Shorted guard‐ring quartz gauges 12.7 mm in diameter and 3.2 mm thick were shock loaded by AL 6061 and copper impactors to stresses of 42 and 58 kilobars, respectively. Distortion of the current output was observed only at the 58 kilobar stress; at 42 kilobars the current profile conforms closely to the stress profile. Comparison of present data with previous studies demonstrates: (a) The present results lie on a smooth extension of an earlier calibration by Hayes and Gupta. (b) When only the current peak at the shock front is considered, the present data lie close to Graham’s curve for shunted gauges. An example of application of the shorted gauge at 40 kilobars to monitor a stress relaxing profile in LiF is also described.