A few days ago I posted a thread about a case prep party. Well, the party was a success! Thanks for the ideas and suggestions! I started setting up about mid morning. I quickly decided that the garage was gonna be too hot, so I moved to the bar in the kitchen.
The first friend showed up with about 1000-1200 cases and I started trimming them, and he started feeding them to the annealing machine. I finished trimming and started doing primer pockets and flash holes. About the time we finished those cases, another friend showed up, and then another. We ran it like an assembly line, after that. We declared it cocktail hour, about early afternoon, and started on their cases. All in all, we prepped about 10k worth of cases. They all got trimmed, flash holes deburred, primer pockets uniformed, annealed, military crimps dealt with, and several hundred had to be resized. It was a long day, but not near as dull as doing a fourth that many alone!
Just a word about the tools that we used. The Giraud trimmer was great. My fingers did get tired, and I finally did switch hands. I watched it closely, and the motor never even got warm. Not even a little! One of the guys got my calipers and spot checked a bunch of cases. I was able to hold it to within about .001. The same with the Giraud annealer. It did all 10k worth of cases on a single 1# can of propane. I have another torch and hose for it, to connect to a bulk tank, but had set-up problems, and went with the small 1# can. We used mostly a combination of Mikita and Dewalt cordless drills with Sinclair case prep tools. One friend brought his RCBS case prep station. It held up to continuous use just fine, although slightly slower than the drills.
A word about planning a day like this. Everyone had their own brass. This was not a bulk buy where everyone did a little work and got a split. Everyone had their cases resized and polished, at least enough to get the lube off of them. Resizing and tumbling would have been a big holdup. The annealing machine was the slowest operation, and was still running after everything else was finished. This is not a slight towards the machine, its just the way it is. Trying to keep everyones different lots of brass seperated could have been a problem, but thankfully I had a bunch of beer flats left over from a recent crawfish cookout. I thought that I had plenty of plastic bowels, but you take several different lots of brass, at different stages of prep, and you fill them up quickly.
Late in the afternoon I sent someone to the store for steaks and potatoes! All in all, it was a fun, productive afternoon, spent among friends. Talking guns, reloading, cars, and girls, this normally dull chore went by rather quickly, and we managed to do quality work. Anyone looking at a huge amount of cases to prep should think about doing a group session. Lightman
About the time the end was coming in sight, we got hungry and made a run to the store for steaks and potatoes. A nice ending to a fun day with friends, and pretty productive!
The first friend showed up with about 1000-1200 cases and I started trimming them, and he started feeding them to the annealing machine. I finished trimming and started doing primer pockets and flash holes. About the time we finished those cases, another friend showed up, and then another. We ran it like an assembly line, after that. We declared it cocktail hour, about early afternoon, and started on their cases. All in all, we prepped about 10k worth of cases. They all got trimmed, flash holes deburred, primer pockets uniformed, annealed, military crimps dealt with, and several hundred had to be resized. It was a long day, but not near as dull as doing a fourth that many alone!
Just a word about the tools that we used. The Giraud trimmer was great. My fingers did get tired, and I finally did switch hands. I watched it closely, and the motor never even got warm. Not even a little! One of the guys got my calipers and spot checked a bunch of cases. I was able to hold it to within about .001. The same with the Giraud annealer. It did all 10k worth of cases on a single 1# can of propane. I have another torch and hose for it, to connect to a bulk tank, but had set-up problems, and went with the small 1# can. We used mostly a combination of Mikita and Dewalt cordless drills with Sinclair case prep tools. One friend brought his RCBS case prep station. It held up to continuous use just fine, although slightly slower than the drills.
A word about planning a day like this. Everyone had their own brass. This was not a bulk buy where everyone did a little work and got a split. Everyone had their cases resized and polished, at least enough to get the lube off of them. Resizing and tumbling would have been a big holdup. The annealing machine was the slowest operation, and was still running after everything else was finished. This is not a slight towards the machine, its just the way it is. Trying to keep everyones different lots of brass seperated could have been a problem, but thankfully I had a bunch of beer flats left over from a recent crawfish cookout. I thought that I had plenty of plastic bowels, but you take several different lots of brass, at different stages of prep, and you fill them up quickly.
Late in the afternoon I sent someone to the store for steaks and potatoes! All in all, it was a fun, productive afternoon, spent among friends. Talking guns, reloading, cars, and girls, this normally dull chore went by rather quickly, and we managed to do quality work. Anyone looking at a huge amount of cases to prep should think about doing a group session. Lightman
About the time the end was coming in sight, we got hungry and made a run to the store for steaks and potatoes. A nice ending to a fun day with friends, and pretty productive!
