doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 2 5/8 10 Gauge and Gauge Mates

I am considering purchasing a set of Gauge Mates for an old short chambered 10 Ga. American Arms rotating breech hammergun.

But before I do I want advice on how well they work, and if I should spring for the Gold Series ?

Maybe there is a better alternative that I don't know of ?

I also have the silver Gage Mates but have never used them. Mine are from 10 ga. to 12 ga. From what I have heard, the shells split in the silver ones, but not in the Gold.

Hopefully someone will come along that has used both.

12 ga. empties are the easiest to get. Why worry about a two cent empty? I have thousands of them and do not feel the least bit richer.

Ask about silver vs. gold for ease of use. I worry more about how much easier the spent hulls come out of the Silver Gage Mates with the split than the Gold.

I have both silver and gold. In 10 to 12 gauge the gold are a waste of money.

As for spliting cases? Only if the 10 gauge chamber is very large in diameter!

Normally a 12 gauge case will suffer a line bulge due to the split in the Gauge Mate. I load and shoot AA hulls 6 or more times in 10-12 Gauge Mates. The will eventually split where teh line bulge passes through the crimp.

The Silvers need a third of the rim of the Gauge Mate sanded/filed off so that one can easily remove fired cases from the Gauge Mate.

I concur with the previous posters.

I successfully use the silver Gauge Mates to shoot 12 gauge reloads in my Baker 10 ga. Damascus SxS. The resulting "ridge" is minor, and doesn't affect reloading. Or, you can just discard the hull.

I used a Dremel for grind away a 3/8" half circle from the Gauge Mate rim, which facilitates case removal and reloading.

JERRY

If you make the relief cut in the Silver Gauge Mate rim, you can remove the fired 12 gauge hull with your fingernail. If you relieve the width of your ten gauge extractor, you won't need your fingernail and the gun's extractor will remove the 12 gauge hull.

Thank you all for the advice, now I just need to call Gauge Mates and ask about the length or ask them if they can be shortened.

Shorten them yourself! I use a belt sander.

If your chambers are not square ended with no forcing cone, you probably will not have to shorten the inserts. Don't trust those people to make the inserts right. If you need to fit the inserts to square ended chambers, do it yourself.

Thanks for the advice - my old 10 Ga. gun has very abrupt chambers !