Po' Man's Chamber Gauge

[Wild Skies]

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.

[Wild Skies]

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.

[Researcher]

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

[JJ Roberts]

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

[Wild Skies]

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.

[Double Lab]

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."

[Wild Skies]

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!