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Dial Calipers

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Good video and information. For the average muzzle loading home shop work any Chinese made caliper will do. Harbor Freight has them for under $20 and when you drop one you don't cry - you just replace it. I have a few HF ones spread about the shop. If I want accuracy, I grab the Starett 4-place mike. For Christmas I bought myself a new digital 6" caliper sold by Shars <Home> - Aventor 6" DPS IP54 Electronic Caliper. They are rated very good for the price and will not break the bank. The DPS models have a neat function compared to the non-DPS models.;)
 
If you want a digital, get the best. And treat it gently. Cheap digitals don’t measure correctly after a long time or being dropped.
 
I have a 20 year old Chinese dial caliper that still is nearly as accurate as as expensive micrometer. I've had another that fell apart not long after I bought it. My neighbor had a Starrett caliper that failed but Starrett replaced it. I guess you just take your chances.
 
My Brown & Sharpe is rugged enough and more accurate than the Mitutoyo I had before it.
 
For general "Joe Blow" garage work those budget digital calipers are fine:dunno:. Most of you will only need something that will measure to a three-place decimal:rolleyes:. If you are making parts that require something in the area of four place decimal then get a GOOD mic and be good to it;)
 
I have experienced the pain of dropping my Starrett on the shop floor. I could not afford another so bought a cheap digital caliper from Canadian Tire store and found it to be a reliable tool for my shop...........................Chawbeef
 
My 25 year old Draper caliper has been doing well all this time and is spot on with my expensive micrometers. However, not being a machinist I note the comment about reading more than three decimal points. Dunno. Never been there and probably never will.
 
Did a little video on dial calipers comparing the cheap to the expensive and a look at my sons guitar building shop ,hope you enjoy,


I use dial calipers very often in my shop building guns. Any time I pick up a drill bit before drilling a hole for tapping I check size with calipers. Lots of other uses too. I’m a machinist by background and early training. I use then often for precision lay out work on breech tangs etc. lay out for barrel lug pins too. I’m certain I’d miss a lot more lugs if I didn’t have them for the lay out work. BJH
 
I have nice verneirs and dial calipers I never use. Now I use Mitutoyo digital calipers with the carbide inserts. The ability to zero them at any point on the dial is a big help when working toward some size. The carbide inserts make them useful as a marking gauge. Having accurate OD, ID and depth measurements in one tool is excellent. I bought mine at a sale from a machine shop that was closing. I like them so much that I got the Mitutoyo digital micrometer. Both are work the retail cost. With all measurement tools it is important to know if they are accurate. A few gauge blocks is a good addition to you kit.
 
I use a Starrett and also have some vernier tools which i.csn hardly see. Most all those calipers will be accurate enough for government work that calipers should be used for. For precision I go to my mics.
 
About 20 years ago I bought 3 of Harbor freight's calibers. (imported)
I am using the first one I took out of the box, the other two are in a box of tools somewhere, still in their original packaging.

One thing I did learn is to remove the battery after use. They seem to die a lot faster when left in.
I also have an RCBS analog caliber from the 70s. It stays in the collectors box.
 
I have a dial caliper from Midway that I've been using for about 20 years and a Proto micrometer that I bought in the early 80's. I have used them for reloading unmentionables with no problems.
 
Mine was made in Switzerland, but I'll never know by who. Going on more than 30 years with them now. It's like a part of me. I actually wanted to look for new, and did, but am so scared of anything new giving me a hard time, especially with the guns I do. I trust these, and if I got new I would have to get used to them, and that might hinder for a time how I work, it's a brain thing when you have a 5-figure gun in front of you. Going to digital or anything like that would definitely throw me for a loop, I'd be wondering if the numbers were right, all of that kind of nightmarish scenario.
 
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I have found that for gun building my calipers work just as good if they have the battery in or not most of the time. There is only a few times where I even care about a specific measurement. I usually use calipers more like dividers instead of actually measuring anything.
 
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