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Annealer recommendations

YotaEer

Montani Semper Liberi
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Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 3, 2019
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Pittsburgh
I’m looking at grabbing my first case Annealer.

AMP is out of my budget, so it’s between the EP, Annealeez and ugly.

Anyone prefer one of these 3?
 
I have an annealeez and really like it. I have basically zero issues with it. If you try to do large batches of brass(over 300), sometimes it gets the wheels too hot and they slip.
 
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I’m looking at grabbing my first case Annealer.

AMP is out of my budget, so it’s between the EP, Annealeez and ugly.

Anyone prefer one of these 3?
Also, look up / search AGS annealer , this is a "turn table" type. This type it seams to bring up the question of set up so you can sit and feed these type one case at a time, while the hopper type seam to allow loading the hopper with X number of cases , set the speed, and flame and while it's running get another X number of cases ready.
 
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...FWIW, I use the EP 2.0. The features I found most beneficial FOR ME, was the cost (I'm on a budget), no wheels to melt requiring additional expense, rapid and easy case size changeover, small footprint. In use, I found having to feed cases by hand wasn't an issue or actual significant delay. It also allowed me to monitor the flame length/strength as the bottle emptied, which became more apparent as the bottle fell below half full.
I initially thought I would like a hopper to feed cases, but in retrospect, I found that my "idea" to let it run unattended wasn't a good one, safety wise.
 
r. 671,
Is your EP.2 a direct drive from the motor to the wheel , or are there one or more gears ?
The up side is that they say their unit is assembled in the US of A. I say assembled as the motor and electronics ???
 
...FWIW, I use the EP 2.0. The features I found most beneficial FOR ME, was the cost (I'm on a budget), no wheels to melt requiring additional expense, rapid and easy case size changeover, small footprint. In use, I found having to feed cases by hand wasn't an issue or actual significant delay. It also allowed me to monitor the flame length/strength as the bottle emptied, which became more apparent as the bottle fell below half full.
I initially thought I would like a hopper to feed cases, but in retrospect, I found that my "idea" to let it run unattended wasn't a good one, safety wise.

I'm leaning towards the EP 2.0 for all the reasons you listed - easy to change calibers and hard to screw stuff up, besides the cases themselves.

I only do 50-60 cases at a time when i reload, so I don't think the hopper would be a big deal for me. Also keeps your attention on something with an open flame.
 
I'd think setting up cases in a hopper and leaving an open flame annealer unwatched would be a really bad idea. 


I went with the ep 2.0 mostly for how easy it is to change calibers with nothimg else to buy, I am now annealing 6mm thru 375 cheytac. I can get around 7-8 cases a minute, so 50 really takes no time. Plus I find it relaxing to sit there and watch the flame and the cases spinning around. Kind of like watching a campfire.
 
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I'd think setting up cases in a hopper and leaving an open flame annealer unwatched would be a really bad idea. 


I went with the ep 2.0 mostly for how easy it is to change calibers with nothimg else to buy, I am now annealing 6mm thru 375 cheytac. I can get around 7-8 cases a minute, so 50 really takes no time. Plus I find it relaxing to sit there and watch the flame and the cases spinning around. Kind of like watching a campfire.
...it's been a while, but if I recall correctly, I went thru 100+ cases in less than half an hour...
 
r. 671,
Is your EP.2 a direct drive from the motor to the wheel , or are there one or more gears ?
The up side is that they say their unit is assembled in the US of A. I say assembled as the motor and electronics ???
...to be honest, I never popped the case open so I can't say. I believe on his web page there might be a vid on the construction of the unit....maybe.
 
Also run the EP unit. Spoke to Todd about use and he replaced my unit for free for a problem I didn't even know I had.
It's a solid unit, adjusts calibers super fast and Todd is Tops in my book.

Oh did I mention it also works great! :)
 
Thought I'd throw this one in for everybody's consideration AGS . After adding a power source , a burner tip ,and S&H the cost is about equal to a EP2.0 ?
 
Have you considered building an induction annealer?

There is a YouTube how to video out there. You could build one very cheap…. I’ve built one and have been happy with the results.
 
