Cartridge Gauge NOOB question…

Buzznrose said:

I bought the Hornady. They claim it is a “go-no go” gauge. You are right…it is shorter than a loaded case. It is the first and only one I’ve bought.

I was having issues with my ammo in some guns. I was using a Glock 26 barrel for my plunking. Most of my 9MM’s are Glocks. Some would shot the ammo no problem but some had seating issues.

I’d checked OAL carefully and all were good. But the case gauge showed me issues with some of my rounds and the roll crimp I was applying. So I gauged all my ammo I’d loaded and separated the stuff that didn’t seat in the gauge.

then I took a fresh brass and sized it, then gauged it. Then I reset my crimp and seating die until the cases set properly in the gauge and I had my OAL.
Then, I went and recrimped all the loaded rounds that didn’t seat and they all seat properly now. I have them separated so when I shoot them, I’ll know they are done.

I plan to use this gauge from now on to confirm my cases for future batches.

I did look at the Wilson gauges and plan to buy their gauge going forward. Thanks for that tip.

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I meant to respond some time ago and forgot.

On the Hornady go/no. I looked on their website to find the short (case only) gauge we bought to see/remind myself of the instructions they provide and if there was a clear indication they were case only. I’m still looking but I did find these go/no go “cartridge” gauges. In fact I can find NO mention of a 45ACP pistol “case” gauge on their website but have one here in my hot little hand. Maybe they’ve discontinued it.

I thought I was buying one of these.

https://www.hornady.com/reloading/precision-measuring/precision-tools-and-gauges/

I know it’s my fault, but still I like to complain.

AJC1 said:

Does 10 have the same unsupported chamber issue... I thought that was mostly a 9 and 40 issue.

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45acp sure does. Don’t know the cause but I’ve scrounged cases that for sure need busting.

Here are pics showing how gauges are different or that I’m a lame brain. I know I’m belaboring the point but it’s craziness.

I had a loaded 45ACP cartridge that would not pass my Wilson gauge. Didn’t want to disassemble a 1911 to plunk it so I just pulled the bullet and resized the case to prepare to use it again.

I also ran the case through the Lee FCD/bulge buster. It is NOT too large.

I measured its length and as the picture shows, it is NOT too long.

So then to the gauges—It passes the Hornady gauge (and RCBS gauge not shown) but not the Wilson gauge. And I cleaned the gauges a couple of times and tried again.

I am either missing something obvious but don’t know what it is or this case just has bad mojo. Help me (and by extension, the OP) out @Varminterror @jmorris @LiveLife @GeoDudeFlorida

The Wilson gauge is cut shorter, smaller in diameter, or both. Try measuring the inside of each gauge, if you can get accurate measurements you'll have your answer.

chris

Been reloading since the 60s and have never heard of plunking.
I dont do SAMMI spec loads so these tools would be no use to me.
I made every round to fit the barrel they are intended to be used in.
LE Wilson tools are exact.

ballman6711 said:

The Wilson gauge is cut shorter, smaller in diameter, or both. Try measuring the inside of each gauge, if you can get accurate measurements you'll have your answer.

chris

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Thanks

Well on diameter I can’t be getting accurate measurements. The Wilson looks like about .465 while the Hornady is closer to .468. But that doesn’t make sense because the cases are larger than both at around .47X

Length, I don’t know, but they both take cases that are even longer.

Cacas ex Fortuna said:

Been reloading since the 60s and have never heard of plunking.
I dont do SAMMI spec loads so these tools would be no use to me.
I made every round to fit the barrel they are intended to be used in.
LE Wilson tools are exact.

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Me thinks you’ve been plunking then.

I wonder, if a cartridge drops into a barrel and there’s no one around to hear it, is it still plunking?

