Case gauging

[MA5177]

How many of you case guage every round? I loaded up 500 .45's last week and 300 .40 this morning. I decided to case guage all the 40 and was surprised that I found some defects and one that had no primer. I was able to fix a couple of them and threw one in the scrap box to be pulled later.

I went on to guage all of the 45 and found a few bad ones there also, one missing a primer and 2 that wouldn't chamber all the way.

Anyway, I think I will be doing this for now on, I hear other people on here say
"Throw the case guage away". I just don't get it, I think the case guage is the most valuable tool on my bench ( besides the scale).

BTW I am fairly new at reloading but used to do it like 30 years ago, although some things have not changed many have for the better. The best thing is the digital scales... Wow what a time saver.

[J-cat]

If you load every round on a single stage press like God intended, then you don't need a case gauge.

If you engage in devil worship in the form of progressive reloading, then a case gauge may save you from eternal damnation.

[rsrocket1]

I use the barrel of my guns as a case gauge and plunk test each round as it goes from the bin into the box. It takes an additional 1-2 seconds per round and it ensures that each round will chamber at the range. I also hold the box tray full of rounds at eye level to check for high primers before the tray goes into the box. That ensures no high primer misfires at the range. The extra time saves frustration at the range.

[MA5177]

If you load every round on a single stage press like God intended, then you don't need a case gauge.

If you engage in devil worship in the form of progressive reloading, then a case gauge may save you from eternal damnation.

That aint happinin

[roc_my_tims]

I dont but it wouldnt hurt. No primers wow that would show right away for me cause id have powder everywhere. Glad you found it. Nut i guess if you didnt the no primer wouldnt have fired, and the didnt fit wouldnt have chambered so i guess you would have been ok either way.

But ofcourse checking is better.

[Bainter1212]

I was wondering how in the hell you could possibly miss priming rounds, but then you admitted to using a progressive.

It is all suddenly so clear to me.

[liber]

If you load every round on a single stage press like God intended, then you don't need a case gauge.

If you engage in devil worship in the form of progressive reloading, then a case gauge may save you from eternal damnation.

I don't believe that at all, in fact I would guess that doing it in a single stage with a manual process would lead to as much or more variant than a progressive reloader. If anything we've learned that humans make more error than machines.

This is also not to mention that America was founded on religious freedom and as such many people subscribe to a different GOD. This is to say that there are GODs out there that subscribe to a progressive loader as being the intended. Use the right tool for the job I say.

[liber]

I was wondering how in the hell you could possibly miss priming rounds, but then you admitted to using a progressive.

It is all suddenly so clear to me.

So, in other words people that manually load on a single stage have NEVER missed putting a primer in a round, EVER?

I would like to believe that rounds coming from a single stage press are 100% perfect, but I have to believe that people using single stage presses end up tossing rounds out just like people that use a progressive...$#!T happens, as-is said.

The fact is that anyone that reloads, either single stage or progressive should at least take the time to visually inspect the rounds.

[MA5177]

Wow... It's tough to walk around here with all the perfect reloaders that never mess up with their old single stage loaders. I can't believe Dillon is still in business. For me time is limited, I don't have all day to make a few hundred rounds of ammo. I may make some mistakes but I am learning from them, that's why I ask stupid questions here.

[JMP]

If you load every round on a single stage press like God intended, then you don't need a case gauge.

If you engage in devil worship in the form of progressive reloading, then a case gauge may save you from eternal damnation.

I don't believe that at all, in fact I would guess that doing it in a single stage with a manual process would lead to as much or more variant than a progressive reloader. If anything we've learned that humans make more error than machines.

No, J-cat is correct. Progressive presses are much more error prone, especially as they are indexed from a floppy shell plate. Then, they generally throw powder loads based on volume rather than actual weight. This is the reason that accurate rifle shooters load on a single stage presses with good dies. I use my progressive press when I do not need that much precision. In particular, straight-walled cases like pistol are less sensitive so it is much more time efficient to load them on a progressive.

[milotrain]

You will eventually get to a point where you only use a case gauge, or if it is a necked case some sort of micrometer gauge rarely. In the beginning though it is very important.

There are certain levels of precision you can attain with a progressive that is enough for most people and most shooting sports. Proper attention to detail makes a progressive an excellent time saver, but it does require focus to leverage it's time savings.