Po' Man's Chamber Gauge

[Greg Baehman]

Here's a Po' Man's Chamber Gauge that will cost you virtually nothing to make that functions just as well as those fancy schmancy one's that cost $35 and more. I was inspired to make mine from a post made awhile back on the AHFCA site. To make your own 12-ga. Po' Man's Chamber Gauge simply start off with an empty 12 and a 20-ga. hull, glue them together, cut off the larger gauge just ahead of the brass, then with a Sharpie draw lines to indicate chamber lengths.

Here's a pic of both 12 and 20-ga. Po' Man's Chamber Gauges, followed by pics of some Parkers with chambers measured by a Po' Man's Chamber Gauge at 2 5/8".

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Greg,
I tried that a while back but not all chambers are cut to the same dimensions. I have found that the outside diameter of a hull is not a good indicator of the chamber diameter, and that sometimes the hull will not meet any resistance until it is slightly into the forcing cone. This is especially true of some German and other European guns. With Parker's from the same era the chamber dimensions are rather consistent, but guns from the 1880's and 90's seem to have wider chambers then guns from the 1920's and 30's. At least that has been my experience.

[Greg Baehman]

Darn it, here I thought I was finally able to contribute something of value. Oh well, at least we're not out a bunch of money.

[Dave Noreen]

The machinist scale method probably beats any style of gizmo or gauge.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Greg,
Every contribution has value. I hope I did not sound critical.
Austin

[James J. Roberts]

Greg,Brownell's sell a nice set of chamber gauge's.J.J.

[Greg Baehman]

Thank you Gents.

Only my Parker Bros. and A.H. Fox guns do not have their chamber lengths stamped somewhere on the gun. I have a bunch of other doubles that are stamped with their chamber length. I checked these other doubles with my Po' Man's Chamber Gauge and by golly, the PMCG reads just what these guns are stamped. I feel that the PMCG is accurate enough to determine if a chamber has been punched out from 2 1/2" to 2 3/4" or 3". For my purposes, that's good enough for me.

[Daryl Corona]

Great idea Greg. I agree with Dave as I have been using a machinist's scale for years and have found it to be easy and accurate for my purposes. They both do the same job so if it works for you that's all that counts. You might want to copyright PMCG. :)

[Bill Jolliff]

Wild Skies/Greg,

I have made a very similar Economy Grade Chamber Gauge and it's handy, economical (as in - cheap), easy to make and works fine.

And as you say: "For my purposes, that's good enough for me."

[Greg Baehman]

Bill, it was your thread entitled "Economy Grade Chamber Gauge" that you had started on the Fox Collectors forum that led me to making the PMCG -- kudos to you! :bowdown:

[Bill Jolliff]

Greg,

I really like that extra feature you added. Makes it even easier to use.

Bill

[Bob Brown]

And if you're really, really, really poorer than dirt you can just push a plastic wad backwards into an empty 3" hull until it is flush to the opening. The slight flare in the back of the wad spreads the mouth of the hull out a bit and it is good enough for a rough measurement.

[charlie cleveland]

i just drop a nichol down thebreech end and take atape measure and stick it down the breech end till it touches the nichol and this gives me the chamber lentgh ...the nichol trick only works on 8 gauges...i do like the taped together method...the first chamber ga i ever used was a trick that bill murphy posted take a index card and cut it down to where it just will pass into the chamber lightly push it down till it stops mark the card and measure....charlie