I use two gauges....an RCBS older mechanical gauge and an old ignition contact point tension gauge. I hook the two together and pull lightly, observing both gauges through the pull range. They both indicate the same value so I deem them both good. Or equally uncalibrated! But they are consistent.
The best pull gauge is the NRA weight types. Before I obtained a gauge, I used an improvised one years back. A rag as a bullet catch, made a hook out of welding rod and hooked it through each corner of the shop rag. Bullets were placed into the rag until the trigger tripped. I then cocked the pistol three times with the hook and weighted rag to verify correct technique.
I weighed ten bullets, derived an average and used that value for each bullet to calculate the weight. I counted the bullets in the rag, multiplied times the average weight and converted to pounds. OR....to obtain a specific pulled weight I counted out the number of bullets needed to obtain a specific weight and adjust the sear and disco springs accordingly.
