Advice on case trimmer

[Big Dangle]

There are 100s of options out there and I know everyone has a different favorite and one they deam the greatest. But this will be my first one and probably not doing a large amount as of yet. Plus Ive seen people use one with a drill and make HP boolets and I think that would be fun to experiment with. Thanks for the help fellas

[hc18flyer]

I have been using a Redding #14 for a couple of years, hand cranked, which works fine. I am reloading for 3 Mausers in 8X57, so I have plenty of trimming time. I wanted to try hollowpointing some of my .358 Win and 8 X 57 for deer hunting, so I just bought a Forster with the power adapter. I will likely use the crank for hp's and the adapter to speed up the trimming process? I think I will like the Forster? My sell the Redding? Flyer

[country gent]

Some I have used are 1) wilson Lathe type trimmer, very accurate and simple use case holders that are case specific and over under sized chambers may become a issue. cases are stationary cutter turns . 2) Lyman a basic lathe type trimmer case is stationary cutter turnswith a pilot, cuttershafts are available for power turning, carbide cutters and neck turning attachments available. 3) Gracey very fast electric motor powered trimmer cutter turns, cases need to be bottle necked, original cutters can be a pain to get set properly but when set trims chamfers inside and out, Nice unit and works well. 4) redding 2400? lathe type trimmer, cutter is stationary and case turns, uses pilots and universal collet, michrometer adjustment on cutter. 4) Forester drill press trimmer. seperate base collet and cutter. Runs in drill press so only as accurate as stop on drill press. set up isnt to bad but needs good alighnment and clamping to table. For a power trimmer it is good but not as fast as the gracey or some other power trimmers. Uses a uneversal collet. I feel the case turning produces a squarer case mouth easier. Look at what is available and what looks like will work for you, also consider volumnes of cases to be trimmed and accuracy level wanted. The wilsons are very accurate but a slower unit. A good solid drill press with a good repeatable stop and the forester is good. But you need a stop with no flex to maintain .002. Also are you planning on pistol cases rifle cases what calibers this all is a determining factor. The lee trimmer kits are good and can be used by hand length is set (unless you want to modify the pilots pin) and they do work well and accuratly

[Greg S]

CG, plus 1 on the Lee Trimmers. Nice and inexpensive for odd ball caiber like 500 S&W, 50 Beowulf ect.

I'm down to two now. If I was still shooting rifle comp, I'd probably go with the Wilson for the precision but have been real satisfied with 'Acculine' by Foster-Bonanza. Just build a pedistole to mount it to and then anchor it to your bench. It is the best I've tried outta 3 for a manually powered unit. I got into the Gerrard trimmer alittle late but still use it to bulk process 223 and 308. If you are doing case conversions; i.e. 06 - 8mm Mauser, 223 - 300 BO, 223 - 221FB, look at the Dillon RT1200. I removed the end crimps off of 6500 Hirtenburger 7.62 blanks.

Pro -cons

Girrard - Expensive, for cartridge set up. Highly recommend a cutter set up for each cartridge to negate adjusting. If you play with sizing buttons, you'll have to adjust the cutter each time you adjust. On the other side of the fence it can produce 12-16 trimmed cartridge per minute so it is great for batch processing.

If your just trimming 100 30-06 brass or just touching up some brass to get a uniform crimp, the Accu-line or other manual lathe style trimmer would be fine. Don't look at lathe style trimmer to also do double duty as neck turners. Invest in a mandrel style neck turning tool.

Lyman Powered trimmer. Slow and close but not accurate.

Lyman manual lathe style. Slow and inaccuarate.

Dillon RT1200 - Great for batch processing but requires cartridge specific comdination size/trimmer mount dies. This thing is the hungry garbage disposal of brass trimmer. Consolidates case forming and trimming into one stroke of the press.

[lightman]

Country Gent and Greg S summed it up pretty well. I've had experience with a few trimmers and might add a little to this. The RCBS and most other trimmers that use a collet to hold the case may change the length by how tight you grip the case. Most of us probably can't see the difference in our shooting, just something to know. The Wilson is unique in that it uses a case holder to hold the case and the base of the case butts up against a solid stop, making it very accurate. Some may think it slow but when you get the hang of it, its about as fast as the other hand type trimmers. The Lee case gauge type trimmer works ok, and is fairly cheap, about 12-13$ for your first caliber and about 6$ for additional gauges. You can use this trimmer in a drill. It helps if you chuck the gauge part up in a drill and polish the shaft with 1200 grit emory cloth. The newer ones work better with their steel shell holder than the older ones that had an aluminum shellholder. The Giraud trims and deburs both the inside and outside of the case mouth. As stated, you can do 14-16 cases a minute once you develop a rhythm. I can hold .001 tolerance with mine. Its expensive, around $450 and there is usually a waiting period of a few weeks. The owner is a nice guy to deal with.

