doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com GAUGEMATES: Are they still in business?

A lathe is a requirement of life, then you can make whatever you want.
Mike

Der Ami you are right. A lathe, milling machine, 220 service, knowledge or better yet an old machinist who likes sharing his wealth of knowledge. Doing it yourself is very slow and tedious if you have to teach yourself or learn as you go. Fun but with a lot of scraps, scrapes and frustrations. Do not ask how I know.

I bought a 16/20 lil skeeter set once and it split in half on the first shot. Too thin to be of any use.

Chamber sizes vary greatly. That's why GaugeMates in 10/12, 16/20, etc are pre-split. Depending on how big your chamber is, with the pre-split, the hull might last for only one firing.

Gee, Guys; I didn't want to bring on a Sh*t storm!
I thought the first thing I should do, was open up my gun safe and dig these out to make sure the name was correct.
What I have now, are from Seminole Gunworks, "Sub Gauge Chamber Inserts" Chamber Mates. in 16 Ga.-28 Ga."
They are Silver colored. ("Silvers?")
Anyway, I have had these for over 5 years, (Lying in my gun safe waiting for my 16 to come back from the custom engravers (long story)and something I read on this site said maybe they weren't in business anymore, or were going through a bankruptcy or something.
So, this Christmas Morning, I looked at the Container they came in, and it didn't say 10-12 gauge reducers were EVER available.
These do have the sliding "extractor/ejector" parts so one could shoot, then just pull the fired shells out.
So, I am sorry I called them "GaugeMates" when I should have said "Chamber Mates."

Merry Christmas, and be nice to each other,
Sam Ogle, Lincoln, NE

No 10/12 with built in extractors. Just too thin. I went for steel over aluminum for the strength in 16/20 and the same in 10/12. Skeeters might be OK for light use but not long term heavy use.

I know some people do not like the adapters with the slits in them. The adapters with the slits do cause the hulls to be split but you are often going from an expensive ga. to a much cheaper ga.. 12 and 20 ga. shells are cheap while safe 10 and 16 shells can be hard to find and pricy. I do reload all 10-20 or 16/20 shells used with adapters. If I had a 10 to shoot I would gladly trade a 12 empty which is worth one or two cents each for every shot. I have 30K empties in 12 ga. and less than 300 in 10 Ga.. You can pickup a bucket full of 12's at most skeet ranges free and just for the effort. Same for 20's in most areas but in much lower numbers.

Ky Jon,
I'm pretty sure I know how you know.In addition to that, I got my first full size lathe from a scrapyard, took it all apart, replaced everything that needed replacing, cleaned, repainted,reassembled and readjusted it.I don't think there is a way I could have learned more about how and why a lathe works, than this.By 220 service, I guess you mean volts.My first lathes and milling machime used 120v, but now half my machines are 220 3phase.I had to show my house electrician how convert to 3phase, but now it works like a charm.Anyway, when you make something yourself and mess it up-so what? Make another. The messed up one might be materisl to start another project someday.
Mike

Ky John: You make this old guy think: Yes, I have a lot of 12 gauge empties like you (Used to run a gun club) and they are cheap. I am just lazy, and thought I would like empties to lift out rather than using a stick.
Der Ami; If you want to experiment, I sure would like a set of 10 gauge to 12 gauge Chamber Inserts.
I sent an email to the little skeeters guy, but his product doesn't sound like what I want.
I just thought that with my love of old doubles, a 10 gauge gun would be neat for shooting skeet or trap; inserted down to a 12 gauge.
Merry Christmas to all!
Sam

GaugeMates are designed for use with premium hulls (AA & STS with brass heads). Brass plated or aluminum heads will generally stick in the adapters.

Some of my favorites adapters are from Lothar Walther
Think they are hard to import these days

http://www.lothar-walther.com/

http://www.lothar-walther.com/224.php

Lothar Walther Precision Tools, Inc.
3425 Hutchinson Rd.
Cumming, GA 30040

Phone: 770-889-9998
Fax: 770-889-4919
E-Mail:
lotharwalther@ mindspring.com

Mike