LE Wilson Case Trimmer

[1hole]

Decades ago we had case trim dies which were fast to use excellent in repeatability when the user kept his shell holders clean. Then other brands began to offer the hand cranked lathes. That's a bit sad because the trim dies were (IMHO) all that most of us would ever need; there's no way I'd part with the half dozen I still have.

My first crank trimmer was Lyman's original "Universal" with a universal shell holder that works quickly and fine. IF I was careful in my work; nothing works well if the user is sloppy. And added lure to the Universal is the add-on tools for it; I love their military crimp removal cutter, their primer pocket and flash hole uniformers, their chamfer/deburr cutters, their outside neck turner. None of it is anything a competitive Bench Rester would lust for but they all do good case work for what most of us would ever need.

I have used a few other lathe trimmers and liked Wilson's (second) best in spite of it being (IMHO) a bit clumsy and slow to use. I also liked Redding's trimmer because it spins the cases instead of the cutter and that method makes the mouths exactly square with the necks.

Lee's unique trimmer tool is an excellent trimmer and is very fast, it's a great device for anyone trimming a large batch of cases.

I don't have to impress anyone; after some 55+ years, the only case length things still in my bench storage boxes are the old Lyman, a few Lee's and the now ancient trimmer dies.

Thing is, I truly doubt that microscopic differences in case length and mouth squareness, alone, make a measurable difference in anyone's group sizes. Selecting cases for uniformity and good necks, low loaded bullet run-out and well done load development have much bigger influence on groups than case trimmers!

[alamogunr]

I've had a Wilson trimmer for several years. I have 8 shell holders for most used rifle cartridges. As Alstep pointed out, the .308 shell holder works for derivative cartridges. Same story for .30-06, .223 Rem, 6.5X55 Swede(7.62 Bel/Arg Mauser) These are the ones I have.

There are differences in shell holders that I knew at one time but now excapes me. Has to do with new vs fired cases.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Another oft-discussed topic. I use and like mine for small jobs, while the Giraud is used when the brass runs in the thousands.

[Three44s]

I have three original Wilson trimmers now. I built my own stands for all of them plus one in case I stumble into another unit some day.

My idea is to acquire some of the other cutter accessories so I can process ex military brass in a sequence.

One stays as a trimmer for case length, another with the inside mouth debur tool, a third for removing the primer crimp.

Now I swage my military primer crimps and will continue to do so with a RCBS unit on a single stage press. But there is a small sharp edge that my swagger misses unless I set the unit to the point that my primer pockets are opened up.

That edge bothers repriming, particularily in the instance of using a progressive load press.

So the exercise is going to be inserting a case into the Wilson case holder that has had it’s pocket previously swagged. A pass on the trimmer adjusted for length trim, next it is moved to mouth debur and finnaly over to final crimp removal to take care of that pesky sharp edge. Each operation on a separate Wilson trimmer body.

My plan is perform as many operations to the casings that are desirable and feasible (limited by the sort of accessories that Wilson produces) that can be accomplished with one insertion into the case holder.

I am a confirmed inside flash hole debur fanatic with all my metallic brass and also cut the depth of my primer pockets to uniform them as well. I like my gun powder burnt well and I do not like high primers. Wilson does not make tools for those operations so they will still be done “old school”.

Three44s

[alamogunr]

I forgot that I also have primer pocket reamers for the Wilson trimmer. One was given to me by a friend when I had a bunch of crimped 5.56 brass and I bought the large reamer when I fell into some military .30-06. Does get tiresome cranking that handle but overall not too bad.

[Three44s]

Get the power adapter but keep an oil can handy as the tool runs steel on steel and they warn to lube often.

Best regards

Three44s

[Char-Gar]

I have used Wilson case trimmer since 1959. It is slow, but very precise. I have no plans to change now.

[Three44s]

Actually after I perfected my home made stands the Wilson is not that much slower. With a riser base and a secure hold down you would be surprised how convenient and comfortable running them becomes.

Three44s

[1hole]

.... With a riser base and a secure hold down you would be surprised how convenient and comfortable running them becomes.

Three44s

The reason I have long had a sturdy 3" swiveling machinist vise at the left end of my loading bench is that I can mount occasional use tools to a wood block and quickly grip them firmly in place. (case trimmer, bullet/neck concentricity gage, Dremel tool, etc.)

[Three44s]

The reason I have long had a sturdy 3" swiveling machinist vise at the left end of my loading bench is that I can mount occasional use tools to a wood block and quickly grip them firmly in place. (case trimmer, bullet/neck concentricity gage, Dremel tool, etc.)

No doubt it works well. I went further by including hold downs to also secure the case holder. Each unit I built bolts down on a some what broad base, I used retired plastic food cutting boards.

One hand rests on my home made unit with no wobbling or shifting and the other running the crank. It is fast and very portable as any decent table is sufficient to work from.

Three44s

[lightman]

Another oft-discussed topic. I use and like mine for small jobs, while the Giraud is used when the brass runs in the thousands.

This is pretty much where I am at.

I've used most of the trimmers on the market and like the Wilson the best. Once you develop a technique its just as fast as the other rotary trimmers. I liked the universal case holder on the Lyman but the chuck finally began to let the case spin. The trimmers that use collets can vary the case length by how you tighten the collet. Not very much, but they can vary a little. The Wilson does not do this.

