Wilson brass trimmer

[RedHawk357Mag]

Hello. Got a question for the Wilson case trimmer folks. First off this reflects nothing on the Wilson trimmer as this thing is money most of the time. Recently bought some at least once fired brass in 38 Special and wanted to trim to a common length. While trimming sometimes the trimmer does weird stuff like it will trim then stop trimming like it has reached the target length but is still .003 short of target length. I will place a cartridge back in and it will knock off a thousand and possibly two. Sometimes it will knock the remaining three thousands off. Sometimes it will crank off too much. When it goes overboard it overshoots by .005-.007. It does this randomly. I have checked the allen head screws on the mount, absolutely snug. Cleared the track that case holder sits on of brass shavings. Cleaned the case holder and crossbar looked at micrometer shaft, nothing funky there. The only thing i can guess is some of the cases are kind of funky on the rims. When placing the cartridge in the holder I placed the crossbar in litely and rotating the cartridge left or right and could feel the cartridge rim catching the crossbar. I tried snugging it turned away from me, towards me and centered. All three settings resulted in proper cuts and the abovementioned funky cuts. I have trimmed A LOT of brass with this trimmer with little to no drama. Being 38 brass I am not sweating a few mangled cases but had I been trimming new 357 mag or new 44 mag cases I would be smoken hot. I am at a loss what else to look at. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[TNsailorman]

Are you using one of the case holders that is the "Q" style? If so. are you using the same manufacture or different headstamps? The "Q" style holds the case by the rim and rim thickness variances can make a difference(you probably already know this). Also, small nicks, even very small nicks in the rim can cause variances in trim length. As a precaution, I paint one side of the bar on my "Q" sets so that the same side is up each and every time, maybe overkill, but I do like to establish a system and stay with it. I have a .41 magnum case sitting on my desk right now that the rim diameter had a too small diameter and also too small thickness as it came from the factory. I had bought a bag of 500 cases as factory new and about 10 of them were like this one. Out of spec. cases do get through to the customer once in a while. But not being able to see what is happening, I am just guessing about your problem. james

[RedHawk357Mag]

I would say that sounds feasible. And yes to the Q Sets. I etched my crossbar to ensure that it always presents the same side to the cartridge. I should have mentioned that in the original post. Good catch. Thanks for posting. I am sure it's probably cartridge related.

[NavyVet1959]

Are you removing the primers before trimming?

[RedHawk357Mag]

Thanks Navy. Yes I am. Resized, deprimed and sorted by size to the thousands by headstamp.

[ioon44]

One other thing to consider is how sharp is your cutter and the different hardness of different head stamps. I keep turning my cutter until no more brass is cutting and keep pushing the Q holder down and away from the cutter.

[Char-Gar]

I use the Wilson trimmer to trim many 38 Special cases to a uniform length and have never had the problem you describe. But, I don't use the Q type shell holder. I use the press in and press out shell holders. I have a $40.00 Harbor Freight 1 ton arbor press on the bench next to the small vise that hold the Wilson trimmer which makes all of this pretty quick and easy. I also put a couple of nuts on the threaded adjustment screw to lock it into place.

With the press in/out Wilson case holders I can trim all brass regardless of make to the same OA length. I keep a dummy case with the shell holders, so it is easy to adjust the trimmer again the next time I want to use it. I trim all my revolver brass regardless of caliber this way. My way of doing this is not fast, but it is extremely precise and with uniform case length I get a uniform crimp regardless of make of brass. I have an extra 38 Special seating die, with the stem removed, set up to crimp these 38 Specials that lives in the turret of my Redding press. I load so many 38 Specials that I have the press dedicated to that caliber.

The arbor press is a great addition to a reloading bench, once a longer handle has been installed. It is easy to FL resize cases using either the Wilson or Lyman hand sizing dies. It is one of these tools that you didn't know you needed, until you have one. It has all kinds of uses around the loading shop.

I might add that the Wilson press in and out shell holders sizes the neck of the fired cases enough that if the case is going back in the same revolver, there is no need to size the case. All that is necessary is run the case into the expander die to expand a smidge and bell the case. Depending on the make of the case, they come out of the Wilson shell holder with an ID of about .357. I run them into a Lyman 310 .358 expander and I am ready to go. But, if the loaded rounds might be used in different revolver, then you need to FL size the cases after trimming.

[RedHawk357Mag]

Pushing away from the cutter... That works to prevent over cutting brass today. I was not doing that. That's a fantastic tip. I use a super duper hand clamp to hold the Q case holder to the cutter rail but I wasn't putting tension towards the micrometer. I think that is the solution. Char, much appreciated with the effort of your post. I think that having a Arbor press is an excellent idea. I have a couple bullet molds that need slight alignment pin adjustment and I think that would just be the ticket to nudge them. I think I can get behind a press fit case holder for my 357 brass and 44 magnum brass. I hate to booger either of those two when trimming; seeing one empty spot in a 100 round case box wears on my soul. Thanks everyone much appreciated.