New Double Alpha Brass Marker

Terry Schultz

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Well I got one and it sort of works. It will put a stripe on the brass if you do it just right but in my opinion more trouble than it is worth. First off almost everything is plastic, even the gears. The feed for the brass is on the wrong side. When you hook it up to a Dillion 650 it is necessary to stretch it out and put it on a lower surface so the bullet will slide down the tube and into the device (and it jammed a lot at the entrance to the stripper and at the funnel on the Dillon). If the entrance for the device was on the other side one could put it on the same level as the press. If you put it on the same level as the press then you have to arrange it so the brass goes to the rear of the bench. Which is not a big problem but when trying to use the extra funnel and tube to reach a container on the floor the device has a 90* bend in the first tube and the shell will not make that turn. I tried using the bin that cam with the Dillon but I had to maneuver it so the bin would hang off the edge of some boxes I piled up and then I had to secure the device to the board so when the bin got full the whole thing would not fall over. See the picture.

Next problem is the marking pens. If you don’t go at a good speed the pens will dry up and not mark the brass. If you stop to refill the primers, powder and/or brass the first 5 will not be marked and it would then be necessary to run them threw again by hand.

I had trouble adjusting the pens for my 45acp cartridges but it can be done and once I had it adjusted the stripes on the brass were good, but like I said you can’t stop for long or the pens will dry up. If I put the cartridges threw the machine by hand I could keep the pens marking but when I tried to use it with the Dillon 650 if was hit and miss. One of the reasons for using this is to be able to skip the step of marking my brass when I shoot league so adding another step by doing them after I have finished a batch of 100 is Counter productive.

All things considered I am going to try to send it back to Double Alpha for a refund.

Below are some pictures of the setup I had to do to get it to sort of work. The cartridges on the left were when I was having trouble getting the pens adjusted and when I waited too long between cartridges.



kQTdGMM.jpg


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The reason to mark the brass is so when you are shooing with a group you can get most of your own brass back instead of someone elses brass and to prevent someone else from inadvertantly taking yours.
Cant you draw an X with a sharpie?

Sure, you might have to do it every time you shoot with a group, but how often is that and how many rounds?

I dont know, to me, marking it with a tool like that seems like a complicated solution.
 
Cant you draw an X with a sharpie?

Sure, you might have to do it every time you shoot with a group, but how often is that and how many rounds?

I dont know, to me, marking it with a tool like that seems like a complicated solution.

That is what I have been doing but I was hoping that this would cut out that step and make a more distinct mark on the brass.
 
I gave up picking up my 9mm brass especially during a match. At 2-3 cents each it’s not with the effort.

This is 45 right? Little more pricy than 9mm brass of course.
 
can brass cases be etched or laser imprinted with out compromising the metal. If so what would that cost to do 5000 or so.
a small ink roller can work to I guess. What about chemically coloring the brass?
 
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