Creighton Audette case inspection guage!

[M14AMU]

Many years ago Creighton Audette and I talked frequently over the telephone and on several occasions while I was shooting at Camp Perry, Ohio! Creighton was an engineer and knew external and internal ballistics inside and out. He was a shooting member of the USA Palma Team many years and not only a great marksman but one with a highly inquisitive mind concerning the things related to extreme rifle accuracy. German Salazar mentions Mr Audette in some of his articles; in particular those in which he addresses the issues of the importance of NOT having consistent cartridge brass. I purchased the below tool/guage from Creighton many years ago and used it extensively during the years I competed in NRA Highpower comp as well as I do currently in an attempt to wring the most in accuracy from my rifles. IMO it is a precision instrument and once learned how to be used a valuable tool for possibly eliminating certain shots that arise upon the target face at times. A particular version of this tool is still being made and for those interested I recommend consulting German Salazar's article reference this issue at this Link: http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/07/reloading-audette-neco-case-checker.html


Creighton Audette ingenious tool for finding thin side of cartridge brass. by Sharps45 2 7/8, on Flickr


IMG_1948 by Sharps45 2 7/8, on Flickr

 

[wapiti25]

Very nice. Mr Audette was a leader in better accuracy. Good for the sport.

 

[BoydAllen]

Small request: I would like to see a couple of shots that show the runout portion of the gauge, without a case in place, to see the part that rests against the inside of the case and whether the stop has a caliber specific extension that the neck slides over. Years back, before Precision Shooting was printed in color, the editor ran an article that Audette wrote that described his shooting tests relating to the effects of uneven brass thickness, in detail. I think that anyone who is really interested in rifle accuracy needs to read it.

 

[BoydAllen]

Thanks!

 

[jonbearman]

Great read and now I know I will have to kick myself in the behind for selling one for a friend on this site.If I had known what a great tool this was,I would have bought it for myself.

 

[M14AMU]

Great read and now I know I will have to kick myself in the behind for selling one for a friend on this site.If I had known what a great tool this was,I would have bought it for myself.

I proved to myself a long time ago....that Creighton's test is valid and that those oft times unexplained shots at 3 and 9 o/clock....were not me!! It's the 'little things' that sometimes make for huge change!! ;D

 

[Steve Blair]

Neco sells a tool that is a variant of Audette's and measures wall thickness. I recently measured a lot of 500 Norma .270 WSM cases (100% ) and found none more than .002" TIR. Lapua lots vary a little more and Winchester and Remington can vary considerably. One lot of Winchester 6mm Rem brass had cases up to .008" and only ~50% met the .002" requirement. [br]
http://www.neconos.com/details.htm

 

[jsthntn247]

I shot my first competition over the weekend. I had 3-4 fliers per round that I can't explain, hold felt good, right wind....etc. I was just explaining to my co-worker over lunch today, who also shoots, that for some reasons my shots would be directly to the right or high and left. Kinda weird that I read this and it mentions the 3 and 9 o'clock positions which is exactly what I was seeing. He said he's had conversations with other shooters about this and they say " that's just a .308 for you, if you can ever figure it out, you will be a rich man". I might get one of these gauges and try it out, if it works, i'll let him know in a few years ;D

 

[KevinThomas]

A lot of this stuff, including some very similar photos was published years ago in an NRA series about HighPower competition. The articles dealing with the concentricity gage and his ladder test methodology were by Creighton himself. Among the other authors that contributed to the series were Mid Tompkins, Martin (Jim) Hull, Carl Bernosky and Gary Anderson. Great books and filled with an absolute gold mine of information across the board. Unfortunately long out of print, but I would hope the NRA might be persuaded to run them once again. They are truly a treasure!

 

[M14AMU]

A lot of this stuff, including some very similar photos was published years ago in an NRA series about HighPower competition. The articles dealing with the concentricity gage and his ladder test methodology were by Creighton himself. Among the other authors that contributed to the series were Mid Tompkins, Martin (Jim) Hull, Carl Bernosky and Gary Anderson. Great books and filled with an absolute gold mine of information across the board. Unfortunately long out of print, but I would hope the NRA might be persuaded to run them once again. They are truly a treasure!

Kevin

I was shooting Service Rifle with the Army MTU at the time and was instructing in the SAFS the year that Creighton gave a clinic on this and other points of interest pertaining to marksmanship! This was the year that I first met Creighton. I have all the books within that edition.

 

[KevinThomas]

It was a great series, three books in total, but with some of the most concentrated collection of expertise relating to HighPower competition and handloading I'd ever seen, before or since. Really wish the NRA would consider offering these again. Some of the material is a bit dated, but much of it as absolutely timeless.

Wish we still did that at Perry. Lots of folks would benefit greatly from this, and it might help to attract some numbers back to the matches. Pitiful how far down attendance has dropped from back when these books were compiled.

 

[243Mendoza]

I can't see any photos posted by Mr. Mulhern. Is there a problem with Flickr or with my Firefox browser?

 

[savageshooter86]

no pictures showing up for me either. Must have deleted them on the photo account or that account is having issues right now :-\