Armstrong vs. Craftsman sockets

[zakmartin]

Last night I had to do some work on my car (see my avatar) and grabbed a rail of Craftsman 1/2" metric 6-point deep sockets and a rail of Armstrong 3/8" metric 6-point deep sockets I recently purchased to see which fit better. On the 9, 12 and 14 mm sockets, the Armstrongs were perfect fits on the bolt heads. The Craftsman sockets wobbled around like they were about half a size too big. After years of just using Craftsman, it never really occurred to me that they were that far off.

I also checked the tolerances on some brand new Craftsman Industrial 3/8" metric 6-point deep sockets I bought in a kit last month and the same thing happened; they were all about half a size too big.

After I was done working on the car, I got online and ordered about $200 worth of Armstrong metric sockets to replace the Craftsmans.

Like I said, I never really noticed that the Craftsman sockets were so loose, probably because I didn't have anything to compare them to except for some really crummy Powerbuilts I got one Christmas. I always thought the Armstrongs and the Craftsmans were from the same factory and were completely interchangeable, but I guess I was wrong.

Does anyone know if Armstrong sockets come from the same factory as the Craftsman Industrials?

 

[stonesfan68]

They are made by the same supplier, but not necessarily at the same factory or to the same specifications.