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Sinclair Chamber Length Gage

TommyD11730

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
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Apr 11, 2020
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Has anyone used the Sinclair Chamber Length Gage? I'm curious to my rifles chamber length and wonder if I should be allowing the brass length to grow (overall) longer then SAMI spec. Not the shoulder headspace mind you but the brass overall lenght.
Also wondering if their are other tools aside from the Sinclair to do this.
Thanks!
 
I think we have one but never messed with it.

The “safe” bet is to trim each time to a set length under the maximum. But if you don’t have an electric trimmer that can get tedious.
 
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I have used one, IMO it is a tool best suited for when you suspect there is an issue with a chamber being out of spec.
The advice directly above is going to cover 99.9% of actual need.
 
I think we have one but never messed with it.

The “safe” bet is to trim each time to a set length under the maximum. But if you don’t have an electric trimmer that can get tedious.
I have been trimming back to the length it came out of the box (Lapua) after each firing. I think it's important that each case is the same length, but what do I know. :) Again to be clear that's the overall brass case length, not the completed cartridge length. The shoulders I pretty much let grow till the bolt is difficult to close and take a tho or two off.
 
I have used one, IMO it is a tool best suited for when you suspect there is an issue with a chamber being out of spec.
The advice directly above is going to cover 99.9% of actual need.
My thought was to measure the chamber length. Once I know the length I can allow the brass to grow to say that length minus 10 tho.
Maybe I'm overthinking things??
 
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My thought was to measure the chamber length. Once I know the length I can allow the brass to grow to say that length minus 10 tho.
Maybe I'm overthinking things??
You aren't, is a matter of actual need to do it though as pointed out.
 
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Size the cases each firing as well.

Waiting for hard bolt is old school way and no one at the top of the pack is doing that anymore.

Let the shoulders grow the first firing or two if they haven’t grown enough. But after that, bump .001-.003 back each time (depending on what the proper setback is for that chamber).
 
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If you trim .010 under spec, every firing the avg spacing is not the same as trim .010 under and wait for it to max.

Carbon ring is what I understand would be the problem if you had tons of space...

But in practice i dont see this being reported by all these guys who do tons of high volume.
 
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