Review: Little Crow Gunworks Worlds Finest Trimmer

[MaryB]

This is so much more robust than the Lee stuff. I see doing thousands of cases before needing to swap cutters.

[GabbyM]

This is so much more robust than the Lee stuff. I see doing thousands of cases before needing to swap cutters.

I've run about three thousand 5.56 through mine after first sizing. Takes about .030" off. Trimmed a little short for the RCBS X dies. Then 3 or 4 hundred 5.56mm converted to 222 Rem. Those get 1/8th inch cut off. Plus a thousand new Winchester 223 brass where they needed just a few thousandths removed. Cutter is just feeling less sharp as its' less grabby. Slightly more burr but still clean. I'd say many thousands left in it. Cutter is just a standard HSS four flute end mill.

[blikseme300]

I have done 1000's of 223 and 300BO with the WFT units and found early on that switching the cutter to quality carbide worked so much better than HSS. I run the trimmers in a mini lathe at 1000~1500rpm and the trimming is quick and the cut is very clean. No burrs but the crisp edge can easily shave CB's if no belling and slightly crooked seating. I made my own M-die mimics that include a belling portion in the die body and use Hornady seaters to seat the boolits.

[CATTLEMAN]

I want to switch my cutters to carbide... does anyone know the technical description of the end mill that the various WFT use. My understanding is that they have 3 sizes of WFTs although I don't know if they take the same end mills or not. I am aware I can order them from little crow but being cheap I was hoping to find a better deal on the carbide end mill but I don't know the conventions for naming end mills so I don't know hat to search for.

[GabbyM]

I want to switch my cutters to carbide... does anyone know the technical description of the end mill that the various WFT use. My understanding is that they have 3 sizes of WFTs although I don't know if they take the same end mills or not. I am aware I can order them from little crow but being cheap I was hoping to find a better deal on the carbide end mill but I don't know the conventions for naming end mills so I don't know hat to search for.

Remove your end mill from the tool. Size will be etched on it. They are four flute end mills.
I really don't see the need for a carbide end mill to cut brass. Plus the common hand drill will not have enough RPM to run the proper surface speed for carbide. Carbide would work. But it's one of those if it aint broke don't fix it things. Above poster mentioned a carbide tool at higher rpm. That would be a hot rod set up if you need it.

[Maximumbob54]

I ran I don't know how many thousands of .223 hulls through my WFT until I finally started getting a little bit of ragged edge. I then replaced the cutter with a carbide version and found it worked 0% better while costing quite a bit more. I wear leather gloves to keep a blister from forming while running so much brass through the WFT. The drill press worked but the corded drill turns so much faster and seems to work better. I hold the drill trigger with my thumb so the whole thing is backwards in my hand and hold the drill inside a box to contain the shavings. I've seen where a guy rigged a pill bottle to hold the shavings but then they build up and need cleaning. I suppose the SS pins work just as well but I tumbled in corn cob and found it did as well by the time the case lube was cleaned off. I will confess that at this stage in my life I have the time to process cheap milsurp brass but I don't have the money to buy new brass all the time. I do look forward to the day when that changes but I will try to remember not everyone can afford to keep Winchester's brass line in business. I do also use the new Lee case trimmer system and enjoy it for the smaller batches of pretty much everything else.

[David2011]

OK:
Dillon Super Swag is by all records a fine tool. Pin Tumblers also work.
Issue I have. Once fired Mil Surp is some effed up stuff. Military loads the stuff at over 62,000 psi. It's about 60% trashed after the first shot. Story I told in post #3 is of brass I purchased at $87 for 5,000 pieces. In all seriousness I'd not pay that again. Took me seven years to get it all cleaned up. Better to just pay the $25 per hundred for Winchester new brass.

What's the Dillon Swagger cost$.I wore out a tumbler. Burned three bottles of propane.
Wore out a primer pocket uniformer.
flash hole uniformer.
RCBS FL die.
Tube full of case lube.
My elbow.


Seriously people. Do the math. Fact is once fired mil brass is worth more by the pound than what it is worth for reloading.
But then a sucker is born. Hell let us just pass laws saying I must purchase it first.

$50 a thousand is 5 cents each. Good Grief. Scrap brass is scrap brass.

I will have corn this fall to sell you at a million dollars per bushel. Trust me it's a bargain. Is the only corn grown this year.

Sorry gabby, I'll stay off your threads in the future

Gabby bought his before I got mine. I only got 3000 pieces for $89.00. It's about $89 per thousand now. It was a VERY long process to get it loadable. The way it was beat up it was either fired in a SAW or run over by a 6x6. Or both. It's all sitting in containers all shiny and ready to load now but in retrospect I could have bought processed brass for a little more and saved many, many hours of labor.

I started with citric acid and got rid of untold years of tarnish, sized, polished to remove the sizing lube, reamed primer pockets, trimmed, chamfered after trimming mostly with a WFT, handled every piece several times. Ended up buying a Dillon press mounted trimmer. It's mounted with a normal sizing and decapping die, the trimmer and a second decapping die set only to run the ball expander through the necks on a 650 toolhead.

I use the WFT for 223, 3030 and 308s. When using it, I use a 110 volt drill motor that I lock into a vise. Beats the hell out of holding it.

+1 on the drill in a vise.

David

[osteodoc08]

I've got one in 308 and 223 and love them. I can watch TV and trim brass at the same
time.

[Case Stuffer]

Well after being in transite for an extra week compliments of the USPS mine showed up today and trimming those extra long LC 5.56 cases are almost fun now This is very likely one of the best $70 investment I have made in a long time when it comes to reloading equipment.

[spuddicus]

I've got three of the wfts now (.223, 300bo, and 22tcm) I've zip tied a drill to a table top and use a foot pedal to turn the drill on and off, probably the best couple bucks I spent at harbor freight in a while.

[MaryB]

Brass cost is relative, I am retired and have all kinds of time to clean and prep brass so why not buy cheap and save money!

[Case Stuffer]

Brass cost is relative, I am retired and have all kinds of time to clean and prep brass so why not buy cheap and save money!

I agree 100% , I can purchase new .223 Brass for $25 per hundred which equals 250 per 1K , once fired uncleaned /unprocessed Military for $30 for 1K or fully procssed once fired military for $128 for 1K. Being retired I have much more free time than extra money plus I need a hobby to keep me active and for some strange reason I enjoy reloading.