Howdy, Mike!
I was hoping for specific GO/NO GO gauge drawings with the dimensions clearly presented for a few cartridges I have in mind, leaving absolutely no ambiguity or room for doubt. Drawings that had been in use for some time and were proven accurate and reliable would be ideal.
The info presented in the SAAMI pdf files for pistol/revolver and rifle cartridges give me enough information to roll my own drawings, which is good enough for me. I'll have to have my son check them over for accuracy though, as no mistakes or miscalculations can be tolerated there. I'll also buy a few factory gauges that I can measure here in the shop.
I know from my work on programming and web pages how easy it is to think that you have all the data correct - when really you don't.
Drawings of the standard GO/NO GO gauges for a few cartridges that I intend to test with should be easy enough for me to come up with, and that will provide the baseline or starting point for ironing out the details of the modification, and determining how it might best be fabricated. All of that will have to be documented.
Next I'll have to find out if it is really a new idea, and only the patent office is in a position to tell me that. Lots of "new ideas" aren't really new, are close enough to a previous patent as to end up in a legal limbo, or are already in the public domain.
If the idea can be patented, I will see whether I want to manufacture and market it myself, find a manufacturer to work with, or just release it into the public domain so anybody can make and market the things. Each step that I take helps define what the next step might be.
I feel fortunate in that I don't have any reason to doubt that the idea will be be useful and will do what I have in mind. Lots of guys with ( maybe ) new ideas are not so fortunate. I haven't heard of anything like it, but there's lots of stuff that I haven't heard of.
All of this will take a while, but I'm in no particular hurry. I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy in the mean-time.
Lately I've been working on a tuner design for AR carbines and rifles, something that I thought would be much easier and straightforward than it really turned out to be. I ended up having to buy an AR for a test-bed. I picked out a DPMS carbine with the 16" barrel and collapsible stock, as those are the ones that need the most help with accuracy.
When I get the carbine with the tuner to print out significantly better groups with whatever ammo I work with, I'll know that I have the tuner down pat. My theory is that anything that will work for the carbine will work just as well or better for a rifle barrel that provides more leverage and whips around in a more definitive manner.
The AR tuner would not be of any interest to benchresters, but if the GO/NO GO gauges work out, there are some benchrest folks who will really like them.