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Save up for the AMP or don't waste your time. Nothing else is actually guarenteed to anneal and dicking around with these cheap shitty annealers was by far the worst part of reloading. Once I got an Amp those problems all went away and annealing is one of the fun parts of reloading. Seriously save for the Amp nothing else on market is worth wasting money on despite what anyone in here says.
 
Save up for the AMP or don't waste your time. Nothing else is actually guarenteed to anneal and dicking around with these cheap shitty annealers was by far the worst part of reloading. Once I got an Amp those problems all went away and annealing is one of the fun parts of reloading. Seriously save for the Amp nothing else on market is worth wasting money on despite what anyone in here says.
BS. An Annie is guaranteed to anneal just as well. The only thing you’re paying for? Is for the R&D on the vickers testing done on most brass makers. Theyre NOT perfect. No such thing. An Annie is JUST as consistent. People use a torch to anneal before Induction. Don’t come here spewing BS. Let me guess, without an AMP press seating a bullet is trash? Gtfoh with your stupidity.
 
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BS. An Annie is guaranteed to anneal just as well. The only thing you’re paying for? Is for the R&D on the vickers testing done on most brass makers. Theyre NOT perfect. No such thing. An Annie is JUST as consistent. People use a torch to anneal before Induction. Don’t come here spewing BS. Let me guess, without an AMP press seating a bullet is trash? Gtfoh with your stupidity.
You are paying for the R&D and a repeatable process to anneal.

You can't guarantee to aneal when you don't even know what temp the flame is or how long you need to change the grain structure. Now you could through trial and error try and find this by using vickers testing but a machine is more expensive than an AMP.

There are just as many world class shooters who don't anneal and testing from Brian Litz has shown there is little to no different is downrange results.

So you are better off not annealing when using shitty questionable flame annealed or homemade induction if you aren't going to buy into the R&D of the AMP.

Been there done that got the t-shirt and neck tension consistency and sd has dropped since changing to the AMP. Only use alpha and lapua brass so maybe if your using shit brass it doesn't matter.

At the end of the day it's questionable if annealing even matters but if your going to spend the time and effort, might as well do it right or you are wasting your time.
 
Homie missed AMP telling everyone flame annealing works fine while slagging SBA.
Context matters. Flame annealing works if you are having your brass tested to verify and even then keeping flame Temps consistent across a whole run is difficult without a really good gas regulator.

If you watch AMP video you see they test their brass to prove the process is repeatable. They take fired brass from around 150 hardness scale down to about 100.

Without testing, you don't know. All brass is different so using templaq is just as futile.

 
Save up for the AMP or don't waste your time. Nothing else is actually guarenteed to anneal and dicking around with these cheap shitty annealers was by far the worst part of reloading. Once I got an Amp those problems all went away and annealing is one of the fun parts of reloading. Seriously save for the Amp nothing else on market is worth wasting money on despite what anyone in here says.
Bullshit , anyone that reads your posts knows you don't have experience at any of this . Fantasy land . You had to ask about entry level scopes for a 10-22 , son you been found out .
 
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You are paying for the R&D and a repeatable process to anneal.

You can't guarantee to aneal when you don't even know what temp the flame is or how long you need to change the grain structure. Now you could through trial and error try and find this by using vickers testing but a machine is more expensive than an AMP.

There are just as many world class shooters who don't anneal and testing from Brian Litz has shown there is little to no different is downrange results.

So you are better off not annealing when using shitty questionable flame annealed or homemade induction if you aren't going to buy into the R&D of the AMP.

Been there done that got the t-shirt and neck tension consistency and sd has dropped since changing to the AMP. Only use alpha and lapua brass so maybe if your using shit brass it doesn't matter.

At the end of the day it's questionable if annealing even matters but if your going to spend the time and effort, might as well do it right or you are wasting your time.
An Annie induction annealer does EXACTLY what an AMP does. Both induction and both are consistent. Doesn’t take a vickers test to know it’s annealed? Cause the glowing of the neck says so. Have you ever timed it on the AMP? When you hit the start and how long it takes before it’s done? .308 I bet it’s around 1.8 seconds.
 
