Case Gauging Ammo

[aandabooks]

Getting ready for my first larger than local USPSA match and decided to case gauge every round of ammo. This is not something I do enough of for local matches.

In gauging every round I am finding that I am getting a 3%-5% failure rate. My normal routine is to gauge 2-3 pieces per 100 as they come off the press. I've also found a couple rounds with upside down primers.

Long story short, case gauging every round is a pain. How does everyone here handle large amounts of ammo that needs gauged? Is my 3%-5% failure rate normal?

Anyone use one of the 100 round case gauges? If you do, is it worth the money?

[RDA]

Anyone use one of the 100 round case gauges? If you do, is it worth the money?

I don't compete, just train. I have gauged all of my ammo with a single gauge for a long time but eventually bought one of the 100 round case gauges. It works great, I can check 100 rounds at at time, check all the primers (visually and tactically) as well as eye all of the COALs.

[Dirty Rod]

I have the 7 round EGW gauges and do every round. Normally I do batches of 500-600 while sitting in front of the TV.

[superdude]

Do the rounds that fail your case gauge still fit in your gun's chamber?

If they do, then you don't need the case gauge. Just use your chamber. And if you learn over time that all of your loads always fit your chamber, then you can stop checking them there. However, if you change components, you need to check them again to make sure they fit. Just do the 'plunk and rotate' test to check the overall length.

Many folks don't use a case gauge. They only use their chamber.

Some folks use a Lee factory crimp die to make sure the ammo is more uniform than what comes out of regular dies. This has sometimes fixed rounds that fail the case gauge.

[RDA]

Do the rounds that fail your case gauge still fit in your gun's chamber?

If they do, then you don't need the case gauge. Just use your chamber. And if you learn over time that all of your loads always fit your chamber, then you can stop checking them there. However, if you change components, you need to check them again to make sure they fit. Just do the 'plunk and rotate' test to check the overall length.

Many folks don't use a case gauge. They only use their chamber.

Case gauge, chamber, either way you are checking every round in those two scenarios. The 100 case gauge allows me to check rounds more quickly and to a tighter tolerance than my chamber. I am lucky to have 1 round fail in 100 in the 100 case gauge and it will typically chamber. The OP asked about 100 round case gauge and my opinion: it is a great QC tool for me.

YMMV.

[darkvibe]

I gauge everything with a 100 round gauge. I am shooting .40 and probably have about 1 per 200 rounds that won't fit in the guage. I put them in a box just for failed cases and shoot them for practice. They generally still chamber in my barrel.

[gransport]

There are a couple television shows that we watch as a family. So I case gauge then :-)

[rooster]

Take one of the rnds that doesn't fit the gauge, try it in your barrel if it fits you know that you can get away with that spec. I can get away with the rim diameter above the gauge and it still fits my barrel. Sometimes there is a nick on the case rim and I use a smal file to remove and then it will drop in the gauge. Any more than a rim thickness above the gauge then it gets pulled.

[Rob Tompkins]

Short version of my long 40 S&W story, I don't case gage every round (just a few random to make sure no gross changes to dies, but I do use a Lee FCD) but for major matches every round goes through a bulge buster - just to make sure.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Rob Tompkins

[nitrohuck]

One day I definitely plan on buying the 100rnd case guages, I just have have too many other $100 items to purchase in line ahead of it.

I have not done a ton of case gauging, but I certainly also have paid the price for this, especially when I was loading 9mm in the early stages, tons of jams and headaches.

For .40, I will now probably gauge all of my match ammo while watching TV (as mentioned above), I bring ~300rnds to a match (normally only shoot half of it) but it would take me about ten minutes to gauge all of that (with a single gauge) while sitting on my couch, no biggie.

I don't see a point in gauging practice ammo, if I have a bad round it only serves as an opportunity to practice my jam-clearing

EDIT: Also as mentioned, the Lee Factory Crimp Die can change up the whole game, it is really helpful,

Edited October 6, 2014 by nitrohuck

[mikeinctown]

Is the Lee factory crimp die any better than the Dillon crimp die I got with the set I purchased?

I notice on my cases that the bullets expand the case slightly around them. So they go from a given diameter around the bullet to a slightly smaller diameter and then back to a slightly larger diameter back toward the base. I'm assuming this is because the sizing die at stage 1 is sizing to a slightly smaller dimension.

[Rob Tompkins]

Is the Lee factory crimp die any better than the Dillon crimp die I got with the set I purchased?

...

I don't have a dillon die to compare but compared to other sizing and crip dies the FCD opening is flared very little and has a carbide ring right at the opening. It reaches much closer to the base than any sizing die (which are normally flared to allow for expanded brass.

[RDA]

Is the Lee factory crimp die any better than the Dillon crimp die I got with the set I purchased?

I notice on my cases that the bullets expand the case slightly around them. So they go from a given diameter around the bullet to a slightly smaller diameter and then back to a slightly larger diameter back toward the base. I'm assuming this is because the sizing die at stage 1 is sizing to a slightly smaller dimension.

What caliber? What reloading press?

[SilverBolt]

Wife and I do it while watching TV. We can knock out a few thousand rounds in an hour. We case gage 100% of our ammo.

