Brownells sells a variety of tools to service revolvers, two of them are the "38 barrel alignment gauge" and "range rods".

My question is: are they both needed? The purpose of the alignment gauge is to check the alignment of barrel, cylinder, and firing pin hole. From the description, it appears that the Range Rod does only the barrel and cylinder. Am I missing something?

As far as verifying proper alignment of the critical revolver parts goes, I think that all one would need is the 38 barrel alignment gauge.

I would appreciate opinions on this, thanks.

The allignment tool will tell you whether or not the yoke (with or without the cylinder) is in line with the frame. If it is, an assumption can be made that the barrel is lined up with the charge holes in the cylinder, but it would be wrong to make that assumption. The range rod can show any allignment anomalies between the barrel and the individual charge holes. Different tools for different strokes for different folks. (Sorry. I had to add that.)

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Why, I aughta.....

Mike,
Thanks for responding to my question. I apologize for being so dense, but I'm still missing something. I assumed the "38 barrel alignment tool" would go through the barrel and cylinder and then would go into the firing pin hole. Is this correct? Then by rotating the cylinder, one can verify the alignment of each cylinder hole. So, how does the Range Rod fit in to this alignment scheme? It appears that every thing that needs to be checked has been checked.
Davidk29