doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Measuring barrel wall thickness

There is a ball bearing that is in the shaft opposite the spring loaded arm. Zero is set each time and then rechecked.

The barrel whether I am measuring the muzzle end or breech end, fit into a tapered cone to center the barrel.
I mainly do L.C. Smiths and had to make the cone longer for measuring the breech end so that the extension rib did not hit the cone when rotating barrel to get readings.

Pooch was wrong about measuring the outside of barrels to determine wall thickness, and he is wrong again when he says the Manson gauge is a joke. It is not a joke if you know how to use it. The vertical method has quickly become obsolete, even when used with the Gaddy modification. There is a step by step explanation of how to use the Manson in the most convenient and accurate method on the PGCA forum in a thread titled "Barrel wall thickness" page 5. The thread is in "General Parker Discussions".

eightbore do you know how to find the distance between two circles?

Pooch,

The question is: do you know how to measure the distance between two ellipses? Exactly.

That's the problem.

You need a real wall gauge. The concentricity and out of round issues are too great to ignore.

Pooch, good luck--but I think you're fighting a losing battle at Cabela's. I do think most of the Gun Libraries now have bore gauges, and at least some of the guys who work there know how to use them. But that has not always been the case. I know they measure wall thickness at Sidney, and I think at Scarborough with Jack Dudley, but not in many other stores.

That's a good laugh

Pooch replied to my offer of instruction on the Manson gauge by posting a sarcastic comment. I will repeat my earlier statement, "Pooch is no machinist." The post I referred to on the PGCA forum is a clearly written block of instruction on use of the Manson gauge. If Pooch decides not to take advantage, he has met my expectations.

You know what Joe, you might be right, but the gauge is better than nothing at giving an estimate of the depth of a pit. You could, however, be a little more diplomatic in your response to a statement you disagree with. I think patronizing and downright sarcasm is a most unbecoming trait, at least so in a learned individual. But, at any rate, thank you for the correction.

buzz, to give you an answer better than jOes, there is no way to measure the depth of pits using any type of dial gage. I do have different tips to use on a non-digital gage, one has a needle point, but if the pit was a few thousanths deep, it would get caught in there and mess up the rest of the readings.

Thanks David. Your response make sense. However, and for what it's worth, Kirby Hoyt who sells the Hosford gauge, describes it in his advertisement as being able to measure the depth of 'some pits'.