Forster Trimmer

In Mar of 15', I bought a Forster trimmer from a member here. He stated that the cutter was broke, but functional, so decided to get it. I put it away and until recently when I began converting more 5.56 brass into 300 Blackout and 277 wolverine I hadn't needed it. So I decided to setup the trimmer to process the brass, but wanted to replace the cutter, I ordered one from Midsouth only to find out it would not fit the old bearing. I contacted Forster, and they stated that yes, sometimes that happened so just to send in the bearing, collar and new bearing and they would hone them so they would fit. I had the neck turner as well and one of the pieces, the cam, didn't fit either so asked about it and sent that as well. I got the pieces back yesterday only to find out they didn't hone out the cam. I wasn't happy about having to pay to ship the pieces in the first place so I figured I would hone the cam myself and just trim my cases for now.

Well, I assembled the trimmer only to find out the base was damaged as well, when the bearing is tightened down it is canted and does not lineup with the brass. It must of been glued down or something as I recalled trimming a couple cases when I got it, and it seemed ok. There was some residue on the bearing and base when I disassembled it to send in to forster. So now I have to get a base for the trimmer as well. I would just go to my other trimmer but I am invested in this one now as I have purchased the hollow pointers, collets, case, new cutter shaft, and power adapter etc. So now I am thinking of cutting off the end of the base and seeing if I can use it as the short base Forster offers; they have a 4 5/8" one for 9mm cases and such, which I normally don't trim, the original is 5 3/8" so it would be a 3/4" trim.

So, all this to ask...has anyone tried to fix one of these bases, force the bearing to align, etc. It's been a frustrating experience so far so my first thought was to just chuck the base and call it a day but figured it didn't hurt to ask.

Canted case
Attachment 218109
I switched positions of the bearing and collet holder to see if that would make a difference but nope.
Attachment 218111

Two courses of action as I see it, Without a view without a straightedge on the base I will assume only one end of the base is bent. On mine the collet base and cutter bearing have 2 holes to widen or shorten on whichever base it is on to give some basic adjustment. If the bend in the base is isolated to one end it may be possible to drill a new hole closer in away from the damaged area and still retain enough clearance for the caliber your working on. Worst case you remove the O-ring shaft stop to allow the cutter/pilot to go into the bearing for the necessary room to get the shell seated for trimming. Once set you could then lop off the offending end of the base.

Of course the default option is to just bite the bullet and get the new base.

I would put a straight edge along the various flat surfaces first, this will show if it got bent during shipping. Also look for dings where the bearing sits as it dosnt take a lot in the shorter length of the bearing to move it that far. If bent straighten as best you can and see how it looks. you may have to "Bed" it in to achieve final complete accuracy. Coat the out side of the bearing with release agent. and moix some good epoxy ( J*B weld, plastic steel) set up with a case in the collet straight and pilot in the case apply a coat of epoxy and clamp the bearing in located like this then let cure. Plug holes off with clay or play dough. When cured clean up holes and bolt together and check it again should be perfect.

Before you futz with it, email them, send some pictures, tell them that you just got it back from them in this condition and ask them what you should do. If they don’t just give you a new base I bet they’ll sell you one cheap.

As country gent mentioned, "I would put a straight edge along the various flat surfaces first"

When you are sure that it is the base that isn't true, and NOT that the bearing or other end aren't 'mis-mounted' or that Forster didn't screw up your bearing when they honed it? Then I'd contact Forster about a replacement base ...FYI, I see midway has them for $20
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/49...iABEgKC0vD_BwE

Well, under closer scrutiny it is damaged. I put a straight edge on it and it is indeed the end that is the problem.
Attachment 218157
I tried moving the bearing closer, to the next hole, but that didn't help since it was just 1/4". So I drilled another hole 1/4" further in, for a total of 1/2" and that brought it into better alignment.
Attachment 218158
But now, a 308 case is about the longest I can trim, and no neck turning because there's no room for it.
Attachment 218159
So, in the end it's a new base in store for this trimmer. I think I'll process all those hundreds, maybe thousands, of cases on this damaged base before I swap the base out to the new one, in case that is what damaged it with the previous owner. Do to the clearance, at least I don't have to worry about cutting off 3/4" off the end.

I have an extra base, send me your address, via PM

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Originally Posted by Czech_too

I have an extra base, send me your address, via PM

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It's guys like you that make this place so wonderful; Thank You, I appreciate the offer, but I just found and ordered one off EB for $12 (edit, it was actually $12.99)shipped.

