Wilson case gage?

[swampy308]

Have I over sized my brass or is this normal?
Most of my brass drops all the way through the gage.
Mixed head stamp 45acp and 9mm range brass, never had this happen with rifle brass.

[GJSchulze]

I have the Wilson 9mm case gauge. There is no way a round falls all the through. First you ask if you have over sized your brass. Do you mean that you sized them too much, resulting in a smaller diameter?

The case mouth should stop at the inside shoulder of the gauge. Unless you are using the wrong die, I don't see how this could happen and if it did, how would you seat the bullet? Are you using a Lee Factory Crimp die?

Measure the finished round at the case mouth. A 9mm should be around 0.376 or thereabouts. You can also try inserting the round in the other end of the gauge. It should stop right at the case mouth.

[swampy308]

They are not loaded rounds just resized, being range pick ups, I thought I would check for any bulges, definitely no bulging going on here.

[nemesiss45]

well, the case rim should be about .03" wider than the mouth on the 9mm.... and no die should be reforming the rim.... so how could a case be sized down enough to fall all the way through the gauge?


check your reloading manual and check the brass dimensions with calipers to see if it is out of spec

[Metal god]

I have to join this thread just to see the outcome . Not being snarky here but the OP made me lol . There has to be a wrong component in there somewhere .

[hounddogman]

You sure you are putting the correct caliber brass in the case gauge? the rime would stop it from falling all the way through

[Hummer70]

I have a carbide 357 Mag FL die I got back in 60s and it sizes cases way down so when new round is seated the bullet w/ grease grooves shows on outside of case ! ! ! ! There is sure no problem about getting them in any revolver haha.

[higgite]

Wilson makes 2 types of pistol gages. You don’t say which you’re using.

If you’re using Wilson “case length” gages, yes, 45 Auto will fall through. 9mm will fall most of the way, but not all the way through. But, no matter because that isn’t the proper way to use those gages anyway.

If you’re using Wilson “pistol max gages”, then, no, the cases should not fall through or even come close to it.

[Metal god]

Just got off the phone with L.E. Wilson . higgite is correct , there are two different gages

The pistol max gage that has the step in the gage to stop the case on the case mouth http://www.lewilson.com/pistolmaxgage.html

And

The case length gage http://www.lewilson.com/caselengthgage.html

which does not have that step . I was told that if not used properly the case will fall all the way through the gage . To use this type of gage for the 45acp you must place it on a flat surface . That surface is the stop and the gage only measures min & max case length .

I guess it wasn't as funny as I thought , you learn something new every day .

[swampy308]

Well I guess I got the wrong gages, didn't know they made them different for pistol, wondered why they didn't have a step on both ends.
Learn something new every day lol.

[Doyle]

Each case gauge is made for a specific cartridge and should have the size stamped on the end or side. Which one did you buy?

[F. Guffey]

L.E. Wilson has been making the case gages for 60+ years, with the gage Wilson furnished instructions. From the beginning Wilson suggested using a straight edge and then they identified a pocket rule as being a straight edge 60+ years ago. For almost as many years I have recommending a lay out table or set up table or a flat surface. I have instructed rookies to add a feeler gage.

And now it seems Wilson is starting over by recommending the use of a flat surface. And then I wonder how a reloader uses the case length gage when determining if it is necessary to trim the case.

F. Guffey

[swampy308]

Doyle I have one each for 45acp and 9mm luger.

[RC20]

I will add in that my 9mm gauge leaves the loaded 9mm up above the rim

Hmm, out comes the barrel, well that's ok.

I had one that stuck out higher, out comes the barrel, nope, that one is not good.

Ok, if its up just a bit, ok, too high, no good.

My take is cut to spec tolerance on the gauge as it should be and the barrel is more generous to allow variation (as it should be

It a guide not a definitive. Tools are funny things, you have to learn how to use them and what is stated a lot of times has some variation to it that is not quite what they say.

I had a motor break system that had a definitive spec to set it to. I did and it would not work, hmmm.

After doing it 4 times it was, ok, its time to be Edison and experiment, I am doing this exactly right but its not working.

It wound up that it had to be looser than they said to work right and while not huge, it was significantly measurable with the scaling involved.

such is the world,

[Metal god]

Right before I called LE Wilson I emailed them the same question . They sent me this video back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmCs37AsaQ