jim, I used one of these when I worked in the steel mill. They would check the bearing temp's with one. I "borrrowed" one for the weekend and tried it on lead that I was casting into 45-70 slugs. My thermometer and the IR one did NOT agree on the temperature of the melt.50 degrees difference or so,if I remember right.. I took my thermometer to the instrument techs for calibration and was told it was spot on! I could get different readings on bearings by varying the distance to the bearing or "reading" the shiny shaft as it came from the bearing.