Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Runout/Concentricity Gauge Recommendation

I have the early Sinclair with the regular V-blocks, the current Sinclair with the bumps on the V-blocks, and a Casemaster. I use the Casemaster mostly.


Casey

I have the Casemaster and like the multiple functions it performs. I haven't used any other gauges though, so I don't have anything to compare against.

One word of caution when measuring case neck thickness with the Casemaster: The case neck pin sleeve on my unit didn't have perfectly square ends. What I mean is when I put the dial indicator on the sleeve and rotated it around (without measuring a piece of brass) it showed a .001 variation in itself. That is an issue when you are sorting case necks to .0015 variation or less. Also when measuring neck thickness, since the case head is not supported, if you are not careful the case will waggle(scientific term) around and cause inaccuracies in your readings. I ended up getting a mandrel and appropriate sized pilot from the Redding case neck gauge. It fits in the probe retainer of the Casemaster. The mandrel supports the case head better and I feel you get more accurate neck thickness readings that way.

Just my experience and 2 cents. I had no issues measuring bullet or neck concentricity with the Casemaster. It works well for me.

Mule Deer: Thank you; that's pretty much in line with what I was thinking.

Yep, it's just you, unlike the rest of the people on this thread who are discussing which concentricity guage is best and why.

And what do you do if you measure undue runout? You'll probably buy a better seating die.
I buy propper tools in the first place instead of wasting money on gadgets

Sounds very familiar. Sock puppet?

There are other sources of runout besides seating dies.

Nah, it's true mathman. You can use brass that's crooked as a banana with neck thickness variations but a "proper" seating die will fix all that.

Yep, that's the one I use but it's an old bastid. That article that was put out by Rifle magazine is very interesting and was informative for me. One of the reasons I bought the little wiggler when I found it in a local shop. Works excellent for my needs, but it may not be the best tool for someone else. This is the only reason I did not suggest it as the best and why. I say use what works for you, they all pretty much tell you the same thing, but you'd be very hard pressed finding a Brown Precision now days. I have no idea what Smoke pole is smoking either. Must be some good chit though...

It took a while for my memory to work.

I use the Hornady and have been very happy with it. It has revealed how much difference dies can make. Lee collet neck sizing dies typically result in .002 or less in runout vs .006 or so using RCBS. Group sizes and consistency have both improved.