[Sarge]

I case gauge every single round I load. I don't have "practice" ammo. I also don't have "local match" ammo and "Major match" ammo. I only produce excellent quality ammo that I would be comfortable shooting in any match at any time.

I get about a 1-2% failure rate but it is always a brass issue such as a split, ding, burr, etc. I pull the split stuff but put all the rest of the failures in a small jar. I take it to the range occasionally when I practice and shoot it up. None of it has ever failed to fire.

[aandabooks]

I am actually loading for two guns. Glock 34 and XDM 5.25". The XDM eats everything but the Glock has the shorter chamber. My 13 year old runs the Glock and sometimes struggles to clear a hard jam fast. I've got my S&S 147FP rounds down to 1.110" to make sure they fit the Glock.

Where is the best place/price to get a 100 case gauge?

[nitrohuck]

I case gauge every single round I load. I don't have "practice" ammo. I also don't have "local match" ammo and "Major match" ammo. I only produce excellent quality ammo that I would be comfortable shooting in any match at any time.

I get about a 1-2% failure rate but it is always a brass issue such as a split, ding, burr, etc. I pull the split stuff but put all the rest of the failures in a small jar. I take it to the range occasionally when I practice and shoot it up. None of it has ever failed to fire.

Ideally this would be my gameplan as well, but given the fact that I am a very broke twenty five year old, I choose to cast and powder coat my bullets. It allows me to shoot for pennies on the dollar but powder coated cast rounds are just not reliable enough for competition use, so I up the ante and buy plated bullets specifically for competition.

Practice ammo: $0.03/round

Match ammo: $0.13/round

When you get up into the tens of thousands of rounds that cost begins to really make a difference.

Where is the best place/price to get a 100 case gauge?

Right here! ---> http://www.benstoegerproshop.com/The-Hundo-100-Round-Case-Gauge-s/1827.htm

Edited October 6, 2014 by nitrohuck

[Mahlsan]

I case gauge every round, but lately I have been presorting out head stamps to sort out ones that I have problems in the press with or that traditionally fail to gauge. This has cut down the failure rate significantly.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Mahlsan

[ZackJones]

I case gauge to catch stuff like this.

[Sarge]

I case gauge to catch stuff like this.

Agreed. Split cases stop dead in the gauge.

[b1gcountry]

I don't know hire you can reload for .03 per round. I am paying .022 per primer, and .01 for powder

[twistrate]

Getting ready for my first larger than local USPSA match and decided to case gauge every round of ammo. This is not something I do enough of for local matches.

In gauging every round I am finding that I am getting a 3%-5% failure rate. My normal routine is to gauge 2-3 pieces per 100 as they come off the press. I've also found a couple rounds with upside down primers.

Long story short, case gauging every round is a pain. How does everyone here handle large amounts of ammo that needs gauged? Is my 3%-5% failure rate normal?

Anyone use one of the 100 round case gauges? If you do, is it worth the money?

I use Ben Stoeger's hundo 100 round 9mm gauge. It's totally worth it. Can't believe I didn't get one earlier.

I load 400-500 rounds at a time on my 650XL and the 100 round gauge saves me about 80% of the time needed to gauge my ammo. Now I gauge all of it, even for local club matches since it's so easy.

My fail rate has been extremely low. Less than 0.5% or roughly 5 in 1000 and it's usually a high primer (often because of a NATO crimped primer pocket) as opposed to a sizing issue.

If you're seeing 3-5% fail and upside down primers there's a problem with your reloading setup. Those are pretty high fail rates.

Edited October 9, 2014 by twistrate

[daves_not_here]

For matches I case gauge every round. I have a 7 rounder. http://www.egwguns.com/index.php?p=product&id=850 It goes 7 times faster than a single or a barrel drop for $20.

For $100 you can go over 10 times faster than 7 and also load your 100 round boxes faster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3i6vq2084U

It is on my wishlist. Not much pain with a 7 rounder but I probably won't regret buying the 100 rounder.

Oooo, I think I just talked myself into getting one!

My opinion on barrel dropping is that unless it's virgin brass you might have some ejector gouges that barrel dropping doesn't catch since it's the breech face that touches the rim.

Also, add some carbon from shooting a couple hundred rounds and something that barrel dropped might drag enough for a FTF. Which means you'll be well into the match before stuff starts going wrong...

Your choice.

Flipped primers might mean you need to clean out your priming system with alcohol. For me it's 100% on primer orientation or I tear things apart and clean.

Good luck at your match!

DNH

Edited October 9, 2014 by daves_not_here

[Smitty79]

I gauge everything. As Zack posted, finding an occasional cracked case I didn't see in sorting is enough reason by itself. I've had 2 in the last year of about 8 k rounds loaded.

If I were loading rounds without sorting brass, I would have to gauge everything. I load 147s in a CZ so they go fairly deep and I've found that the wall thickness of CBC changes closer to the neck than most head stamps. If I miss one of these, they will jam my CZ and will jam my Glock half the time.

[jmorris]

Casegauging is something I do for any match where I pay to play. I don't care if I take a ziplock bag with me to the range and gauge and box them in the bay while I am waiting my turn.