CQB45ACP said:

Well on diameter I can’t be getting accurate measurements. The Wilson looks like about .465 while the Hornady is closer to .468. But that doesn’t make sense because the cases are larger than both at around .47X

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Your caliper/micrometer may be off a tiny bit, or it could be your technique. Either way, as long as you were consistent with your measurement you got your results. The Wilson gauge is just a bit tighter than the Hornady, which is why your case fits one and not the other.

chris

ballman6711 said:

Your caliper/micrometer may be off a tiny bit, or it could be your technique. Either way, as long as you were consistent with your measurement you got your results. The Wilson gauge is just a bit tighter than the Hornady, which is why your case fits one and not the other.

chris

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I’ll bet on bad technique, but why just this one case after sizing & sizing & busting & busting? Never mind, it’s my issue to wrestle with and definitely a first world problem.

Thanks for helping

Might be brass springing back more on that case than the others.

chris

I've read many threads about using a case/cartridge gauge and some morph into gage comparisons, good, bad, tight, loose, etc.. (I cannot understand why "plunking" could be a lot of trouble. Most of my 9mm pistols can be field stripped in maybe as much as 30 seconds. My 1911 takes a bit longer, 45 seconds to one minute). Plunking is a lot less costly too, no gauges to buy, no bulge busting dies or FCDs. And besides my bad experiences with cartridge gauges, I don't shoot my handloads in a case gauge. 99.999999% of my ammo is fired in a gun barrel (which is included in every gun purchase )

I agree with the gauge statement to a point. I check all my ammo before boxing. Revolver ammo gets checked in the cylinder and pistol ammo in the chamber. I do use a gauge for .223 though, not because it's difficult to take apart, but because swinging a rifle barrel around (up, down, repeat) would be a bit awkward.

The 1911 I use to check my ammo takes about 10 seconds to disassemble, maybe 15 seconds if I fumble a bit, so a gauge doesn't make sense to me for that.

chris

mdi said:

I've read many threads about using a case/cartridge gauge and some morph into gage comparisons, good, bad, tight, loose, etc.. (I cannot understand why "plunking" could be a lot of trouble. Most of my 9mm pistols can be field stripped in maybe as much as 30 seconds. My 1911 takes a bit longer, 45 seconds to one minute). Plunking is a lot less costly too, no gauges to buy, no bulge busting dies or FCDs. And besides my bad experiences with cartridge gauges, I don't shoot my handloads in a case gauge. 99.999999% of my ammo is fired in a gun barrel (which is included in every gun purchase )

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Cause people are different?

Or, maybe OP & others actually benefit more from a varied discussion about gauges v. don’t get one, just plunk?

mdi said:

I cannot understand why "plunking" could be a lot of trouble

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B/C my clean and well lubricated firearms are all down the hall, round the corner, locked up in a safe while my case gauges are all within an arms reach of the press.

Skgreen said:

B/C my clean and well lubricated firearms are all down the hall, round the corner, locked up in a safe while my case gauges are all within an arms reach of the press.

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Exactly

Well I was just thinking about disassembling my six 1911s and leave the barrels lying around until 45 seconds (x6) before going to the range.

(This sounds snarky but I mean it in jest.)

I guess I'm just fortunate and I can bring a specific gun, one that I am reloading for, to my bench and set it out of my way until I need to check some handloads. No big deal. Or I can always take some handloads to my safe and open it and check some rounds in a specific gun. Jes thinkin' ahead...

I have on occasion, field stripped a handgun, put the barrel in my pocket, go to my bench, reload some, when it's time to check my handloads, I can reach in my pocket, pull out the barrel and plunk away. The when done reloading, I put everything away I go back to my disassembled gun, reassemble it and stow it. Too much trouble? Nope, jes prepping for a job...

Again I cannot find a good excuse for not plunking and I was just offering some practical hints to the posts above. (and if most agreed on a certain subject, it may not help a newer reloader find what is best for him) If one prefers a cartridge gauge, cool, use one. But being a practical, logical, mechanically inclined kinda guy, cartridge gauges are not worth the effort, time or money for me...

mdi said:

I guess I'm just fortunate and I can bring a specific gun, one that I am reloading for, to my bench and set it out of my way until I need to check some handloads. No big deal. Or I can always take some handloads to my safe and open it and check some rounds in a specific gun. Jes thinkin' ahead...

