Review: Little Crow Gunworks Worlds Finest Trimmer

[MaryB]

Now that I have an AR I was needing to process larger amounts of brass to reload. Lee trimmers work but slow, clumsy, to many steps. I searched around and ran across this http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/trimmers.html. Picked one up and I just trimmed to length 557 pieces of brass in 2 hours. That included quite a few random case length checks to make sure it was working well. Cases are +- .001"!! Clean cut that doesn't require any deburring or chamfering. The trimmer locks in a drill chuck and you hold the case in your fingers. Even with my carpal tunnel/arthritis it was no problem to run through that much brass.

Only downside is it flings brass shavings everywhere. I am going to make a hood that clamps over the drill body to make the shavings drop straight down into the brass recycle bucket.

http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/images/wft.jpg

trimmed brass, hard to get good focus on it...

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/IMG_20150321_2303540651_zpsyh4vshzo.jpg

[garym1a2]

I use these for 300 blk and 223, they are wuite fast. But, I do find that I need to deburg the cases inside and outside.

[GabbyM]

I've run my Little Crow trimmer a lot this last year. First I converted a few hundred 5.56mm to 222 Rem. Need to cut off about 1/8" after. Used a 110 volt 3/8" drill so I'd have plenty of power then just hogged it off. Without this tool I'd of had to purchase then use a cutoff saw. Or a trim die with file. Then I trimmed about four thousand 223 Rem remanufactured from once fired military surplus. That took at least .030" off. Then annealed all that.

Also bought an RCBS X die. Ran a few hundred through it and it seams to work as advertised. Others here have used them for years. Claim they work great. That should cut down on case stretching. Increasing life span. So if I anneal them every third to fifth shot. I've enough brass to hold me through retirement.

I recently had a bad experience with split necks on my 5.56mm ammo. It had been stored for about 25 years and split while in storage. Then I read up and learned about effects of age on brass. Enough of that. So now I annealed all that once fired surplus on the first reload. Since I FL sized all that batch a few years ago. After trimming first, cases cut better before annealing, I annealed it then ran it all though a Redding neck die to uniform neck tension. I achieve far lower S.D. numbers with annealed brass. That mil surplus stuff had been seriously blown out. So it gets worked a lot sizing back to 223 Dimensions. Done over I'd FL size with no expander then use my Lyman M die after annealing. Little Crow trimmer works on undersize necks since it bumps off the shoulder with nothing in the neck. Cutter is a standard 4 flute end mill available at any shop supply store. Don't let it rust and it must take many thousands of brass case s to dull. I just use a chamfer tool hand held and give it a half turn to break the sharp edge left behind. Very clean cut.

[youngmman]

Now that I have an AR I was needing to process larger amounts of brass to reload. Lee trimmers work but slow, clumsy, to many steps. I searched around and ran across this http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/trimmers.html. Picked one up and I just trimmed to length 557 pieces of brass in 2 hours. That included quite a few random case length checks to make sure it was working well. Cases are +- .001"!! Clean cut that doesn't require any deburring or chamfering. The trimmer locks in a drill chuck and you hold the case in your fingers. Even with my carpal tunnel/arthritis it was no problem to run through that much brass.

Only downside is it flings brass shavings everywhere. I am going to make a hood that clamps over the drill body to make the shavings drop straight down into the brass recycle bucket.

http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/images/wft.jpg

trimmed brass, hard to get good focus on it...

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/IMG_20150321_2303540651_zpsyh4vshzo.jpg

I use a Gracie Trimmer for .223 & .308.

[OuchHot!]

I have a Dillon case trimmer and it has a little manifold that takes a small shop vac hose. Maybe you could take a 1.5" pvc tee and make something like that to pull the trimmings off? Those trimmings get into everything!

[GabbyM]

I have a Dillon case trimmer and it has a little manifold that takes a small shop vac hose. Maybe you could take a 1.5" pvc tee and make something like that to pull the trimmings off? Those trimmings get into everything!

I just use a broom and dust pan to clean up when I'm done. No need to over think this one. No more chips are mad per case than with a hand turned cuter. You just make chips fast and yes, sling them a bit. As a retired machinist. I can tell you this is no chip problem. You have a problem when blue ones are getting inside your shirt. Landing in your hair and smoking.

Assume your Dillon trimmer is mounted on the press. Well then you have to keep chips out of the reloading press. Issue with a vacuum is noise. Get it inside a box or in the next room over with a hose through a wall or window. For the Little Crow. I'll just sweep chips.

[sparky45]

I to use the WFT in 223 and 300 BO. I find that the brass doesn't need to be deburred after I run it through a SS pin wash.



I use these for 300 blk and 223, they are wuite fast. But, I do find that I need to deburg the cases inside and outside.

[MaryB]

These will be getting a trip in stainless pins, they were tumbled before I got them and full length sized/deprimed but grungy looking. Broke down and ordered a Dillon Super Swage too.

