Little Crow Case Trimmer?

[fourarmed]

Anybody using one of the Little Crow trimmers - especially in .223? My fingers won't take much more of that crank handle on my Forster.

[Guardian]

It works as advertised if used as advertised.

I'm using one in a drill press. It's covered by the piece of PVC that I used to adapt the shop vac to it. I use a Forster Power Trimmer base with mine.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=87175&d=1384140439

It works better than a manual trimmer and not as good as a Giroud. The burr left on the case when using it in a hand held drill is minimal, but in the drill press it is substantial. In either case, you still need to chamfer and deburr. I didn't have any issues with chip buildup when using it with a hand drill, but with the drill press I've had to bore two more holes in the housing and still haven't completely solved the chip buildup problem.

For the price point, I think its about as good as it gets.

[chsparkman]

I use them for .223, .270 and 30-30. They work great, though they are best in the .223 and .270. In the 30-30 I get a little less precision, +/- .002", but still acceptable for how I load.

This tool has saved a lot of time for me.

[Ickisrulz]

I have one in 223. I like it...it's bilgistic!

[GabbyM]

Bought one last month. Needed to trim over .060" off 222 Rem cases formed from 5.56mm NATO. Lot of cutting for the old crank job. This tool takes off that 1/16th inch in a few seconds. Same too adjust for the 223 or 221 Fireball and I think a couple others. Whatever the shoulder fits. Tool bumps length off the shoulder. Just like the rifle chamber.

Can see where Guardian would have issues with chips running in a drill press. I hold the drill on it's side so the chips fall away. Held in a press the chips would fall down into the tool insert and you'd soon have chips between your case shoulder and the tools insert. Tool isn't made nor advertised to run in a drill press. Cutter is just an off the shelf four flute end mill.

I ran about 250 of the re formed cases in one sitting. Took a while. Next job for this tool is about 3,000 5.56mm cases I have sized and waiting out in the shed. Mil surps shot in large chambers then sized all the way down to 223 SAMI spec. Most of them end up around .020" long IIRC.

If you look on there company web page you'll see they have a new model with replaceable inserts for caliber change over. I just bought the standard 223 trimmer as my bolt guns get neck sized so trimming is minimal anyway.

[bobthenailer]

A+ a friend has one and he loves it !he had alot of military brass to process in 223, 308 and 50 bmg

[bhn22]

bilgistic?

[dragon813gt]

My fingers won't take much more of that crank handle on my Forster.

No need to buy a whole new trimmer. Just buy the power adapter for the Forster: http://www.forsterproducts.com/catalog.asp?prodid=700269
Well worth the money and everyone has a battery powered drill to drive it.

[Guardian]

Can see where Guardian would have issues with chips running in a drill press. I hold the drill on it's side so the chips fall away. Held in a press the chips would fall down into the tool insert and you'd soon have chips between your case shoulder and the tools insert. Tool isn't made nor advertised to run in a drill press. Cutter is just an off the shelf four flute end mill.

Actually, the chips do not fall down. Centrifugal force moves them to the sides. When using a hand drill, one's hand can't apply enough pressure for the cutter to do more than chip, really more of a flake. The cutter essentially chatters its way down to the length that's been set. On the drill press, the flakes are replaced by long chips and spiral shavings. The shavings bind in the housing and the chips hang in the shavings. This problem may be exacerbated by routine annealing of the cases.

At any rate, I'm absolutely using it in a way that was unintended by the manufacturer. I've discussed it with him in emails.

My method works, but I do have to stop and clean the trimmer housing about every 500 pieces. That translates to about every 30 minutes with the drill press.

The tool works well as intended, if you can hang on to the cases. I could not and had to seek an alternative. That's the same reason I didn't buy a Giraud. Now that I have figured out a case holder, I'll be buying a Giraud.

The WFT works well for more cases than one would like to do on a manual trimmer, but it isn't the best option for high volume. In my opinion, it's a great option for the person doing between 50 and 500 pieces in a sitting. Above 500, the Giraud will save you the chamfer/deburr time.

[Ickisrulz]

bilgistic?


Bilgistic: really good, great

[GabbyM]

Actually, the chips do not fall down. Centrifugal force moves them to the sides. When using a hand drill, one's hand can't apply enough pressure for the cutter to do more than chip, really more of a flake. The cutter essentially chatters its way down to the length that's been set. On the drill press, the flakes are replaced by long chips and spiral shavings. The shavings bind in the housing and the chips hang in the shavings. This problem may be exacerbated by routine annealing of the cases.

At any rate, I'm absolutely using it in a way that was unintended by the manufacturer. I've discussed it with him in emails.

My method works, but I do have to stop and clean the trimmer housing about every 500 pieces. That translates to about every 30 minutes with the drill press.

The tool works well as intended, if you can hang on to the cases. I could not and had to seek an alternative. That's the same reason I didn't buy a Giraud. Now that I have figured out a case holder, I'll be buying a Giraud.

The WFT works well for more cases than one would like to do on a manual trimmer, but it isn't the best option for high volume. In my opinion, it's a great option for the person doing between 50 and 500 pieces in a sitting. Above 500, the Giraud will save you the chamfer/deburr time.

OK I'm starting to get the picture. Drill press isn't shut off so continues revolutions keeps chips from falling into the insert. I may give the drill press a try. When I start in on the big lot of 5.56mm. Have one out in the shed but no heat out there. Can start up an air compressor to blow out chips too. Dirt floor so they don't even get swept up.

Annealing does make trimming lots tougher. I figured out pretty quick to trim then anneal. Cuts cleaner too as the soft brass rolls a burr while if you're lucky the brass neck will cut almost burr free.

[Guardian]

GabbyM, It isn't just the continuous revolutions, but also the size of the chips/shavings. I can't feed the drill press slow enough to prevent the large spiral shavings. I also can't seem to turn the WFT fast enough to prevent them. These large shavings require a pick to get out of the housing because they get wedged in there.

The vacuum attachment wasn't because I was worried about the chips hitting the floor, it was because I was tired of digging the chips out of my arms. I'm spinning the WFT at 2500 RPM to minimize chip size as much as I can. I've tried higher, but didn't notice any difference. Typical case trimming wasn't too bad, but I decided to see if I could convert 5.56 blank brass into usable cases. Trimming the crimps off threw lots of chips.

Having the shield over the WFT also prevents me from inadvertently sticking my finger in one of the holes in the WFT housing since I've enlarged them. Emails from the manufacturer indicated this was the reason for the housing holes being the size they are.

The annealing seems to be a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. Since you have to resize before using the WFT and you should resize after annealing, I can either resize twice or trim annealed brass. The latter takes less time for me, but it does create problems of its own.

[GabbyM]

I run the neck expander through after annealing. Lyman M die or RCBS expander. Don’t use an expander ball on the size die. If on a progressive that's station one. Graphite with a brush inside necks. With the WFT inside case diameter is not an issue before trimming. I neck size after because you get more consistent spring back and thus neck tension. I guess that’s what you were referring to by needing to size after.

[Guardian]

I'm loading jacketed and using the expander ball in the sizing die. I've been sorting, depriming, annealing, sizing, and then trimming just to avoid FL sizing twice. I had not considered neck sizing after the annealing, but your method may solve my issue. I am running them through a progressive for primer, powder, and bullet; so the neck expander in station 1 would be no issue. Thanks for the tip.

[wallenba]

Cat's meow for those big batches of Nato brass. I hold the brass with one of those rubber disks used to open jars. Get those in the supermarket, helps keep the brass from spinning in your fingers.