Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

I Made My Own Brass Striper


Recommended Posts

Yep, got the idea from www.hosercam.com

Click on products and he has a device for striping the sides of your rounds.

I used to just mark the headstamp of the case, but it was impossible to see the head stamp, especially when the brass is partially hidden in the grass.

So I went to Sears and bought two drill bits, or twist drills for all you machinists out there. A 13/32nds for 9mm cases and a 31/64ths for .45's.

(I'll be posting a pic here in a day or two, so please bear with me through my wordy explanation. It probably takes longer to explain than to actually make it.)

Drilled a 13/32 hole and a 31/64 hole in line on the edge of a 2 X 4. I have a drill press so it made things a little easier. Only went as deep as I thought necessary. Then I swapped out bits again to drill a pilot hole for a deck screw. These pilot holes were centered on the first 2 holes.

Then I used a circular saw to cut the 2 X 4 into something resembling a letter L. Took some hose clamps and clamped a Marks Alot permanent marker to this L shaped block of wood.

Drove a deck screw into each of the holes. These are used to adjust the height of the round with respect to the felt tip of the marker. So you could vary where you want the stripe to go.

Pull off the marker's cap, insert a round, headstamp end down, into the block give it a twist all the way around and there you have it. Easier to identify brass out on the range. When done, put cap back on.

The Mark III version will have a dished out area for the marker to sit in, just so the felt tip gets lower to the block.

Stay tuned for pics

Chills

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought one of the brass markers from hosercam as a gift for a shooting buddy who kept losing his 9x21. His brass was impressive with the side stripes, and easy to find.

After a bit, though, his rounds were not chambering as well as they should...in fact, he was having a lot of issues with the rounds.

Long story short, turns out that he was getting an accumulation of "marker" in the chamber of his match barrel, that eventually caused the rounds to not go in the whole way.

He started cleaning the chamber on a regualr basis and the problem went away. It will be his last season with 9x21 now that 9 major is around.

So one solution causes another problem....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Side-stripes rock. I made a striper years ago and am working on an automated one.

The downside is there are very few single colors that work well (I use red-- it's somewhat better than green and much better than blue or black), and even on a 2-pen system you have to be careful not to get colors confused.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you go folks.

Tuesday night was the first real trial for my homemade brass striper. My 9mm brass was easier to differentiate from the rest.

The other folks shooting at this IDPA style match that night were a little curious about what I was doing. Others, I think, were kinda mocking me for striping 9mm brass because 9mm ammo is so cheap.

Well, at least now, when I pick up brass, I'll be picking up my own pre-segregated by headstamp brass, once fired, twice fired etc. I'll have a separate zip lock bag for my striped stuff and another baggie for my "from parts unknown" range brass.

I was right about making a shallow area for the marker to rest in. The ink mark will show up better if it is closer to the extractor groove. The chambering in and extraction out of the case and the soot from firing kinda degrades the quality of the stripe where it goes now, but still easier to pick out.

post-5475-1119585146_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup.. it's a guy thing.. I made mine with an eye towards automating the whole process, but it was more of a 'can I do this?' project. Of course, having done it, I'd have had a lot more practice time and a few K more primers if I'd just bought one of Nolans to start with.

Someday, however, I'll be the automatic-striper-King, baby! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ditto what shred said.

now if I could just somehow incorporate this onto my 550. that would be sweet.

ahhhh, at the time I looked at hosercam.com they were out of stock and/or backordered.

and I thought I could get by just fine with a single striper instead of the double he was now selling.

Chills

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is my striper

post-2715-1119917465_thumb.jpg

post-2715-1119917501_thumb.jpg

Replace bin with funnel. (Make a cheap bracket for funnel)

Drill hole in table.

Run plastic tube from funnel to bucket on floor.

Drill three holes (triangle pattern) at or about the hieght of the table into tube.

Insert 3 eye hooks (into table) in line with holes you just drilled.

Insert markers into eye hooks with marker tips protruding into holes.

(You may have to stretch tips on markers)

Up to three colors and the process is completely automated..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hey quicksdraw,

sweet!

i suppose that makes longitudinal stripes as the complete round drops through the funnel.

i'd like to make one that made lateral or circumferential (sp?) stripes.

guess i could rig something up to funnel the rounds all nice and neat in a row right before they go to the cartridge bin. then i could somehow place a felt strip on the bottom side and then something on the top side so the case gets pushed into the felt tip.

maybe just sheer weight of the case would do it.

i'm kinda thinking like one of those combat knife training simulated knives.

nice job quickdraw!

Chills

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shot another Tuesday night IDPA style match and got all my brass back.

Stripes make it easy.

Also found out that night that Winchester is putting small primers in their Non-Toxic rounds. They're labeled NT on the headstamp, so all the nicer that my good stuff has stripes now.

WoooHOooo!

Chills

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can be the king when you get a patent number for that thing and start selling them like the Mr. Dial.

You are very smart, I will give you that though.

(We're all MacGyvers, anyway, aren't we?)

Give me a little time I'll come up with something that will make lateral/circumferential stripes automatically.

Thanks for all of the replies and the views everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I shoot any matches in December I'll make Xmas brass; red and green stripes. :P
shred

Someday, however, I'll be the automatic-striper-King, baby!

Since I've got the only "automatic" striper gizmo can I be king? It's good to be the king. :P;)

Yeah, you can be king.. for today :D. I tried to get a drop-striper going, but ended up with a bunch of bashed up marker tips, and switched to a circumfrential striper design.

I asked my little brother once.. he does high-end motion-control work-- he came up with a design that would make wavy circumfrential lines and/or barber-pole stripes. Too bad it would have cost more than a 1050 to build..

The thing I'm scoping now is spray-coloring them. I hope to have some interesting developments along these lines soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Courtesy Post everyone: Just wanna get in here and say thanks for everyone writing back.

I was thinking it would be cool if there was a way to anodize brass like the way anodized Mag flashlights look.

But anyway...

Thanks again,

Chills

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who is that guy that makes wildcat hunting barrels for the Contender ?? Years ago he published some formulas for coloring brass in,I think,Guns & Ammo mag.. If he is still around he might be able to help..Darn this memory of mine is getting selective and I don't get to select..Hell to get old..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who is that guy that makes wildcat hunting barrels for the Contender ?? Years ago he published some formulas for coloring brass in,I think,Guns & Ammo mag.. If he is still around he might be able to help..Darn this memory of mine is getting selective and I don't get to select..Hell to get old..

I have some of those formulas around here somewhere (Xerox copies, not digital files).

IIRC, you need some pretty nasty (read: caustic) materials to do it.

-Chet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...