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An Annie induction annealer does EXACTLY what an AMP does. Both induction and both are consistent. Doesn’t take a vickers test to know it’s annealed? Cause the glowing of the neck says so. Have you ever timed it on the AMP? When you hit the start and how long it takes before it’s done? .308 I bet it’s around 1.8 seconds.
Yes it absolutely takes a vickers test to know. How do you think AMP figured out all their settings and formulas for AZTEC?

Now I'm not a metalurgist but did get an A in metalurgy in college. Spent a good amount of time in the lab and have a pretty good understanding of how this works.

I would agree induction would be better than flame but you are still taking a wild guess. Different brands of brass use different alloys and have different neck thickness.

The point is you just don't know. It's all a guess unless you use an AMP which is repeatable and proven.
 
Bullshit , anyone that reads your posts knows you don't have experience at any of this . Fantasy land . You had to ask about entry level scopes for a 10-22 , son you been found out .
Yea sorry bro...my last 3 optic puchases were a tangent theta and 2 ZCOs ( which I still run on match guns that cost more than the trailer you live in). Sorry i dont know anything about the lower end optic world, since I don't own any of that shit.

You are the joke of this website I'm actually surprised you haven't been banned yet.
 
Yes it absolutely takes a vickers test to know. How do you think AMP figured out all their settings and formulas for AZTEC?

Now I'm not a metalurgist but did get an A in metalurgy in college. Spent a good amount of time in the lab and have a pretty good understanding of how this works.

I would agree induction would be better than flame but you are still taking a wild guess. Different brands of brass use different alloys and have different neck thickness.

The point is you just don't know. It's all a guess unless you use an AMP which is repeatable and proven.
You think the amp is perfect? It’s not. That’s a fact. Yes they performed vickers on most makers of brass to figure out the seconds it takes to get to a certain hardness that’s all. You could buy a vickers test for about $200 used on eBay and do it yourself with an induction annealer and your brass. It’s not difficult. But if your neck glows? You r reached temp of annealing. Period. Doesn’t have to be exact timing. A 1/10th of sec difference won’t make a difference on annealing. $1200 it too much. An Annie annealer is half price and does EXACTLY the same thing. All you do? Is set a price of brass at a certain time and hit the button. You’ll know if it more or Les. And keep ‘em all the same timing and they’re complete. It’s simple. The AMP is NOT perfect. Never was never will be. It’s complete BS. Marketing 101. .308 bras is 1.6-1.8 seconds depending on the brass. You could probably go 1.9 but any more than that? You’ll start to over anneal it. It won’t melt. But it’ll be close. The amp is a waste of money. Only thing going for it? Is the marketing.
 
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Yes it absolutely takes a vickers test to know. How do you think AMP figured out all their settings and formulas for AZTEC?

Now I'm not a metalurgist but did get an A in metalurgy in college. Spent a good amount of time in the lab and have a pretty good understanding of how this works.

I would agree induction would be better than flame but you are still taking a wild guess. Different brands of brass use different alloys and have different neck thickness.

The point is you just don't know. It's all a guess unless you use an AMP which is repeatable and proven.


Ummm... go read the patent. The Aztec mode melts a case, and monitors the resonant frequency in the induction circuit to see when the melt happens. Then, they just pull back the power and time so the case doesn't melt. Guess what, if you measure how long it takes your system to melt a case, and then reduce the time a bit so that cases don't melt, you're 100% getting them hot enough to anneal.

Annealing brass isn't a mystery. Buy 1000F tempilaq. If you get your brass to 1000f, it's annealed. I don't case what brand or caliber it is.
 