[GabbyM]

OK:
Dillon Super Swag is by all records a fine tool. Pin Tumblers also work.
Issue I have. Once fired Mil Surp is some effed up stuff. Military loads the stuff at over 62,000 psi. It's about 60% trashed after the first shot. Story I told in post #3 is of brass I purchased at $87 for 5,000 pieces. In all seriousness I'd not pay that again. Took me seven years to get it all cleaned up. Better to just pay the $25 per hundred for Winchester new brass.

What's the Dillon Swagger cost$.I wore out a tumbler. Burned three bottles of propane.
Wore out a primer pocket uniformer.
flash hole uniformer.
RCBS FL die.
Tube full of case lube.
My elbow.


Seriously people. Do the math. Fact is once fired mil brass is worth more by the pound than what it is worth for reloading.
But then a sucker is born. Hell let us just pass laws saying I must purchase it first.

$50 a thousand is 5 cents each. Good Grief. Scrap brass is scrap brass.

I will have corn this fall to sell you at a million dollars per bushel. Trust me it's a bargain. Is the only corn grown this year.

[OuchHot!]

Sorry gabby, I'll stay off your threads in the future

[MaryB]

Out of 590 pieces of military brass I had 30 rejects and no problems processing it... I am retired so a couple hours labor is no big deal, it is free! Used the Dillon today on some FC brass I had saved up, couple hundred pieces went fast. Tossed those in the HF tumbler with pins and cleaned up nice in just 30 minutes. LC brass will get tumbled in batches tomorrow night.

[Edward]

I use a towel dedicated to just that chore , when done shake it out just don"t forget it"s last use!

[cs86]

Anyone know how the little crow trimmer works compared to the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Case Prep and Trim Center?

[MT Chambers]

Those cases in the pic. need a lot of chamfering and deburring before they can be used for cast or j-word bullets.

[MaryB]

Pic is out of focus and makes it look like a large bur that actually is barely there. I removed the burr with a fingernail!

[KnotRight]

I use the WFT for 223, 3030 and 308s. When using it, I use a 110 volt drill motor that I lock into a vise. Beats the hell out of holding it.

[MaryB]

Test loaded one for length last night with the bur as is, no issue at all and after crimping it is gone. So unless I run across one that seems really bad I am going to load as is. Have 25 primed for a ladder test of some Winchester 55 grain fmj w/cannelure. Got them cheap so have 800 to load up. Need to see what my AR likes for cfe-223 amount.

[Preacher Jim]

MaryB, pm me after you test the cfe-223 and let me know how you like it. in what i have used it in seems vary stable SD's were consistant. not tried it in AR.

[MaryB]

Worked fine in my AR on prairie dogs, no target pictures using it(need to reload a bunch but saving that for recovery from neck surgery so I am not bored silly) but this target is 100 yards with my Savage Axis 223. Forgot my spotting scope so 2 shots move an inch right then 2 more so I could see the splatter target hits

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/2014-01-06_23-08-01_101_zps8cd7af2b.jpg

[Case Stuffer]

Thanks for the review MaryB, I had seen a few reviews on the Web and even one video on U tube but your comments sealed the deal and I just ordered one from Midway. I still have approx. 550 once fired LC 5.56 to trim to length and my Lee Deluxe Quick Trim is just to labor intensive .

[MaryB]

This is so much more robust than the Lee stuff. I see doing thousands of cases before needing to swap cutters.

[GabbyM]

This is so much more robust than the Lee stuff. I see doing thousands of cases before needing to swap cutters.

I've run about three thousand 5.56 through mine after first sizing. Takes about .030" off. Trimmed a little short for the RCBS X dies. Then 3 or 4 hundred 5.56mm converted to 222 Rem. Those get 1/8th inch cut off. Plus a thousand new Winchester 223 brass where they needed just a few thousandths removed. Cutter is just feeling less sharp as its' less grabby. Slightly more burr but still clean. I'd say many thousands left in it. Cutter is just a standard HSS four flute end mill.

[blikseme300]

I have done 1000's of 223 and 300BO with the WFT units and found early on that switching the cutter to quality carbide worked so much better than HSS. I run the trimmers in a mini lathe at 1000~1500rpm and the trimming is quick and the cut is very clean. No burrs but the crisp edge can easily shave CB's if no belling and slightly crooked seating. I made my own M-die mimics that include a belling portion in the die body and use Hornady seaters to seat the boolits.

[CATTLEMAN]

I want to switch my cutters to carbide... does anyone know the technical description of the end mill that the various WFT use. My understanding is that they have 3 sizes of WFTs although I don't know if they take the same end mills or not. I am aware I can order them from little crow but being cheap I was hoping to find a better deal on the carbide end mill but I don't know the conventions for naming end mills so I don't know hat to search for.

