Problems with Sinclair Runout Gauge

[Coolhand]

I took a 3/4" piece of wood about 6" long and ran it several times through a small planer to try and get it squared up as much as feasibly possible. Then I took a piece of bike inner tube, cut it to size and glued it to the stick. Now I just drag it across the case with pretty even pressure. Works good for me.

nmkid . I did the same but with piece of 8mm SS round bar stock , I then cut a length of silicone tube that had 8mm ID and with a bit of o-ring silicone grease squeezed the tube onto the round bar, the silicone tube grips the case really well and you can run it back and forth quite quickly and still be in control.

regards
Mike

 

[nmkid]

nmkid . I did the same but with piece of 8mm SS round bar stock , I then cut a length of silicone tube that had 8mm ID and with a bit of o-ring silicone grease squeezed the tube onto the round bar, the silicone tube grips the case really well and you can run it back and forth quite quickly and still be in control.

regards
Mike

That will work!!

 

[Martin52]

That's interesting, Tim. I had thought that the Wilson bushing die (with no expander) would have introduced next-to-no runout in the case.

Let us know how they look. My neck bushing die introduce about 6/7-10,000
I'm thinking about investing in custom full length non bushing die in hopes of eliminating some of the runout from the bushing

My experience also. Standard press mounted NS bushing dies generally introduced `0.004 R/O, I put this down to lack of case body support in the die then moved to Wilson straight line dies, R/O immediately reduced to ~ 0.001 using the same bushings. I also use a Whidden custom FLS bushing die, R/O also ~ 0.001. Now experimenting with neck expanders for improved NT consistency.

 

[BoydAllen]

I know that this will be blown off by many but in those situations where it can be done, using a collet die first for the neck and pulling the bushing from your bushing FL die to turn it into a body die. If you pull the bushing from a FL die and body size a fired case, with a normal amount of shoulder bump, measuring end of neck runout before and after you will probably find that this part of the sizing does little damage to concentricity. The collet die holds the case in better alignment before neck sizing starts than most other dies. The neck is centered on the mandrel and the decapping pin is in the flash hole before sizing of the neck begins.

On the subject of custom one piece (non bushing) FL dies, a friend had one made for a rifle that he turns necks for and it gives him .001 difference in neck tension depending on whether the expander is used, and with the expander doing that little work, and the excellent shape and finish of the Hornady expanders using it does not pose a problem.

 

[Cryhavoc]

Like some others who replied, I used a walnut knife handle blank that I had laying around and installed some insulation tape on it. I then roll the cartridge at a slight angle and that keeps the case head against the stop. I found that the readings are less erratic than using your fingers or even the wheel such as on my 21st Century gauge. I actually used the knife handle method when I had my Sinclair gauge and it worked surprisingly well. I've read where some folks just use a fat rubber band wrapped length wise on a tongue depressor or ice cream stick. Here are a couple of pictures for reference (less the dial indicator)