You think the amp is perfect? It’s not. That’s a fact. Yes they performed vickers on most makers of brass to figure out the seconds it takes to get to a certain hardness that’s all. You could buy a vickers test for about $200 used on eBay and do it yourself with an induction annealer and your brass. It’s not difficult. But if your neck glows? You r reached temp of annealing. Period. Doesn’t have to be exact timing. A 1/10th of sec difference won’t make a difference on annealing. $1200 it too much. An Annie annealer is half price and does EXACTLY the same thing. All you do? Is set a price of brass at a certain time and hit the button. You’ll know if it more or Les. And keep ‘em all the same timing and they’re complete. It’s simple. The AMP is NOT perfect. Never was never will be. It’s complete BS. Marketing 101. .308 bras is 1.6-1.8 seconds depending on the brass. You could probably go 1.9 but any more than that? You’ll start to over anneal it. It won’t melt. But it’ll be close. The amp is a waste of money. Only thing going for it? Is the marketing.
Nothing is perfect. That's a red herring argument.

Having the neck glow does not mean it's properly annealed. It could easily be overheated and the brass will be dead and soft or could be under annealed and you wouldn't really know until you start getting split necks or have issues with controlling neck tension.

I subscribe to the camp repeatable neck tension results in smaller Es/SD so i do what it takes to control that as best I can.

Where did you get your metallurgy degree from I'm curious. Heat treating/normalizing is not just a time component. It's a combination of material, time, tempature and possibly quench method.
 
Ummm... go read the patent. The Aztec mode melts a case, and monitors the resonant frequency in the induction circuit to see when the melt happens. Then, they just pull back the power and time so the case doesn't melt. Guess what, if you measure how long it takes your system to melt a case, and then reduce the time a bit so that cases don't melt, you're 100% getting them hot enough to anneal.

Annealing brass isn't a mystery. Buy 1000F tempilaq. If you get your brass to 1000f, it's annealed. I don't case what brand or caliber it is.
You are leaving out one variable. What tempature for how long. It's a repeatable formula/method that works and is provable via vickers testing.

It's a sliding scale...just saying to reduce a bit here or there is a shot in the dark.

Annealing is an actual science. Alot of the things we are talking about is as simple as it gets. But without being able to control the variables and confirm via testing... you are just guessing.

The AMP may be a guess but it guesses right every time. Ask anyone who has one, they will tell you they were worth every penny.

You either get it or you don't. Sorry you can't understand it.
 
Nothing is perfect. That's a red herring argument.

Having the neck glow does not mean it's properly annealed. It could easily be overheated and the brass will be dead and soft or could be under annealed and you wouldn't really know until you start getting split necks or have issues with controlling neck tension.

I subscribe to the camp repeatable neck tension results in smaller Es/SD so i do what it takes to control that as best I can.

Where did you get your metallurgy degree from I'm curious. Heat treating/normalizing is not just a time component. It's a combination of material, time, tempature and possibly quench method.
Wrong. If the brass glows a dull red? Is at least 850F. If it glows to an orange? It’s about 1000F. Either of them will get brass to the proper point of softness depending on the time.

Secondly, I don’t need a degree in metallurgy to anneal brass. Because a degree in metallurgy does absolutely NOTHING if you you‘ve never dealt with brass now does it?

The AMP is timed based period. You’re telling me that each brass put in is a different time of annealing? I know better. I tell you what? Take a lapua brass, melt it, to get the anneal for that? Then stick a federal in it rather than lapua and let’s see if TIME isn’t of the essence. Lol the AMP. Is a WASTE of money. Period. It’s a marketing scheme. But the advertising does well so they duped your ass into buying it. And spending $1200. Could’ve done the same for half the price…
 
You are leaving out one variable. What tempature for how long. It's a repeatable formula/method that works and is provable via vickers testing.

It's a sliding scale...just saying to reduce a bit here or there is a shot in the dark.

Annealing is an actual science. Alot of the things we are talking about is as simple as it gets. But without being able to control the variables and confirm via testing... you are just guessing.

The AMP may be a guess but it guesses right every time. Ask anyone who has one, they will tell you they were worth every penny.

You either get it or you don't. Sorry you can't understand it.

No, I'm not leaving out any variables. It's referred to as flash annealing. If you get the brass to a certain temperature level, the time to anneal becomes so short that you can ignore it for practical purposes.

I'm not sure why you're harping on time and temperature anyway... the AMP doesn't measure temperature. If they did, they wouldn't need the Aztec mode at all. Aztec mode just melts a case to know when they've gone too far, and then they can back the time off so they don't melt the case. If they were directly measuring the case temp, they wouldn't need to destroy the first one.
 
