Interesting Wilson 38 Special case trimmer factoid.

[Char-Gar]

I recently picked up (cheap) a Wilson case holder in 38 Special for their trimmer. This type requires to case to be pressed in and pressed/driven out. There is a constriction in the neck area. This is very easy to do and having an Arbor Press it is duck soup.

Wondering what passing a case through this gizmo would do for the specs, I hauled out the tools and went to work.

There is enough constriction in this hardened tool to reduce the outside neck diameter .003 and bring the inside diameter to .357. This is the same size you would have after passing the case through a .358 expanding die after the spring back. So a little bell so you don't shave lead and a .358 - .359 bullet could be seated with ease with good neck tension for soft bullets. I suspect a bevel base bullet would need no bell. I will have to try and see.

Unless the case has expanded enough to require full length resizing to chamber freely, this is a very workable option with minimal working of brass for long case life.

Just passing along my discovery of the day...

[Grump]

I thought that some/many/most of the Wilson caseholders were designed to be used with fired then sized cases. Picked up a few over the years and the .30 Carbine is one that won't take unsized cases from my guns, for example.

I also remember that Wilson would custom-cut holders for anyone.

Interesting find on the minimal-sizing option. That caseholder might have been cut for the old pre-/non-carbide dies that went tighter the last half-inch or so at the mouth end. I have one of those dies around somewhere, an old carbide that IMO sizes too much, and a Hornady Titanium Nitride that's Goldilocks for me.

[EDG]

The case holders are really handy for reworking or case conversions in a lathe.
Just tap a tapered rifle case into its holder until it locks and then chuck the holder in the lathe.
You can cut off excess brass such as trimming .270 Win for use in a 7.65 Mauser or for cutting off .303 Brit to make 6.5X53R Dutch Mannlicher. You can also turn it around to permit turning case heads and rims or for cutting extractor grooves.

[deepwater]

From Wilson web page:

Fired Case Holders = Neck Sized only or if you are forming wildcat calibers and want to trim non-full length sized brass
New Case Holders = Full length sized cases or New factory brass
Standard Case Holders = These will work for all cases New or Fired