Testing ballasts/chokes

[Carolina]

Evening. Got my hands on a pair of choke ballasts to run fluorescent tubes a few days ago and I want to see if they're in good condition.

If we're talking age these things are relics, manufactured in the USSR in 1964 and 1971 respectively, the guy who gave them to me said they were working around... 10 years ago. I also got the fittings which I'm restoring and rewiring, each takes a single 40 watt tube.
I've measured R using a multimeter and compared against a known working ballast, The DC R of the working one is 72.5Ω, but the R of the older ones is 22Ω and 31.7Ω which seems odd, at least to me. I don't have an inductance meter.

From size I know they're meant for either 40 or 60 watt tubes (T12s) but I don't want to risk ruining one of those during the testing. Would testing in series with incandescent bulbs work?

Thanks

P.S I won't be switching to LED

 

[Marvo]

You really need an inductance or LCR meter or a ring tester which are expensive to buy but you can make your own ring tester if you want a project to keep you out of the pub for a few nights.... Link