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steve f
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:26 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 02 Nov 2015
Posts: 147
Location: N. Georgia

Can't say enough about my Skeet's 12/16 bore gauge. It's one of the originals sold by Brownell's, and Skeet's is now back in business. Also I've been pointed to another maker of good quality gauges (based on comments at Doublegunshop) and I've included the link to those gauges also.

If you don't have one and you buy vintage guns, a good gauge is well worth the money. You'll have a pretty good idea if those 'mirror bores' on old guns are due to honing or if the gun was well taken care of by diligent owners.

Both are around $125 according to info with the past year.

Skeet's - contact Ed Patton 706-949-1469.

Unloader gauges - https://www.theunloader.com/
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16'er
PostPosted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:47 am  Reply with quote
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I treated myself to one of the skeets constriction gauges two years ago for my birthday. They are very handy indeed.

Now I want a barrel wall thickness gauge...
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fred lauer
PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 7:02 pm  Reply with quote
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I concur on Gary Bulleys bore gauge, I use it often. I built a wall thickness gauge before I retired from the machine shop, it shows what you really want to know as far as barrel honing and pitting goes but mine isn't very portable. You'll use the bore gauge more often though.

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Stack16
PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:46 pm  Reply with quote
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I bought my skeets bore gages probably 20 yrs. ago , one for 20,s and 28,s. I believe they were $80.00 dollars or so. I do loan them to certain people. Great things to have.


Griff

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Riflemeister
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:18 am  Reply with quote
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I've had the CSP bore gauge set for many years and can't imagine not having one. I added a 16 ga measuring head and setting ring (.660") to my set as that's the one used the most. It's kinda like the borescope for rifles, you don't realize how much you need one until you use it for a while.

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Hammer bill
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:08 pm  Reply with quote



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Ive got Gary Bullys gage a few years. I take it with me alot to shoots cause fellow shooters are wanting their bores cked.
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scraggley
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:47 pm  Reply with quote
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Bore gauge comes in handy for checking the true diameters of variable choke devices!

Art

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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:34 pm  Reply with quote
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Hey Fred Lauer -- Could you please post pictures of the wall thickness gauge you made? I often think of building my own and I'd like to see how you did it. I have one from Brownell's, but it is hard to use accurately. I've seen guys suspend it vertically and go through all sorts of contortions and modifications (such as adding a sort of leaf spring to hold the ball on the rod positively against the inside of the barrel) to try to ensure the measurements are free from bending and gravity issues, but the best I've seen is the one made by Galazan, which has a price I don't like -- but I guess one probably gets what he pays for. It seems to be a version of the type used in British gunmaking practice.

I have and use the Skeet's bore gauges from Brownell's -- one for 10 thru 16 gauge and one from 20 to .410 bore. I like these because they have what looks like a phenolic plastic tube on which I can mark an inch scale with a Sharpie, starting at the measurement balls. That way I can easily read the length and depth of bore and choke measurements. On each one of these gauges, the adhesive used to bond the measurement ball end and the dial gauge to the tube has failed, and I had to re-epoxy the ends back on. No real biggie I guess, as I have never had a re-epoxied end come off -- good old J-B Weld, heh, heh! I do however, check for firm attachment of the ends before every use. Also, due no doubt to temperature expansion of the phenolic tube, zero can drift around quite a bit -- gotta re-zero it all the time, but that's normal practice anyway. I also have a nice Stan Baker bore gauge set, and it holds zero much better. It has a metal tube -- steel I think-- and I like it because it is longer and I can read about 4 more inches of barrel -- useful on barrels 32 inches and longer, but not a great necessity. The Skeet's units are probably just as accurate and repeatable if used properly, and are more cost effective for the gun hobbyist.

Happy New Year to All, and best wishes on your winter gun-fiddling.
Tony Lowe
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Dogchaser37
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:35 am  Reply with quote
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Being a machinist in a previous life, I bought a bore gauge awhile back. While I find it useful, it is kind of a one and done proposition. Once you know what you have, it doesn’t change, unless of course you start changing bores and chokes.

I am not sure it was the best money I ever spent.

I guess I lead a boring life......I have never bought a shotgun that had a bore/choke that was messed up.

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steve f
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 8:54 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 02 Nov 2015
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Location: N. Georgia

Dogchaser37 wrote:
Being a machinist in a previous life, I bought a bore gauge awhile back. While I find it useful, it is kind of a one and done proposition. Once you know what you have, it doesn’t change, unless of course you start changing bores and chokes.

I am not sure it was the best money I ever spent.

I guess I lead a boring life......I have never bought a shotgun that had a bore/choke that was messed up.


I can't tell by looking what the bore diameter is, or what the amount of choke constriction is . The drop in choke gauges aren't really accurate, the only way I know to be sure on chokes is to use a bore gauge like Skeet's or some of the others mentioned. Then there's the issue of bores being honed and what the bores measure currently. I guess dealing with vintage guns I'm a little paranoid, the $93.33 I paid for my bore gauge gives me a lot of peace of mind.
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Riflemeister
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:18 am  Reply with quote
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The Sunrise Productions video, "Mastering the Double Gun", has a section on buying a double gun that shows a barrel thickness gauge and how to use one as part of evaluating a used gun. It doesn't appear to be something that any competent DIY type couldn't build for himself.

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16'er
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:05 am  Reply with quote
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MaximumSmoke, maybe this helps:

http://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317747
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Riflemeister
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:00 pm  Reply with quote
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16'er wrote:
MaximumSmoke, maybe this helps:

http://doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317747


That is very close to the one in the video, except the video one had a cone shaped sliding collar at the bottom to center the bore over the gauge. The reading probably could vary a bit if the bore was not centered.

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