Context matters. Flame annealing works if you are having your brass tested to verify and even then keeping flame Temps consistent across a whole run is difficult without a really good gas regulator.

If you watch AMP video you see they test their brass to prove the process is repeatable. They take fired brass from around 150 hardness scale down to about 100.

Without testing, you don't know. All brass is different so using templaq is just as futile.



A loud voice isn't the most right voice.
 
No, I'm not leaving out any variables. It's referred to as flash annealing. If you get the brass to a certain temperature level, the time to anneal becomes so short that you can ignore it for practical purposes.

I'm not sure why you're harping on time and temperature anyway... the AMP doesn't measure temperature. If they did, they wouldn't need the Aztec mode at all. Aztec mode just melts a case to know when they've gone too far, and then they can back the time off so they don't melt the case. If they were directly measuring the case temp, they wouldn't need to destroy the first one.
Thank you. All induction annealing is time based. Even the AMP. Temperature plays a part? But only because you’re getting to within a certain temp that NONE Of know? But that we know it’s been annealed. And as you e stated? It’s flash annealing. Getting to a temp range in a matter of seconds. Doesn’t have to be an exact temp. Just a range. Which induction does. Torch does as well but just not consistent. 2-3 10ths of a second more or leads isn’t exactly consistent.
 
Never had issues with Annealeez.
You wouldn’t. It works well. Induction is just more consistent but torch can be quite consistent as well. But you have to change bottles, probably reset or make sure it’s correctly set up. Where as induction is plug in and begin annealing with a button press and much faster than torch. At minimum 2/3 the time.
 
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We designed the www.epintegrations.com EP 2.0 solely around the KISS method. Not trying to be biased, but we honestly believe it's the easiest to use, ready to rock n roll flame based annealer on the market today. Especially for those that anneal 100pcs or less in a single reloading session and for someone that had and used an annealer with a hopper, IMO a hopper isn't needed especially when you can't leave a flame based annealer unattended anyway. IMO, If you need to pick up the brass, and orientate the brass in a particular direction, then IMO if it has a hopper or not, a single feed fence works just fine. Typical anneal takes about 5 to 6 seconds. 100 anneals X 6 seconds = 600 seconds / 60 seconds = 10 minutes for 100pcs, or 5 minutes for 50pcs... really not much time in the grand scheme of reloading things. I personally would take the ease of use and speed from cartridge to cartridge over a hopper anyday. Hard to explain until it till you use it type thing. Reason why it is designed the way it is. Easy and fast.

All parts, other than the motor and speed control, are milled and made in Wisconsin USA. and assembled in the basement of my house. And I test every single annealer with rolled brass with my very hands. Motor is direct drive with metal gears.

The EP 2.0 annealer really shines when going from cartridge to cartridge. EP will anneal from 17hornet to 50bmg right out of the box. You just need to supply your own blue tank and I suggest getting a LP refill kit off amazon for $25ish bucks to refill off of a 20lbs tank = makes annealing super cheap! You don't need to add or remove any parts and adjusts from cartridge to cartridge in under 30seconds. There is a reason why the ep 2.0 annealer torchhead isn't mounted too = fast!

Our email customer service is very fast and we will take care of you 100% if you have any issues. Hope this helps.

Also, we are running a 5% off sale on both the annealer and lockdown block till 01/02/2023 with promo code HOLIDAYS

 
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A point to ponder ;
A couple have posted about leaving an open flame ie ; the annealer's with hoppers is bad ? Just how many cases, say 308's do you'll think one can put in a "hopper" ? For instructional purposes only , say 30. Say 6 seconds per case that comes to 180 seconds or 3 minutes. What can you do in 3 Min. ? If it were me, I'd devote most of my attention to the flame and case just to me sure everything was "samie same Marine, you # 1" , the rest would be getting more cases ready.
To me , it seams like annealing cases ranks right along side trimming cases , so once I get set up I like to do about 300 + 308 cases. Not saying one flame annealer is better that the other .
 
