doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Wall Thickness Gauge

For a decade or more there is from time to time discussion about shotgun barrel wall thickness gauges. Some of you may want to build one and they are quite easy to build if you have a metal lathe or access to one. More than 20 years ago I built one that has served me well and our colleague Dustin has agreed to post 4 photos of it to this discussion thread.

Such a gauge on the style I built can be made for maybe $50.00 (instead of the $650.00 Galazan price) and it requires very little lathe work which can even been done with a 7x12 inch Asian lathe as the upright posts are made from precision ground drill rod (which requires no lathe work). The only lathe work is the drilling/threading of the post bottom holes and the turning of the top of the upright posts for the brass tops, the brass top pieces which are set in place with a tight fit and secured with thread locker fluid upon the upright post and the turning of the brass spring loaded plungers. The brake rotor base is free from an auto shop junk heap. The spring plunger design used is an alternative to the traditional lever spring tension used by most builders. A hole opposite the plunger is threaded and a threaded brass plug is inserted with the steel spring for the plunger; and after checking that the plunger works properly and moves fully into the plunger hole, the brass plug excess is cut and filed/polished smooth to the same diameter as the upright plug--secured with thread locker or super glue. If you ever need to remove the brass plug you drill two small holes for a spanner such as you use to remove striker discs then heat the upright post to 350 degrees in the oven and back the threaded plug out.

You will notice that a 5-hole brake rotor is used as the holes are ideally spaced for the upright posts. Cover the bottom of the brake rotor by gluing on leather or heavy felt.

The larger upright is for 16/12 gauge and the smaller upright for 28/20 gauge.



Kindest Regards;
Stephen Howell

Thanks, Stephen. Anxious to see them.

For Bushveld:

I really like the recycled rotor

I wanted to make one from an old rotar at TSJC, you would not believe the amount of crap one if the instructors gave me over the idea. Not professional he said. I like the gage Stephen made, good stuff!

The photos barely do it justice; I saw it last Friday and it is a really nice piece of kit.

A very resourceful and nice build. Having used old brake rotors as a base for a couple other projects, including a 500 watt quartz work light around 5 ft. tall, I'd say this unit would be more than stable enough to not tip over if you let go of a set of barrels on the upright post.

It is a magnitude more stable than the wall thickness gauges available in the market place because of it great width as you will see in the photos below the average wall thickness gauge base is in fact too narrow and the user needs to hold the gauge base stable while using it. Of course you can have a narrow base if you increase the thickness of the steel (or cast iron) to a more heavy one.

https://www.hallowellco.com/barrel_wall_thickness_guage.htm

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing with us. Gil

For Bushveld:

The wall thickness gauge in use: