I use the Forster unit for the drill press with the 3 way cutter. Once set up trimming hundreds of cases is mere child's play. Best power trimmer setup ever. Just my 2¢
|
   
   
|
|
I use the Forster unit for the drill press with the 3 way cutter. Once set up trimming hundreds of cases is mere child's play. Best power trimmer setup ever. Just my 2¢
Tmaloy sweet setup but woof on the cost. That would hurt. 130+ shipping for the unit, then 20 bucks a pop for dies? That could get expensive really fast. My whole setup was less than 100 bucks including that power drive.Originally Posted by Tmaloy
Is that video of your actual setup? I dig the plastic jar for catching shavings.
If I'm going to ever go with a mounted unit it will be the forster drill press one. Hooked up to my soon to be fully restored Buffalo 15 drill press.
Ill try anything once, twice if I forgot
Care to post a picture of your setup? In really interested in how it is anchored to the work plate.
Ill try anything once, twice if I forgot
I have not found a fast and cheap solution to case trimming in large quantities. I have 3-4,000 .223 cases that I have picked up at local ranges.
I tried the Lee deluxe case trimmer that mounts on your press. I could not get consistent lengths. They varied .010 or so and after a while it just seemed like it took forever to trim a case. It seemed the cutter got dull.
I had a old RCBS trimmer that I rigged up to a spare battery drill. It is slow but gets the job done.
The best solution I found for large quantity trimming like that is the World's Finest Trimmer by little crow gunworks. Chuck that puppy up in a drill press or hand corded drill and get going! They make a WFT 2 that has interchangeable bushings for various calibers as well. The trim length can be changed by adjusting the depth of the cutter.
These http://www.giraudtool.com/Tri%20Way%20Trimmer.htm work well and while not cheap they are more cost effect than the Gracey, Dillon or full blown Giraud.
That looks a lot like the WFT.
My wife bought me the Lee Deluxe last year for Christmas and I have all of the calibers you mention plus many handgun. It is easy to set up and pretty darn precise as my gauge cant see much if any difference in the brass length. I recommend it and for the price you cant beat it.
Since you do it one at a time I would not recommend it for someone doing more than 100pcs or so at a time although it would work eventually if you had the time.
I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled
Fiat Justitia, Ruat Caelum
Hi paraord,
When I was looking at the Trim It, they had a special on it. It was on promo, The deal was the Trim It with the HSS cutter, 3 caliber dies of my choice and also a free gift which turned out to be the scissor adjustable rifle/pistol rest. IIRC, I paid $99 plus $10 shipping, at the time it was a great deal for me. This was maybe 3-4 years ago. I believe they were trying to move old stock since they were pushing the newer version with the 3 way carbide cutter.
To your other question, yes that is my actual setup, I use it all the time, just swap dies, set the micrometer barrel and trim away.
I've seen the Forster drill press trimmer in action and I have to say it is a very sweet setup, you can't go wrong with one of those or a Giraud.
Troy
The anchor plate is the drill press table. Once properly set up (centered on the spindle and depth gauge set) the process goes as follows:
1 - Put the case in the collet and tighten
2 - Lower the cutter and trim
3 - Remove the case
4 - Repeat steps 1 thru 3
Trimming a case takes just a few seconds. Below is a picture of my setup. Hope this helps....
I paid about$50 for a CTS trimmer.. It appears to be like the WFT but has no bearings. I use abattery powered drill to go thru about 200++ .308 cases in under two hours. I don"t have to chuck the brass in the trimmer or unchuck it when done.
I have a Lyman AND RCBS trimmers for short r uns, but the CTS isquicker!
Well, call me a cheapo if you will, but being on disability and required to use either creative thinking or plan ahead financing (saving the money before buying) I try to adapt when ever I can. Most of what I use is Lee equipment. So I saw the lee trimmer with the wooden ball attached and had an idea. I had an old piece of round banister rail in the basement. So I cut off a piece about 1.5 inches, drilled a hole in one end, slightly smaller than the case trimmer. Then I used a rubber mallet and gently drove the trimmer into the hole. When I trim cases, I chuck the trimmer stud into a cordless drill, attach the shell holder, load a case in the shell holder and trim using the drill at low speed. It works really well.
This isn't to say that I don't want a different system, but you do what you can afford.
Since I rarely trim over a 100 cases at a time I'm not trimming with power - all manual. I use a Wilson trimmer with the micrometer adjustment.
Using their case holder system I know I'm trimming square with the center line. Repeats to the .001".
I generally sit down and trim 500-1000 cases at a time. I bought the Giraud trimmer for my 5.56/.223 cases and it works great. Giraud also makes the tri-way trimmer for the .308 case. Recently acquired several 22-250's and Giraud doesn't sell their individual tri-way for this caliber. Has anyone been able to purchase just the head assembly off the full blown machine?
Tmaloy,
I watched your video on the trim it trimmer with interest. I have been trying to find a trimmer for 22-250 but Giraud doesn't make one in 22-250 unless you want to purchase their $450+ machine. I have their .223 and will purchase their .308 based on the performance of the .223 unit.
The Trim-It allows one to purchase an insert so one can trim different calibers? How accurate is the unit?
Hi 6bg6ga, when I set the trimmer for the video, I was trimming some LC brass. I set it to trim to about 1.750. I measured some with my calipers and they would run between 1.7504 and 1.7515. I used my General digital caliper to measure the trimmed case length. I full length size and the dies use the case shoulder/neck of the brass to headspace off. Same basically as the WFT.
You can order other trim dies for each caliber you load, it is held in place by a grub set screw and just swap it out to another and adjust the cutter if need be, then use the graduations on the barrel/sleeve to fine tune to your desired cut length.
I've tried RCBS with hand drill, Lee with drill press - they all would work; downside is the locking case in the collet takes time. Recently I've purchased Dillon trimmer - now that's convenience: mounted it on dedicated 650 toolhead with resizing die and I get trimming step "for free" while I size and deprimeObviously downside is that price is not for the faint of heart.
When creating a bunch of 300 blk cases I found it slow going on my lyman trimmer so I tries the Lee quick trim dies - fantastic... and doubly so with the drill attachment (recent addition) - with an AC drill I trimmed 20 7.5 swiss cases in a few minutes (that PPU brass stretches!).
My results are actually better than I get on the Lyman and much quicker both to set up and operate. I use the Lyman for things I don't yet have quick trim dies for.
Giraud, I have one and the Lyman and forester are dust collector now. I can trim 750 / 1000 CPH no problem
Posting Permissions
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
Reply With Quote