[DonH]

But you don't have to buy a caseholder for every cartridge. One caseholder fits .30-06 family, .25-06, 6.5-06, .270, .280, .338-06, .35 Whelen. Same for .308 based cartridges, and so on.
After using a Wilson trimmer for 30+ years I cannot imagine reverting to a trimmer that only grips the case head.

[Three44s]

I am a big fan of the Lyman Universal. Once I sunk the big bucks and acquired a carbide cutter for it it out ran all my other trimmers hands down, however there was always that 2 or 3 thou drift between cases and case mouths slightly uneven.

The Wilson solved that.

With my riser base and hold down for the case holder the Wilson is just about as fast as the Universal. The factory riser and hold down would yield the same result but I wanted three of them (one each trimmer body I have) so cost was a factor.

[1hole]

I found about the same variations ... until I tried withdrawing the cutter head and reinserting it to complete the trim of each case.

After I learned how to get consistent lengths from my Lyman Universal I measured and loaded a box of perfectly consistent cases. After firing and resizing them I found a few thou spread.

So, just to see what difference those length variations actually meant, I refilled them with the same load and once again fired them all at the same target; there was no detectable difference in group size. I immediately quit agonizing over minute case length (and tiny mouth squareness) variations.

If anyone has found that absolutely consistent case lengths actually affect accuracy I'd like to hear from them.

I don't average my test groups, averages only serve to make spotty accuracy look better. I want to know my dependable group size so after I find a load that looks good I'll load and shoot twenty rounds and look at the total spread, "fliers" and all; only that way can I KNOW what my reloads can be counted on to do!

[Three44s]

My inside flash hole deburing tool indexes off the case mouth so I have a second reason to want more precision. With a sharp cutter my Wilson’s keep up.

Three44s

[afish4570]

I have used Wilson case trimmer since 1959. It is slow, but very precise. I have no plans to change now.

Been using my Wilson trimmer since 1968. I speed up the process with an elec. or battery powered drill. First remove the crank handle and I screwed on a 5/8" nut where the hand crank was. Take the 3/8" drive socket holder that fits into the impact and elec. screw diver sets and insert the socket to fit the nut you screwed onto tool where the crank was.... Harbor Fr. has the 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" socket adapter kits for $3.00 with coupon. Hope I am not too wording decribing such a simple thing. Make sure you put a drop of oil in lube hole on the lathe. I put a drop motor oil to keep the wear factor down. Presently I use Mobil 1 0-20 is what I have. Experiment and adapt your proceedure so that you are comfortable. Fairly quick and accurate too. afish4570

[Three44s]

I believe it’s 7/16” x 20 TPI (NF) and a 5/8” wrench size for the jam nut. I have looked at using a threaded rod coupler nut or even a High Nut and running a short threaded rod out the back of them turned down on the “outside end” for a drill to chuck up on.

Keeping the spinning cutter shaft lubed is very important to prevent galling.

Best regards

Three44s

[GreenRiverBoy]

Again, thanks for all the input guys. Here is a pick of my new twins; both probably made many years ago but in great shape and absolutely smooth as butter.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Z...nERmGdeSSoUiAR

[Three44s]

Again, thanks for all the input guys. Here is a pick of my new twins; both probably made many years ago but in great shape and absolutely smooth as butter.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=15Z...nERmGdeSSoUiAR

Ahhhh,

Sweet little babies ain’t they?

Once I got the size of the thread of the screws that hold the two bushings to the frame of the trimmer (8-32 TPI) I bought a length of all thread in that size. I made risers out of angle iron or otherwise used channel iron and marked and drilled holes matching the Wilson base. With the all thread I made adjustable head screws with the addition of 8-32 nuts so I could avoid having the screw tips interfering with the cutter or the trimmer’s stop screw.

The opposite side of the riser is tack welded to a thin steel plate that gives the riser a larger foot.

All this is bolted down to a repurposed plastic food cutting board (curiously of my wife).

Next I tackled the matter of holding down the case holder.

A narrow steel strap with holes drilled to bolt it down on the back side of the trimmer and a long bolt of sufficient diameter is welded to it. I cut the head off the long bolt and grind a taper in it’s place as it is fastened with the threaded end sticking straight up past the trimmer body mounted on it’s new riser.

I make spacers and supplement with washers, add a compression spring and cut two spacers that I grind the upper edge of one and the lower edge of the other at an angle to form a vertical cam. Short rods or tubes are welded to these camming parts where these fashioned handles are sticking across the trimmer body right above where the case holder will reside when the camming bushings are at their highest points.

On the under side of the handle attached to the lower cam I added a bit of scrap steel and grind it to achieve a proper hold on the case holder.

Above the cam bushings with handles are more washers and a nut or two for holding everything together and also make the unit adjustable.

My first rendition was a little rough.

By number two I was making a somewhat better unit. I have three Wilson trimmer tools so I wound up with four riser/hold down stands before I was through.

The “rough” one is plenty operational, it just is less pretty.

The beauty of these is not in looking at them but in using them. I found that they eliminate the hand cramping I got before when I held the trimmer in my lap and had to also hold the case holder by hand. These bases also speed up the trimmer to a point where it is little different than my Lyman Universal.

I saved a fair sum over buying three bases with hold downs as well.

Three44s