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This is REVIEW of the Sheridan Engineering .308 Cartridge Gauge. I’m not a professional reviewer and I decided to review this product only because it stands out from the rest of the pack for quality, ease of use, and logical construction. I’m not affiliated with Sheridan Engineering in any way and I’m a novice reloader, so if I say something you feel is not true it’s probably my mistake.
BACKGROUND
Last year I really got into loading 300BLK which I made about 12k of. After making a few thousand, and using a variety of guns, I recognized the need to start gauging my ammunition so I could pick out the ones that were not chambering correctly in all my guns. I started with a Wilson gauge as they were readily available at most internet stores etc. I soon found out the Wilson gauge was not built to minimum SAAMI spec so many gauged rounds would still not cycle in all guns. I did some research on the 300BlkTalk forum as saw that people were very satisfied with the Sheridan Engineering 300BLK gauge. I purchased a 300BLK gauge from them and the problem was solved. Sheridan Engineering builds their gauge to minimum SAAMI spec. so once gauged it should fit in all guns.
NOW FOR THE .308
I’m also a big .308 shooter so I make most of my .308 reloads to match grade. Of course to do this I needed a trusted and reliable gauge. Of course the first place I thought of was Sheridan Engineering. The problem was that they weren’t making the .308 gauge yet. After some pushing and prodding they finally broke down and started making them. Yes! Enter the Sheridan Engineering .308 gauge.
FIRST USE OF THE GAUGE
Now I had a shooting competition coming up so I needed to have reliable ammo for this. This was an “in the field” comp, not sitting on benches, so the ammunition had to be reliable on the fly. Unfortunately, the gun I wanted to use has been finicky with the rounds I’ve built in the past. I always thought I had a head space issue and it needed to be adjusted. What I actually had was ammunition problem with many rounds not meeting spec! The gun I wanted to use is this Mil Spec Remington 700.
THE SHERIDAN ENGINEERING SLOTTED GAUGE
Now the Sheridan’s gauge is unique from others because they make both a standard gauge and a slotted gauge. For the .308 I got the slotted gauge to give me a better picture of what’s going on. The slotted gauge is especially good if you are just starting to gauge rounds that you aren’t sure why things aren’t working. This gauge gives you a great view of what might be out of spec on your ammunition and where things may be hanging up. It’s also easier to push the round out of the gauge if you’re doing a high volume of gauging. The only downside to this slotted gauge is you may have a burr or dent on the brass that is in the slot that the gauge cant catch, so doing a quick spin in the gauge guarantees the round will feed flawlessly.
MORE ON THE GUAGE
Now another awesome feature of the Sheridan gauge is that it tells you A. Maximum Chamber Dimension, B. Minimum Chamber Dimension, and C. Minimum Brass Dimension (SAAMI spec). No other gauge that I’m aware of does this and it’s very helpful.
ON TO MY LOADS
I needed about 20 rounds for this competition so I thought I’d make up 100 rounds and pick the ones that seemed to gauge the best. Working with this gauge is really nice, you can get a great Idea of what’s going on with your builds as you’re making them.
USING A BENCHMARK ROUND
Of course when I think about a perfectly to spec professionally manufactured round I always turn to Federal Gold Match ammo. And of course I dropped 20 rounds in the Sheridan gauge and all seated perfectly and passed with flying colors.
PREPARING FOR THE COMP
So I make up 100 of my own rounds and start the gauging process. Oh no…I’ve found my problem! As you can see many of my rounds are not fitting correctly into the gauge. Now I’m starting to learn something as I use brass with at least a dozen different head stamps. I always thought my full size resizing of this brass would take care of any problems. Nope. I never thought up until this point that I was building thousands of rounds and were not anywhere near spec.
A REAL EYE OPENER
I built 100 rounds for this competition and gauged them with the Sheridan Engineering gauge. To my surprise 70% of the rounds DID NOT meet the max chamber dimension spec. I could not believe it. The rounds on the left were the only ones that fit into the gauge properly. Only 30 of 100!
OFF TO THE COMP
I took the 30 rounds that fit in the guage and also cycled them through my gun. Perfection! I learned a lot from this process and I want to thank Sheridan Engineering for building and great gauge and making sure the rounds I built for the comp I was going to were winners. In fact they were….I took home the cash
If you want the best in a gauge…the first place to look is Sheridan Engineering! Again, thank you for making a great product!
.
