Tom Freeman Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 A couple years ago I bought a Giraud annealer. Every time I use it I am always impressed with how well it works. Doug's trimmer is kick butt also by the way. I anneal most precision rifle brass every 3-4 reloads. 338 Lapua every other time and 50 BMG every reload. Below is the hopper loaded up with 200-250 pcs of 6CM brass. I am using MAP gas so I can cut down the processing time. Doing batches of 500 (308, 260, 243) takes about two hours of machine time. Takes me 5 minutes to load the hopper. Using templaq, the inside of the case neck got to about 750' and the 450' zone did not extend more than 3/8 or so down below the annealed discoloration. Pics of the finished brass. From left to right. Factory Virgin Lapua 308, unannealed 6CM, annealed 6CM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Tom, Was the set up on this machine that difficult? Do you anneal after resizing? What is the reason annealing is done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWThomas Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I am seriously considering buying one of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Freeman Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 Tom, Was the set up on this machine that difficult? Do you anneal after resizing? What is the reason annealing is done? It was easy to set up and get running. Changing calibers is also very easy. I anneal after cleaning/trimming. After they are annealed I just load them up. Annealing makes all the case mouths the same as far as tension goes. Might not help at short ranges but helps at long range. http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Freeman Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 I am seriously considering buying one of these. Just like Dougs trimmer, it is money well spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9supercomp Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 + 1 on the case trimmer and next thing is the Dougs Annealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonOfSpartans Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Nice looking unit. I am actually going to have to admit to being fascinated by the reaction of the digital camera to the pattern of the shells in the hopper. (Yes, novice camera nerd) Carry on and thanks for posting the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hunter Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I have one - it rocks. Don't think twice. Well engineered and a solid build! Super easy caliber change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHall Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 (edited) I assume you use like a bbq sized propane tank or something, if so how many cases can you do on a tank? Edited February 11, 2014 by RHall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hunter Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 (edited) No although I guess you could if you changed out some fittings. It comes set for the small standard "buy it anywhere" propane tanks. I've done at least 1000 on a tank. Very high quality torch assy... There are videos on Doug's site of it in operation. It's a damn fine machine. Edited February 11, 2014 by Doc Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Would be really cool if they made one that ran with natural gas. Just hook it up to the wall, power and gas and forget the tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gussers Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Would be really cool if they made one that ran with natural gas. Just hook it up to the wall, power and gas and forget the tanks! With a different regulator, I bet you could do this. It would be interesting to try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Miles Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 After looking at that annealer... I need a cigarette! A freekin work of art! Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Mapp gas with brass has a Hydrogen embrittlement potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Would be really cool if they made one that ran with natural gas. Just hook it up to the wall, power and gas and forget the tanks! With a different regulator, I bet you could do this. It would be interesting to try it out. Propane and NG use the same regulators. For NG, you would need to open up the orifice to account for the reduced energy as compared to Propane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gussers Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Propane and NG use the same regulators. For NG, you would need to open up the orifice to account for the reduced energy as compared to Propane. I thought NG was under lower pressure (in the home) than propane or mapp gas from a tank. If the inlet pressure is different and the regulator is fixed, wouldn't the outlet pressure be different too? BTW, I agree the orifice is a different size as well. I think the suggestion was to get away from a tank completely and just plumb the annealer in to the home's NG system to avoid having to swap/refill tanks. Then the unit could just run as long as needed to finish the job without worry about fuel levels. I think you're thinking CNG (compressed) and the other guy and I were talking about Natural Gas as it comes out of the pipes in your home (already regulated at the meter). OTOH, since natural gas is so much less BTU, it may be that it can't heat the case quickly enough to only anneal the top portion of the case. Apparently, based on what I've read, brass conducts heat pretty readily and heating the entire case will ruin it. It would be an interesting experiment. Kinda like the guys in the other part of the forum talking about converting a chrony to bluetooth and writing a phone app for it. Great stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Yes, tank pressures are different than line pressures. But you can get a high pressure tap off of some of the newer gas meters, maybe 40 to 120 psig. I'd think a venturi type torch with NG that runs at higher pressures would be needed to get the temperature and time needed for annealing. I may have to play with some systems and see what I find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Freeman Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Mapp gas with brass has a Hydrogen embrittlement potential. I have not run into that yet annealing 50 BMG, 338 Lapua, 260 and lots of 243 and 6.5 BR. Some of my 6.5 BR brass has over 15 reloads on it. Lucky I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 If you want me to run a piece of that 6.5 brass through the SEM, you know how to find me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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