doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 16 to 20 gaugemates

Anybody else tried these. I just got mine. Pretty slick. They make the gun a little stiffer to operate,(feels like a Merkel) but pattern and extract just fine. I suspect they'll be pretty handy. Not a bad price at 169.00

Dick, I've been thinking about getting a pair myself for target shooting. Do the shells extract easily, so that you could use them on the skeet range without holding everybody up?

I've got the 10-12 golds and they are slick. Operate well in the extractor function. Easily run through a skeet or trap round without loosing your place or holding up. Only downside (maybe only in the 10-12) is the shell splits and is unreloadable. But who cares with Wally World right down the road. Randy

Dick:
I too am interested in purchasing the 16-20 versions. You said that they pattern great. If the 16 is choked full, do the 20 gauge shells also pattern tight?

they won't change the pattern- will still be the same. I use Remingtons STS shells and they don't split open. There's a line down the shell, but still reloadable. Mine are the 10-12ga golds. The "silvers" are much cheaper- about $40 a pair. Someone here once posted how you could grind most the lip off [ to get your fingernail under the shell for removal ] making them to work like the "golds". Paul

I just bought the 16 to 28 Gold and I'm very pleased. They pattern just fine. With AA shells one will stick now and then but I use another shell to hook the lip and pull it out. Clean up is a little messy because the grease used to lubricate the insert gets all black with soot but it's worth the trouble. The 16 ga shells I buy are the inexspensive Remington black hull and they are too strong. I worry they will crack my LC Smith behind the lock plate like so many I have seen.
The 16 to 20 was not so satisfactory. AA hulls are wrecked.

Anyone try the german ones (walther or another co--can't remember name)? They are not split, and need to come out like the gaugemate silvers, but for the price of GM golds you could have 2 sets to not hold up the skeet range, and not split your hulls to boot. I'm interested, so am wondering about any feedback. I saw these on a thread on the 16ga forum, but that's the only polace I've ever seen a reference to them.

Edit: here's a link: http://www.drillinghotline.com/accessories.shtml

Mark, they are no different operationally from shooting the gun as a 16, the only difference is that the gun opens and closes like a Merkel.(somewhat tight) since the adapters have to slide in and out slightly to lift the fired shell.

The shells I fired in my gun would be reloadable. I suspect that a tighter chamber leaves a smaller slow and, hence less, of a mark. On the other hand, a larger chamber would probably not be quite as tight. I tried them in a Belgian hammer gun and a G Lefever. Lefevers are normally a little resistant in the cocking direction but the gun was quite like my Merkel in operation.

Concerning the non split units, it looks like there would be a lot of pressure on a very thin tube. The Gaugemates are only about .026 thick.

I have these. They are marked on the back as made by Gauge-Mate. They are split. Which does not bother me because I do not reload 20ga. They work just fine.

Pete

Have used the 10-12 gaugemate golds with a Darne 10 ga and a Lefever 10 gauge. They work well. Key, as I've discovered the hard way, is to use the lube VERY sparingly. Otherwise the gaugemate extracts with the hull. Quite a nuisance with the Darne when I managed to drop the gaugemates in the sand on extraction!

Best of the Season