You could buy a vickers test for about $200 used on eBay and do it yourself with an induction annealer and your brass. It’s not difficult.
Maybe my googlefu is bad but coundn't find one. Have a link to share?
 
For me the EP is out and the most cheaply made of the bunch with no hopper. Its just as cheap made as they could make it to make money. I have the annealeez and it works just fine but fit and finish could be a little better. The ugly annealer looks nice but I have never tried one. If I had to buy again I would try the ugly.
 
Have you considered building an induction annealer?

There is a YouTube how to video out there. You could build one very cheap…. I’ve built one and have been happy with the results.
Have a pic?
I have looked at those diy units and find it interesting
 
For me the EP is out and the most cheaply made of the bunch with no hopper. Its just as cheap made as they could make it to make money. I have the annealeez and it works just fine but fit and finish could be a little better. The ugly annealer looks nice but I have never tried one. If I had to buy again I would try the ugly.
So, you speak from experience having owned or used an EP a lot ?
 
So, you speak from experience having owned or used an EP a lot ?
Yes, used one for about a month. The fit and finish was better then the annealeez but the EP not having a hopper and just very simple on how its made. It's the same design people were building them on YouTube for under 100, with a couple small improvements. It's right at the same price as some that have hoppers and look to be a better setup. Just my opinion but if I was looking to buy one today I would get the ugly or the burstfire off Amazon and give them a try.
 
Sir,
Thank you, plus the Burstfire looks like it was designed by a "goofy footer" ie; someone that is left handed
 
"Its just as cheap made as they could make it to make money".... totally cool with someone having an opinion and I respect that. 🙏

I can also have an opinion and I 100% disagree with the above statement. This is just my opinion and how and why the EP 2.0 was developed ⬇️

I'm the one that actually uploaded the ~ $100 DIY annealer to my channel back in 2016 that has about 250,000 views and why it's adjustable big brother is called the 2.0. It's comparing apples to oranges in my opinion to the DIY annealer. The EP 2.0 is also patent pending.
due to its adjustability. EP 2.0 was designed out of need as the DIY can only do a small range of cartridges and is not adjustable at all.... also, for me personally, i got sick of playing around with wheels and mounted torch heads. By the time I screw around with wheels and mounted torch heads and filling up a hopper I'm already into annealing a good portion of my annealed brass. This is just my opinion and why it was designed it out of need in my reloading room. The EP has the ability to adjust from 17hmr to 50bmg due to the ultra deep drum in comparison, adjustable shim plate, adjustable fence, and adjustable brass stopper. The DIY version can only do a small range of cartridges and is not adjustable at all in comparison to the 2.0... There is a reason why the torch head isn't mounted = fast.

Pans are custom made for us and are twice as thick as the initial protype by hard working people in Washington state. You can not just buy these pans off amazon or ebay.

The shim plate, brass stopper block, and fence block are milled on cnc machines by hard working people in Wisconsin. You can not buy these parts. They are custom made.

Brass stoppers, fences, and milled out cases are literally done in my garage & my business partner's garage, and the cases are soon to be made for us by hard working people just down the road from us in Wisconsin.

And they are assembled and tested in my basement, in Wisconsin, by me and my business partner.

We will stand behind our product 100% and if you have any issue we will 100% take care of you.
 
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I have an Annealeez but recently ordered the EP2, actually ordered it online yesterday. Annealeez is a nice machine, but just a pain to switch out wheels for caliber changes. I also didn't like that for wildcat type cases it would melt wheels too. Also experienced times where wheels didn't rotate brass, which ruined some brass due to using hopper and not watching when issued occurred. EP2 seems to have solved all the issues for those wanting a flame based annealer.
 
Sir,
Thank you, plus the Burstfire looks like it was designed by a "goofy footer" ie; someone that is left handed
Nope,..."Goofy Footer" is a surfing/ski boarding/skateboarding term that means they ride with their right foot forward . It has nothing to do with what handed a person is .
 
Just ordered an EP2. I also have a couple wildcats as well as several rifle calibers so the easy adjustability was key. Very responsive customer service to my questions before buying.
 
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