Case Prep - I think can....

[praetorian97]

I think I can I think I can..............I WILL get all this brass thats been accumulating done. I procrastinated badly on top of buying a batch of 500 once fired brass.

I have to (trying to be positive). I have a brand new press just sitting there on my brand new reloading bench and I cant even use it till all this brass prep is done.

Anyone else feel the burden of too much brass to prep? I absolutely love reloading but the case prep work sucks. Really hoping my friend gets a Giraurd Trimmer soon. Not sure if the case of beer each time to use it would be cost effective

Last night I completed 300 (Swaged, Resized, Trimmed, Cham/Debur) 223/5.56 cases.

I still have another 3-500 waiting to be Trimmed/Cham/debur of 223/5.56. Another 500 45 acp still waiting to have everything done to it. Another 200 40 S&W waiting to be charged and completed.

I have a bunch of extra brass I dont own firearms to I want to atleast get deprimed and cleaned.

[howlnmad]

You can do it !

[Jim243]

Last night I completed 300 (Swaged, Resized, Trimmed, Cham/Debur) 223/5.56 cases.

That's why I buy brand new winchester cases, no tumble, no resize and no trim. Just prime, load and seat. (then shoot)

What ONLY 3-to-500 cases, you have not been shooting 223 for too long now have you, wait till you get 2,000 cases that need to be sized and trimed. I do tumble a batch now and then. But I am running out of coffee cans to fill with cases. And I have to stop drinking all that coffee and get some sleep. (one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, oh the heck with it, one beer, two beer, three beer, ...........)

Jim

[chris in va]

I've got 6000 cases sitting in my room right now. I learned quick to measure the cases after sizing to determine if they need trimming. 3/4 of them didn't.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Yes...brass prep...ugh...

[Ike666]

I used to be a social case prepper. I'd hang out with a few friends, prep a few cases - no big deal.

The I became a nightly case prepper. Just a few every night, just enough to stay even. But now I was case prepping alone.

Now, well now I'm a binge case prepper. I don't prep every night anymore, but once I start prepping I can't stop until everything is in the process queue.

[TXGunNut]

Quit torturing yourself. Load something!

[praetorian97]

Well...I didnt get one piece done....One word to sum it all up. Woman. Enough said. Maybe tonight?

[jmorris]

I have machines to take my place on as much as I can. They don't get bored doing the same thing over and over. The brass sorter is the best IMO because I really don't like that job. The annealing machine would be #2 as it is simply more consistant than a human. The Dillon trimmer on a 650 enables you to size and trim 1800 rifle cases an hour and you never have to even touch one case. The auto roll sizer was just to allow me to load concurrent with roll sizing

[praetorian97]

Ewww. I like that idea. Case prep is the only part of reloading I dont like. Pros and Cons to that style of trimmer?

[Unclenick]

Did you check out Giraud's new annealing machine?

[Civil War Life]

Did you check out Giraud's new annealing machine?

Where can I check out the machine?

[Unclenick]

At Camp Perry at the moment, but you'll never guess where else? On Giraud's web site! (we really gotta teach you to Google. )

[F. Guffey]

I do not get into mortal combat with reloading, I do not have anxieties about getting ahead of a an invisible perceived curve. I have new cases, once fired cases, once fired cases that are prepped and ready to load with matching head stamps.

Not a problem but on occasions someone will call and want to go to the range, 'rat now' when I go to the range there is nothing about 'rat now' that is possible, I do not load that far advance.

F. Guffey

[Ike666]

That Giraud mah-cheen is a trip! I'll never own one, but it is a slick Rube Goldberg device.

[amamnn]

Obviously, I am not the US patent office, so I can't say who had the idea first, BUT I do know Ken Light was selling this machine long before I had an internet connection. So, to maybe help out a fellow Arizonan, I'll mention that he has a machine that has been tried and trued over the years and found to be very reliable by many a BR shooter. http://www.kenlightmfg.com/products.html The two torch version is especially effective. The design is similar to a lot of the Johnny come lately machines, many of which brown the outside of the case neck nicely, using only one propane torch, but do not reset the ductility of the metal from outside to inside.

I used one for years and it worked fine. The only reason I do not still have it is that I gave mine to my son when I thought health problems had ended my shooting hobby days. I was wrong, but it slowed me down a lot. These days I use an Induction Innovations Mini Ductor to anneal my cases. It cooks the necks and only the necks through and through. It can be used so exactly that straight walled cases, and this includes handgun cases, can be annealed.

The Giraud looks like it could be a great unit for folks wishing to produce reloaded cartridges or refurbished brass on a large scale, if it is capable of using gas combinations hotter than propane, if those folks are actually interested in resetting the necks, not just coloring it. It's not possible to tell from the info on that website........but to be fair the same could be said about Ken's site. I think he may have lost interest in the machine over the years.

Just another thought--annealing--especially the imprecise torch type annealiing is not usually found to be of much benefit to those cartridges mentioned in the original post.................except the .223/5.56 if used in a bolt gun......

[big_genius29]

I have 3000 pieces of .223 that need to have everything done.

I usually do about 100 a night to break things up, anymore than that my wrist starts to hurt.


I am waiting on the Lyman Case prep center from Sinclair for over a month now to make life a little easyer for me.

[jmorris]

The Giraud patent is likey on the specific process it takes the case through, not the fact that it "anneals".

The automatic case feeder doesn't look automatic at all, until you stack each case into it by hand. That's like saying I have an automatic lawn mower after I push it around the yard.

Here is the one I built, it is truly automatic. It also doesn't require any conversion parts to anneal all calibers (the feeder won't work with 50bmg) just adjustment of the torch arms. Two torches apply more heat, faster, helping reduce heat migration to the case head.






These two are videos, click on the photo to play

[praetorian97]

Almost done......

[Unclenick]

I think maybe you've got 'em with that Dillon case feeder. I'm sure the Giraud can be loaded way faster than it finishes them, but for the lazy man, you've got the set-it-and-forget-it mastered, at least in principle.

Now the key question:

Ever had a case feed upside down? I've seen that happen with the Dillon case feeder set up for .45 ACP. With bottleneck rifle cases it may be more immune because the case shape is more different from end to end. What has your experience with it has been?

[jmorris]

The Dillon case feeder works different for rifle cases than it does for pistol cases. It rotates rifle cases laying down and rotates over the hole. If the light, neck end is first over the hole it passes over and the heavy end drops in. If the head end is first it drops right in.

I have had inverted pistol cases over the years but never has happened with rifle.

[jmorris]

The one in the video below works the same as the dillon towards the end you can see how it works.



http://www.google.com/m/url?ei=8DJJT...r4_PIPBgHUB_JA

[Unclenick]

Thanks. I hadn't seen a Dillon feeder for rifle in operation up close. If you don't have to watch it, then you've got a system that can be ignored while you do something else in the shop. Good deal.