[GabbyM]

I want to switch my cutters to carbide... does anyone know the technical description of the end mill that the various WFT use. My understanding is that they have 3 sizes of WFTs although I don't know if they take the same end mills or not. I am aware I can order them from little crow but being cheap I was hoping to find a better deal on the carbide end mill but I don't know the conventions for naming end mills so I don't know hat to search for.

Remove your end mill from the tool. Size will be etched on it. They are four flute end mills.
I really don't see the need for a carbide end mill to cut brass. Plus the common hand drill will not have enough RPM to run the proper surface speed for carbide. Carbide would work. But it's one of those if it aint broke don't fix it things. Above poster mentioned a carbide tool at higher rpm. That would be a hot rod set up if you need it.

[Maximumbob54]

I ran I don't know how many thousands of .223 hulls through my WFT until I finally started getting a little bit of ragged edge. I then replaced the cutter with a carbide version and found it worked 0% better while costing quite a bit more. I wear leather gloves to keep a blister from forming while running so much brass through the WFT. The drill press worked but the corded drill turns so much faster and seems to work better. I hold the drill trigger with my thumb so the whole thing is backwards in my hand and hold the drill inside a box to contain the shavings. I've seen where a guy rigged a pill bottle to hold the shavings but then they build up and need cleaning. I suppose the SS pins work just as well but I tumbled in corn cob and found it did as well by the time the case lube was cleaned off. I will confess that at this stage in my life I have the time to process cheap milsurp brass but I don't have the money to buy new brass all the time. I do look forward to the day when that changes but I will try to remember not everyone can afford to keep Winchester's brass line in business. I do also use the new Lee case trimmer system and enjoy it for the smaller batches of pretty much everything else.

[David2011]

OK:
Dillon Super Swag is by all records a fine tool. Pin Tumblers also work.
Issue I have. Once fired Mil Surp is some effed up stuff. Military loads the stuff at over 62,000 psi. It's about 60% trashed after the first shot. Story I told in post #3 is of brass I purchased at $87 for 5,000 pieces. In all seriousness I'd not pay that again. Took me seven years to get it all cleaned up. Better to just pay the $25 per hundred for Winchester new brass.

What's the Dillon Swagger cost$.I wore out a tumbler. Burned three bottles of propane.
Wore out a primer pocket uniformer.
flash hole uniformer.
RCBS FL die.
Tube full of case lube.
My elbow.


Seriously people. Do the math. Fact is once fired mil brass is worth more by the pound than what it is worth for reloading.
But then a sucker is born. Hell let us just pass laws saying I must purchase it first.

$50 a thousand is 5 cents each. Good Grief. Scrap brass is scrap brass.

I will have corn this fall to sell you at a million dollars per bushel. Trust me it's a bargain. Is the only corn grown this year.


Sorry gabby, I'll stay off your threads in the future

Gabby bought his before I got mine. I only got 3000 pieces for $89.00. It's about $89 per thousand now. It was a VERY long process to get it loadable. The way it was beat up it was either fired in a SAW or run over by a 6x6. Or both. It's all sitting in containers all shiny and ready to load now but in retrospect I could have bought processed brass for a little more and saved many, many hours of labor.

I started with citric acid and got rid of untold years of tarnish, sized, polished to remove the sizing lube, reamed primer pockets, trimmed, chamfered after trimming mostly with a WFT, handled every piece several times. Ended up buying a Dillon press mounted trimmer. It's mounted with a normal sizing and decapping die, the trimmer and a second decapping die set only to run the ball expander through the necks on a 650 toolhead.


I use the WFT for 223, 3030 and 308s. When using it, I use a 110 volt drill motor that I lock into a vise. Beats the hell out of holding it.

+1 on the drill in a vise.

David

[osteodoc08]

I've got one in 308 and 223 and love them. I can watch TV and trim brass at the same
time.

[Case Stuffer]

Well after being in transite for an extra week compliments of the USPS mine showed up today and trimming those extra long LC 5.56 cases are almost fun now This is very likely one of the best $70 investment I have made in a long time when it comes to reloading equipment.

[spuddicus]

I've got three of the wfts now (.223, 300bo, and 22tcm) I've zip tied a drill to a table top and use a foot pedal to turn the drill on and off, probably the best couple bucks I spent at harbor freight in a while.

[MaryB]

Brass cost is relative, I am retired and have all kinds of time to clean and prep brass so why not buy cheap and save money!

[Case Stuffer]

Brass cost is relative, I am retired and have all kinds of time to clean and prep brass so why not buy cheap and save money!

I agree 100% , I can purchase new .223 Brass for $25 per hundred which equals 250 per 1K , once fired uncleaned /unprocessed Military for $30 for 1K or fully procssed once fired military for $128 for 1K. Being retired I have much more free time than extra money plus I need a hobby to keep me active and for some strange reason I enjoy reloading.