Lyman Universal Trimmer

[bigarm]

I was setting up to reload for 30-30 today. I had some once fired brass. I had a Lyman Universal Trimmer that I had not used before. As per directions I sized and decapped the brass. I then tried to set up the trimmer to trim the brass. I had a horrible time. Could not get the brass in deep enough to trim. Finally out of desperation, I changed the pilot to the 28 instead of the 30 so the brass would go far enough on the pilot to trim. It worked, but my question is what am I doing wrong?

[country gent]

Your probably not doing anything wrong per say. What is happening is your die expander ball is leaving cases on the small side for your pilot. measure inside Dia of a sized case mouth and your 30 cal pilot. See what that tells you. You can fit the pilot to your brass with a lathe or drill press and some sand paper. Polish it down to a running fit and trim away.

[trapper9260]

I have the same problem also with the pilot also and just went down to the next size .But now for what you said to do country gent, I will do just that .I have a bench drill press I will do it on.

[country gent]

Due to tolerences in manufaturing a tighter die or smaller expander ball and a larger pilot combine to create this issue. A couple thousandths polish with sand paper and If you want to get really fancy a min or so with flitz or simichrome on a cleaning patch for a bright mirror finish is all thats needed. Remember to keep the pilot lightly lubed also. I use a q-tip and sizing lube. This helps reduce friction and wear on the pilot and provide a little lube to the cutting edges.

[trapper9260]

Ok thank you for that information.I am not trying to take over the post form the OP .just have the same problem.

[bigarm]

Thanks for the information. I ordered a size 29 pilot and picked up some wet/dry sand paper today so I can fiddle with it. trapper9260 -don't worry about it. You were just helping both of us get the information we needed. I struggled and struggled with it until I was just about to give up. Then I decided to try the 28 pilot. It was a little sloppy, but got the job done.

[country gent]

With the pilot fitted just slighty snug or running fit ( can feel light drag going into case neck) and the lube you will get alot less chatter and a much squarer cut. I perfer a thick grease wax type lube for the pilot and cutter as it dosnt fly and migrate around as fast. With a q tip apply a little to pilot and cutter edges then it should do 3-5 cases depending on ampount being cut speed of cutter and size of case. Experiment a little and see what works for you under your conditions.

[Three44s]

I use the Lyman Universal almost exclusively.

If you can decap before you size, I'd run any unsized cases on the trimmer prior to sizing.

One other item is to try inside debur your already sized cases before you try to trim them to see if you have a turned in ridge at the inside of the case mouth. This would be due to the then factory ammo having been crimped, fired and then your full length die sizes the outside of the neck ..... as it should ...... but if a ridge exists ..... it's turned in and result is your pilot does not want to enter. This in addition to the tight neck you are experiencing.

Also, if you were to get this working with the proper pilot ......... you will have to watch that if you have to trim much ........ you may well create a new inside mouth ridge and that will try to retain your pilot inside the case mouth .........

On some of my pilots, I have had to grind or lightly drill a shallow recess into the shank of the pilot that corresponds with the set screw that retains it to reduce pilots being "fetched out" by tight mouthed casings or ridges that have formed during trimming.

One other piece of advice about the Lyman trimmer: After a few years, my cutter just wasn't "cutting it" ....... too slow, too dull. I complained to my local gunsmith and he sold me for a pretty penny ......... a carbide cutter ...... it was only ten dollars less than I paid for the whole trimmer .......

He assured me it was worth the money ......... and man ...... he was right!

My original cutter slowed down after on a few years ...... maybe four or five ........... now, my carbide cutter ..... is going on thirty years and is still going strong!

Best of luck

Three 44s