All of the lathe type trimmers offer accessories. Most offer the option of a drill adaptor and carbide cutters. The Wilson offers stands, bases, micrometers, reamers, and other stuff. As someone else stated, I prefer a standard neck turning tool if I want to turn case necks. I have never wanted to do that with a case trimmer.

If you are forming cases and have lots of material to remove, a trim die and a hacksaw with a fine tooth blade makes a good starting place.

Hope this helps more than confuses. Good Luck with your choices.

[country gent]

Rim dia variations affect the length more than tension does on the collets. a few tousandths diffrence in rim dia +/- affects how deep the collet goes on the tapers to tighten. Thats what makes the wilson more accurate ti holds on the case body but sets length from the case head. I was always going to convert one to a "Gap bed" (like a lathe with the opening between ways) so chips could drop thru instead of building up on the rails. Im using a redding now for big bpcr cartidges and like it. I have a gracey with seperate tool blocks for 223,243,and 308. Left over from my high power days. I set it up with a love joy copling and 4 pins for tool head with a small destaco clamp to hold them in place. Fast trimming fast to change over but not cheap. Always wanted to put a vacum pick up on it to control chips. The chips/shavings are very fine from trimmers and need to be controled or they also can affect operation, also these chips are lousy when they stick in your fingers.

[sghart3578]

I am very happy with my Lee Deluxe Quick Trim. I use it one three different rifle calibers and it works great. Up until a few months ago I would trim a handful of cases at a time for 7X57, 30-30 and 30-06.

But now I am a new member of the AR15 club and processing brass has taken on a new dimension. I recently did 500 .223/5.56 cases. That is full length sizing, trimming, primer pocket reaming, etc. I made it through with the Lee but I can see why guys buy something else more suited to high volume work.


Steve in N CA

[mold maker]

Just finished >3K mil. 223 with a Lyman. Started with the hand crank. That took forever. The shaft for a drill made it much more pleasant.
My only complaint is the burr created by the cutter hangs behind the pilot and makes it a pain to retract the drill and shaft. I think there is space between the pilot and the cutter.
Previously I used a Forester with success, but the shell holder collets are slow and can be inaccurate.
I also had tried the LEE unit that works with a die in your press. It is a well designed idea but the production bean counters cheapened it to death.

[Big Dangle]

Thanks for everything, I really like the Wilson might dip in the ol gun fund this weekend. Appreciate it.

[montana_charlie]

Thanks for everything, I really like the Wilson might dip in the ol gun fund this weekend. Appreciate it.
You will never find yourself wishing for a more precise trimmer.

[Greg S]

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloading-equipment/index.htm

Since your 'Going Big' here are some accessories to drool over. They have the Wilson Ultimate Trimmer on sale.

[CHeatermk3]

For any kind of volume trimming I like the RCBS trim pro. If you get the 3-way cutter it trims to length and inside/outside deburrs in one operation. The new shell holder is universal and very quick to use.

I'll never go back to the old collet-style w/thumb screw shell holder.

[aap2]

For a small number or cases my Lyman hand-crank lathe-type trimmer works well; adding the Lyman power adapter speeded things up but ran so off-center that it was annoying (Lyman replaced it twice and all were bad-just like the many bad reviews). For trimming large lots I use the Forster Power trimmer in my drill press (2 collets cover most calibers) and it works great. I recently added the Forster 3 in 1 trimmer head that trims to length chamfers inside and outside in one shot. Works great, carbide cutters and for $65 the 30 caliber head does a bunch of calibers. When new cases are a dollar or more each good case trimming equipment pays for itself. If you don't do large quantities or reform/trim brass to other calibers, a lathe-type crank trimmer will work great.

[C. Latch]

I have both Lee trimmer types, the case length guage type and the quick trim that uses a die screwed in to tyour press.

I have no complaints out of either type. For the amount of brass I trim, they work fine.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Don't overlook the trim die concept. It is/was pretty prevalent for use mainly with pistol calibers. A case was run into the die which was hardened to withstand damage from a file...then a file was used to trim off the excess amount sticking out of the top of the trim die. It is a pretty slow process compared to the regular trimmer method. LLS