for rifle (.223) I've got both a dillon and wilson gauge, and (similar to other posts above) have found my wilson gauge to be tighter than any of my .223 chambers. anything that doesn't pass the wilson gauge goes into a gauge failure bucket, but almost all of those (99 out of 100) will still chamber (and extract) without problem. still, i don't want to be the guy mortaring my rifle 4 times a day to clear the oversize rounds that won't chamber (or extract), and for me it is a confidence booster to know that i've gauged everything I've taken with me.

-jared

Edited February 15, 2010 by jaredr

[ben b.]

I use the EGW 7 slot gauges, which speed the process up a bit. I see that EGW had now made a 50 slot case gauge, which could be nice when you have a low reject rate which I usually but not always do.

[babob]

Dillon case gages for the WIN!

I case gage everything I reload which currently is only 9mm, 45ACP, & 223.

I too have found the occasional split case but most of the time when one does not fit it's due to a rim bur.

Last week I cranked out 1100 9mm rds. I was about half way through and one dropped way down in the gage.

Gotta love those Makarov cases!!!