An experimental study of a steel plate thickness gauge by means of the measurements of backscatered gamma-rays has been carried out. The difference between this and other methods is that this method does not include any shilding matterials in the detecting probe, because the primary radiations and the backscattered radiations are detected simultaneously by an NaI (TI) scintillating crystal, and the activity of the Co-60 source used is low enough. In this thickness gauge, the thickness of the steel plates can be read directly on the counting ratemeter scale. The optimum conditions in the source-to-detector distance, window width of the analyzer, energy and strength of the gamma-ray source were found experimentally. The results have shown that the accuracy of the gauge was about $pm$3% in the range of 3 to 8mm thickness. This gauge can be used to detect the pits or corrosions on the inner walls of the steel pipes.