.
This is REVIEW of the Sheridan Engineering .308 Cartridge Gauge. I’m not a professional reviewer and I decided to review this product only because it stands out from the rest of the pack for quality, ease of use, and logical construction. I’m not affiliated with Sheridan Engineering in any way and I’m a novice reloader, so if I say something you feel is not true it’s probably my mistake.
BACKGROUND
Last year I really got into loading 300BLK which I made about 12k of. After making a few thousand, and using a variety of guns, I recognized the need to start gauging my ammunition so I could pick out the ones that were not chambering correctly in all my guns. I started with a Wilson gauge as they were readily available at most internet stores etc. I soon found out the Wilson gauge was not built to minimum SAAMI spec so many gauged rounds would still not cycle in all guns. I did some research on the 300BlkTalk forum as saw that people were very satisfied with the Sheridan Engineering 300BLK gauge. I purchased a 300BLK gauge from them and the problem was solved. Sheridan Engineering builds their gauge to minimum SAAMI spec. so once gauged it should fit in all guns.
NOW FOR THE .308
I’m also a big .308 shooter so I make most of my .308 reloads to match grade. Of course to do this I needed a trusted and reliable gauge. Of course the first place I thought of was Sheridan Engineering. The problem was that they weren’t making the .308 gauge yet. After some pushing and prodding they finally broke down and started making them. Yes! Enter the Sheridan Engineering .308 gauge.
FIRST USE OF THE GAUGE
Now I had a shooting competition coming up so I needed to have reliable ammo for this. This was an “in the field” comp, not sitting on benches, so the ammunition had to be reliable on the fly. Unfortunately, the gun I wanted to use has been finicky with the rounds I’ve built in the past. I always thought I had a head space issue and it needed to be adjusted. What I actually had was ammunition problem with many rounds not meeting spec! The gun I wanted to use is this Mil Spec Remington 700.
THE SHERIDAN ENGINEERING SLOTTED GAUGE
Now the Sheridan’s gauge is unique from others because they make both a standard gauge and a slotted gauge. For the .308 I got the slotted gauge to give me a better picture of what’s going on. The slotted gauge is especially good if you are just starting to gauge rounds that you aren’t sure why things aren’t working. This gauge gives you a great view of what might be out of spec on your ammunition and where things may be hanging up. It’s also easier to push the round out of the gauge if you’re doing a high volume of gauging. The only downside to this slotted gauge is you may have a burr or dent on the brass that is in the slot that the gauge cant catch, so doing a quick spin in the gauge guarantees the round will feed flawlessly.
MORE ON THE GUAGE
Now another awesome feature of the Sheridan gauge is that it tells you A. Maximum Chamber Dimension, B. Minimum Chamber Dimension, and C. Minimum Brass Dimension (SAAMI spec). No other gauge that I’m aware of does this and it’s very helpful.
ON TO MY LOADS
I needed about 20 rounds for this competition so I thought I’d make up 100 rounds and pick the ones that seemed to gauge the best. Working with this gauge is really nice, you can get a great Idea of what’s going on with your builds as you’re making them.
USING A BENCHMARK ROUND
Of course when I think about a perfectly to spec professionally manufactured round I always turn to Federal Gold Match ammo. And of course I dropped 20 rounds in the Sheridan gauge and all seated perfectly and passed with flying colors.
PREPARING FOR THE COMP
So I make up 100 of my own rounds and start the gauging process. Oh no…I’ve found my problem! As you can see many of my rounds are not fitting correctly into the gauge. Now I’m starting to learn something as I use brass with at least a dozen different head stamps. I always thought my full size resizing of this brass would take care of any problems. Nope. I never thought up until this point that I was building thousands of rounds and were not anywhere near spec.
A REAL EYE OPENER
I built 100 rounds for this competition and gauged them with the Sheridan Engineering gauge. To my surprise 70% of the rounds DID NOT meet the max chamber dimension spec. I could not believe it. The rounds on the left were the only ones that fit into the gauge properly. Only 30 of 100!
OFF TO THE COMP
I took the 30 rounds that fit in the guage and also cycled them through my gun. Perfection! I learned a lot from this process and I want to thank Sheridan Engineering for building and great gauge and making sure the rounds I built for the comp I was going to were winners. In fact they were….I took home the cash
If you want the best in a gauge…the first place to look is Sheridan Engineering! Again, thank you for making a great product!