I have on occasion, field stripped a handgun, put the barrel in my pocket, go to my bench, reload some, when it's time to check my handloads, I can reach in my pocket, pull out the barrel and plunk away. The when done reloading, I put everything away I go back to where my disassembled gun, reassemble it and stow it. Too much trouble? Nope, jes prepping for a job...

Again I cannot find a good excuse for not plunking and I was just offering some practical hints to the posts above. If one prefers a cartridge gauge, cool, use one. But being a practical, logical, mechanically inclined kinda guy, cartridge gauges are not worth the effort, time or money for me...

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Using a gauge doesn’t also mean not plunking. I do both, but always the former and not always the latter and even then not always with every gun.

I too am practical, logical, and mechanically inclined and using a gauge takes no special effort, saves considerable time, and is very cost effective. Is a gauge necessary? Nope! Is reloading? Nope!

Yes a gauge and plunking can be both done. Someguys wear suspenders and belts, ear plugs and muffs. Early in this thread, gauges seemed to be suggested over plunking, and I'm giving the "ain't necessatily so" side. In my shop guaging is no faster than plunking, may save one minute over disassembling/reassembling a pistol. Besides, I leave "hurry" "faster" and "round per minute timing" outside my shop. (even when I was working 9 hrs per day, 6 days per week, I as never in a hurry with anything concerning reloading).

So, I'm done here...

mdi said:

Yes a gauge and plunking can be both done. Someguys wear suspenders and belts, ear plugs and muffs. Early in this thread, gauges seemed to be suggested over plunking, and I'm giving the "ain't necessatily so" side. In my shop guaging is no faster than plunking, may save one minute over disassembling/reassembling a pistol. Besides, I leave "hurry" "faster" and "round per minute timing" outside my shop. (even when I was working 9 hrs per day, 6 days per week, I as never in a hurry with anything concerning reloading).

So, I'm done here...

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It’s over anyway…OP’s satisfied.

I just plunked a bunch of rounds with my workhorse 1911 pistol and was reminded of something neither of us (nor any other commenter I saw) said explicitly…there’s a certain confidence factor one gets from plunking v. gauging. You know it fits! Cheers.

ballman6711 said:

Might be brass springing back more on that case than the others.

chris

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Might be but then I go back to why/how I started looking at this case in the first place…as a finished round it wouldn’t pass a gauge including after being mashed through an FCD.

I can’t let this one go…I’m going to make it up into a dummy round and then see what happens. Cheers

Try your dummy round in your barrel, and let us know if it plunks.

chris

ballman6711 said:

Try your dummy round in your barrel, and let us know if it plunks.

chris

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I call it NO. This is a Les Baer barrel which is a Goldilocks. It’s 1.269” BTW.

Thanks

Walkalong said:

You don't "need" either one, but they're handy, so if you want to go that route, you need one of each.

I load a bunch of pistol calibers, and the only one I use a gauge for is 9MM, where I gauge all of my fired cases and scrap those that fail, but after that I don't gauge the loaded rounds.

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I think this post best answers the original question.
I only shoot 3k or so rounds a year and mostly gauge every round after loading. I find it more convenient than using a barrel and it takes very little time to check as I fill the ammo boxes. IMO there are plusses and minuses to gauges depending upon what you load and shoot. My experiences below.
- Had a friend that gave me some cases shot through Kimber micro 9. The extractor put a very small burr on the rim. After resizing, the cases would plunk in the barrel, but stop spinning when the burr hit the barrel hood of a Ronin 9mm. The LE Wilson gauge caught these cases. Quick push through the Mak FCD fixed it. If it passes the gauge it will feed in all my 9mm's.
- For 45 ACP, .453 cast won't pass the gauge when loaded into thicker brass (I have a lot of GBW). I check a few with the barrel. When loaded into S&B cases (have a lot of those too), they pass. If I resize to .452, they all pass.
- For 40 S&W, .400 bullets were plunking on the ogive (LE Wilson gauge). The hole in the bottom was too small. A little 600 grit on the lathe solved the problem.
- Have a Dillon 9mm gauge that will pass cases the wont plunk in my 3r gen S&W (has a pretty generous chamber). Nice paper weight.