I bought one of the new Forster Trimmer several years ago to replace an older Pacific trimmer, I didn't like it at all...the Universal shell holder part universally didn't hold anything ...it sucked rocks.
I'm still using the cast iron based Pacific.
If you want the infernal thing and if I can find it , I will give it to you. No charge.
Gary

If he does not want it I will certainly make good use of it.

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Originally Posted by gwpercle

I bought one of the new Forster Trimmer several years ago to replace an older Pacific trimmer, I didn't like it at all...the Universal shell holder part universally didn't hold anything ...it sucked rocks.
I'm still using the cast iron based Pacific.
If you want the infernal thing and if I can find it , I will give it to you. No charge.
Gary

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwpercle

I bought one of the new Forster Trimmer several years ago to replace an older Pacific trimmer, I didn't like it at all...the Universal shell holder part universally didn't hold anything ...it sucked rocks.
I'm still using the cast iron based Pacific.
If you want the infernal thing and if I can find it , I will give it to you. No charge.
Gary

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It does take some getting used to, I find that the case has to be placed in there straight, and held while tightening the collet. I use the longer pilot, the one for neck turning, to guide the case straight, then tighten. Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty quick.

I had an original Forester - Appelt trimmer that I traded for some other `must have` supplies. Wish I still had it.Robert

I have used Forster trimmers for close to 30 years now, and they have been accurate, tractable tools for the purposes I use them for--case trimming and neck reaming. The Forster system's "stop collet" is a superior design to the RCBS trimmer's "draw collet" design.

So went to do some trimming this weekend and wouldn't you know it I could not use the old base. The stop collar would hit the edge, barely in some spots, and would not give consistent lengths. So swapped it with the new base and put the pilot in for my 5.56/223...that's when it got strange. So I noticed the case would wobble, my first thought was they honed the pieces out of round. but then I just spun the shaft with out a case and it was the pilot that was wobbling. Seems that somehow I put the Lyman pilots into the Forster case. :oops:

So, I guess the purchase wasn't as good as I had first thought, it had a bad cutter, bad base, only a .308 neck turning pilot along with the outside neck turner. I probably should of just bought a new one and been done with it. Anyone want to sell or trade me some of their extra pilots?

Think your almost there, don't be discouraged. I believe Forster uses the same pilot size as Hornady and a couple others. I have the list around here somewhere.

I bought my first Forester in the early 90's maybe. I finally bought a second used one a few years ago so I could send the first ones cutter out to be resharpened. Now I keep that one set for my most common brass and use the other for everything else. Once you get it sorted it will be good.

The original Forrster trimmer had a very loyal following. Everyone that owned one seemed to like it. I hate to hear about the problems that you had with yours. I'm a little surprised Forrster did not take better care of you. Thats kind of unusual in the reloading equipment industry. Hope you get this guy up and running after all of the trouble you have had.

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Originally Posted by lightman

The original Forrster trimmer had a very loyal following. Everyone that owned one seemed to like it. I hate to hear about the problems that you had with yours. I'm a little surprised Forrster did not take better care of you. Thats kind of unusual in the reloading equipment industry. Hope you get this guy up and running after all of the trouble you have had.

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Waranties usually don't apply to abuse. The OP bought a broken and bent trimmer. Forster fixed what he asked to be fixed. Forster did not know the base was bent as they did not have the base to examine. Seems like Forster took good care of the OP.

I have a Forster trimmer and it works well for trimming. I use a Sinclair tool for neck turning.

I did purchase a hollow pointer for the trimmer. Evidently there is some learning curve for that thing. I have no problem putting a hollow point in the bullet to consistent depth but I am not getting it anywhere near centered.

I own a Forester trimmer but have only used it for outside neck turning. I think if you have one in good shape and it never gets beat up it is fine. But I am not a fan of collets for case holders particularily. You have to have a range of them to cover the various case heads if you load for a lot of cartridges and I find it is tedious to get your trim length very consistent.

For my average trimming chores I use a Lyman Universal tool with a carbide cutter (no collets used) and lately have begun switching more of my case trimming over to the Wilson case trimmer, particularily with the “varmint calibers”.

With the Wilson I get the best trim length consistency and also the very squarest case mouths. You end up with several collets with the Wilson as they hold the body of the case and even 2 holders for a given cartridge “fired” and “new” or “sized” depending on the body taper or lack of it so that can get tedious, but the pay off is in the results.

Over time I have been accumulating multiple trimmer units and holders (used) and intend to set them up as prep stations with the stops set appropriately with the other specialty tools (inside neck de bur, primer pocket recut etc.). If I had not fallen into all this Wilson stuff priced right I would have never taken the plunge though .... that is for sure!

Knowing what I know about the Wilson tools I would buy one base unit and enough case holders for my most accurate cartridges though if need be.

Three44s