ENCO pin gauges...Cool!!

[FN in MT]

Read the Mike Venturino article in the last HANDLOADER mag about using pin gauges to measure revolver throats. So spent the seventy bucks on the gauges. Two days later a HEAVY box arrives via the brown truck. The gauges originally started out in China. hence the reasonable price.

The gauges from .251" to .500" are individually wrapped in thin Chinese rice paper soaked in some UNKNOWN oil or grease of some sort. Whatever it is it did make me itch !?!? I miked and measured with my dial calipers and the several I checked seemed to be nuts ON.

Anyway there were a few "Ah HAA" !! moments. An older S&W 25-2 .45 acp/.45 AR revolver which has NEVER really shot well, had four throats that were .455" and two at .456". Ah HAA!!! No wonder my .4515 185 gr FMJ tgt loads never shot very well! But it DID shoot 250 gr .455" .45 Colt slugs pretty well in the Auto Rim loads. Need to slug it's barrel and see where that's at.

My three S&W .45 Colts one a 5" 25-7 , another a 4" 625-3 and the other a PC 625 Light Weight Hunter in 6".......ALL shoot very well. All three measured a very consistent 451".

My Freedom Arms M-83 6" is the Champion in the accuracy Dept. It's five holes all measured .452". Same for the six holes on my USFA SAA .452".

An interesting hour down in the loading room. Now I know what size STAR dies I need to order for the .45's.

The JOYS of being borderline OCD and Anal Compulsive.

FN in MT

[crabo]

What's the part number?

[MtGun44]

I think if you will check, I and numerous others have recommended this
source and these pins for many months here. If you use the search
function, I think I posted a link to the pins a while back.

I'm not sure the Mike didn't get the info from this site. He reads this
stuff sometimes, so maybe he'll weigh in on this.

Bill

[nicholst55]

I had a similar experience when I gaged the throats on my M25-5 S&W; four went .456' and two went .457"! No wonder it 'shotguns' .452" cast boolits! It shoots .454" boolits a bit better, but not enough to write home about.

If only it would chamber .458" boolits, I'd be in business!

[crabo]

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...AKA=SA616-8131

On sale also

[xr650]

You can use pin gages when you open up a size die also.

[Tom Herman]

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of those that don't know about it. I read the article and leapt to the computer and immediately bought a set of gauges.
They have already paid for themselves. The Rugers are *****'ed with inconsistent throats running .451-.452, while my older .45 LC's run up to .455".
The Webley Mark VI throats run about .449", which doesn't help much when I run the .455" rounds through it.
My S & W model 624 throats at .432" but is consistent.
I wonder what kind of a rush Enco had on the gauges. I can only imagine they got swamped with orders.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[fourarmed]

Just goes to show that we are getting a lot of new members here, and there is so much stuff discussed that important threads disappear quickly in the mists of time. I hesitate to suggest another sticky, since there are getting to be enough of them that they get overlooked, too. The pin gauges are definitely one of the most important, IMO. Another use where they are much better than a caliper: measuring expanded and sized case mouths.

[FN in MT]

MtGun44,

To give credit where credit is due....Thank You.

FN in MT

[MtGun44]

Very welcome, but I got it from Brian Pearce and from some other
folks here. I was just providing the Enco link for our folks.
I like Venturino's stuff and he gets the info out to a whole bunch
more folks than we do, so it is great to have him 'listening in'. I
have learned a whole lot from his articles over the years, and
even more from this wonderful site.

Bill

[unclebill]

now I want some!

[missionary5155]

It seems to me 6 cast boolits tapped through 6 cylinders can reveal the same info... But then I also understand the NEED for a new tool.

[Mike Venturino]

Sorry, but I didn't discover the Enco pin gauges from this website. Actually I had my set before I discover this website.

I knew such things existed but didn't know where to find them and mentioned that in a Handloader Magazine column. A reader sent me a page from an Enco catalog and the rest "is history."

I'm glad that column helped spread the word.
Mike V.

[leftiye]

Yup, and they's even cheaper on evilbay.

[lathesmith]

I've always enjoyed reading Mr. Venturino's articles, and I have some that I occasionally re-read from 'way back. Being from the "show-me" state, I have always appreciated his practical approach of field-testing ideas rather than just passing stuff on without scrutiny.

As for Pin gauges, I can't say for sure where I was first introduced to them, but I can say for sure that they are indispensable for making sizer dies and other precision measuring. Any serious and even not-so-serious shooter should have a set. They have become so cheap as to be in the category of "no excuse to be without". Like other small investments they will pay dividends far beyond their initial cost.
lathesmith

[yondering]

They have already paid for themselves. The Rugers are *****'ed with inconsistent throats running .451-.452, while my older .45 LC's run up to .455".
The Webley Mark VI throats run about .449", which doesn't help much when I run the .455" rounds through it.

-Tom

Tom, those Rugers aren't "*****'ed" by any means. The tight throats can be opened up to whatever diameter you need; that is a good thing. I bought a 29/64" (.453") reamer from enco to open up the throats on my Rugers. This is about perfect for the .452" bore. I cut the head off a fired 45 Colt case, and used the remaining tube as a sleeve guide on the reamer, and went in from the chamber end. It cut nice and straight with no chatter.
Where are you in the northwest? You are welcome to come use my reamer. Shoot me a PM if you want.

[376Steyr]

I got my set from Grizzly Industrial Supply for about the same price. Here's the link:

http://www.grizzlyindustrial.com/pro...pc-Minus/G9794

Like the posters above, there were all sorts of surprises waiting for me when I started measuring cylinder throats, like the .38 Special with .354 throats, and the .44 Special at .427

[Patrick L]

I posted about 4 weeks ago that I too was inspired by Mike Venturino's recent article to get a set of these ENCO gauges.

I found that my 1955 Target S&W .45 ACP also has throats approaching .456/.457 in diameter. All these years I've been shooting .452 bullets because "that's what size you're supposed to use." With .452 bullets,off a rest at 25 yards it does about like this :



The high flyer is my fault. This is about as well as I can shoot.

With unsized bullets running about .454 (the biggest I had,) it did no better. I stopped worrying about it.

[Cayoot]

I have my new set also. This has proven something that I suspected...my Ruger Blackhawk in .41 mag has 2 tight cylinder throats.

I have noticed that I usually have 2 fliers when I shoot. So I'm wondering about opening these throats up.

I have used a reamer to open the cylinder holes on my .45 Colt Blackhawk, and that worked nicely.

Does anybody know if a similar reamer can be located for the .41 mag?

[TAWILDCATT]

harbor tool is another great place.they have a mini cut off saw $29 to cut long necks.uses a 2" blade