Wow. A very good original post sullied by school yard bickering.
Yes, things were going well until a couple unruly guys decided it was their civic duty to personally attack Ed again. This crap wouldn't fly on the great Upland Journal forum. What this place really needs is more Moderation!
But I seriously wish I had the money I spent on gun show admissions and travel costs over the years. And you know what? After attending literally hundreds of gun shows, large and small, I have yet to see anyone actually using barrel wall thickness tools, or ringing barrels, or pouring oil on the ribs of a fine gun to check the integrity of the solder joints. I did see some pics here of some self-styled expert in a funny hat measuring barrels, but what good is it to preach about the deadly importance of measuring barrels, and then knowingly continuing to shoot a gun with thin pitted tubes? That's about as crazy as the Biden administration giving the 2023 Woman of Courage Award to a biological male. But it's true.
And for many years, I concentrated mainly upon side by side doubles, and all but ignored other stuff. Maybe I need to get out more, but I think Ed's comments about the reality of gun shows and gun show vendors is closer to truth and reality than some of the funny stuff I read here. The vast majority of sellers would not consent to me or any tire kicker with little white cotton gloves removing the barrels from an expensive double, and hanging them from a piece of cord, to rap on them with the scales of a Barlow knife or some other blunt instruments, just to hear them ring like expensive wind chimes. They sure as hell wouldn't let me pour oil or some other unknown fluid into the ribs. I could imagine their mocking laughter as they told me to take a hike.
Never once have I witnessed any vendor permitting anyone to rub the transducer of a several thousand dollar portable ultrasonic wall thickness gauge all over their barrels either. By the way, most Ultrasonic testers are not suitable for small radius tubes such as 12 gauge and smaller, and the transducer is rubbed over the surface with a contact fluid to get accurate readings. They aren't going to give accurate readings at all with Damascus either. All those welds and inconsistent layers of iron and steel will just raise havoc with the reflectIon of the sound waves. I believe that a skilled and reputable gunsmith like Dewey Vicknair owns and has the knowledge to properly use such a tool. But I'm quite dubious that even our more anal gun buyers here are likely to commit to that sort of investment, unless they have an insatiable need to appear impressive.
I certainly remember the rolled--up index card method of measuring chamber length. I myself like our late friend Miller's method of using a simple 6" machinists scale, so won't be wasting time on my lathe to turn brass or wooden gauges that may not give near as accurate a reading, since chamber reamers are not identical. But all that info has been repeated here as often as Mobil 1 for hinge pin lube.
