Difference between case trimmers

[Eamonn]

If I wanted a manual lathe type case trimmer to trim case length and necks and also wanted to be able to play around with drilling hollow points, would I want a particular brand?

Also do you have any ideas for a tool to make or buy to mount unloaded bullets to a trimmer for hollowpointing?

[Three44s]

Have a look at the Forester case trimmer. There are options to add a bullet hollow pointer for loaded ammo and also an outside neck turner with mandrels available upto medium bore sizes.

I own a Forester with those options added and leave mine set up to outside neck turn.

I do not know about just hollow pointing just an unloaded bullet as to what tooling to accomplish it with however.

Three44s

[dragon813gt]

Forster hands down. There’s reasons I own three of them. They’re the most versatile and have a large line of tooling available for them. Forster will make custom parts for them. Worth the money and then some.

[Eagle59]

I own a Forster too! Built well and plenty of accessories available for it.

[lightman]

For neck turning and hollow pointing the Forster is probably the one that you want. If you get serious about neck turning I would suggest a tool just for neck turning like a K&M, Sinclair, ect.

[Shawlerbrook]

+ many for the Forster

[Eamonn]

Forster it is then it seems =)
And the price of the Forster from Germany is not much different from the Hornady one available locally so all is good and well.
It's also nice to support a company that will listen to it's customers and make custom parts.

[TNsailorman]

I like the Forster but my favorite would be the C&H or L.E. Wilson. Both use the same shell holders and both cut the mouth dead square. I have all three and use all 3. I have a case trimmer for each caliber I load. Overkill but it keeps me from having to constantly adjust case trim lengths. What you like may be different though. It is more a matter of personal preference than anything else. They all will get the job done, even the Lee case length/cutter ones works just fine and I use those too, especially for revolver/pistol case trimming. my experience anyway, james

[robg]

I use the Lee With the pilot cutter in an electric drill ,cheap and easy, no adjusting .

[country gent]

Here's some info for thought. If the part turns even if the unit isn't perfectly square you get a square cut. If the cutter turns and the unit isn't square you get an angled cut. A lathe turning the part using a endmill to "drill even if the tail stock is offset the cut is square nay be larger or tapered sides. in a mill if the head isn't square the hole is angled When looking at trimmers look at the cut adjustments. a micrometer head type that reads to .001 is very good. a fine thread and set up that can be measured with calipers next. A fine thread adjustment . A coarse thread adjustment can be a pain to get to the exact .001 setting. Look at the base taller bases that give mire hand clearance when turning are easier to use, a base can be made to raise them also. Look at pilots and cutters they make a big difference in the cut you get. A lot of cutters for brass may bit be symmetrical but "off set" a little to reduce chatter, a 4 blade cutter may be 0 80* 100* 80* 100* or be a 3 or 5 edge design. You see this a lot in reamers for non ferrous materials.
I use a reddding trimmer for most trimming for several reasons.
1) the case turns and is the feed end.
2) it has a coarse adjustment on the case shaft allowing for rough adjustments and a micrometer head on the cutter for fine precise adjustments.
3) with the dual adjustable stops it can be set up to easily insert remove cases.
4) the height of the base gives clearance when turning by hand.
5) its length allows for all the cartridges to be trimmed
6) the cutter is removeable and can be replaced or sharpened. Its a 38-24 thread so adapters or other tooling can be made easily also.

[Rich/WIS]

Have a Forster and had access to a Lyman. Forster is set up with three cutter shafts with the stop collars adjusted for each caliber I reload so to use I just slide in the appropriate shaft and use my DeWalt to do the cranking. Only negative for me is the collet system, the T handle is hard on the hand after a hundred or so cases. Liked the collet system on the Lyman and if I had one and wasn't so cheap could use it like the Forster by buying more shafts. Have the hollow point tool for the Forster but haven't used it in 25 years. Not sure what accessories are available for the others mentioned.

[David2011]

I have a Forster as well. Adjusting it is a pain but it works very well once it's adjusted and they're very versatile. Country Gent is correct about trimmers that rotate the case assuring that the mouth will be cut square. OTOH, if the cartridge is not square to its head you will know it on a Forster because the pilot will not be aligned with the mouth of the cartridge. With a square cartridge the pilot slips right into the mouth.

[EDG]

I snickered one day asking people here to not to comment because I own 5 Forster and 4 Wilson trimmers plus 3 of the Lee pilots.
Another poster piped up saying that he would not comment since he had 14 Forster trimmers set up so he did not have to adjust them.
I bought my first Forster trimmer in 1976. Back then there were not very many good trimmers. The Forster is still one of the best and certainly the most useful for a variety of operations.

[Three44s]

While I answered the OP that the Forester was the trimmer with the options desired as others did as wel the thread has drifted. While I use my Forester for outside neck turning and have the bullet pointer adapter somewhere, I prefer the Lyman Universal trimmer for less critical trimming and the LE Wilson trimmer for my fussy case length work.

Three44s

[SvenLindquist]

You cant really own just one. The Forster works great for trimming and hollow pointing. The Wilson has the primer pocket uniformer which is the best way to get perfect pockets.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

For trimming I like the L E Wilson, easier to adjust and a little more accurate than Forster, maybe easier to operate, does need shell/case holders specific to caliber. The Forster does have a hollowpointing attachment that works well, I do have one. For neck turning, one of the hand-held turners like K&M is probably best. For volume trimming or to remove a lot of brass - 300 Savage from 308 - a little chop saw with a Wilson case holder or one of the power trimmers that work off the shoulder like the Little Crow works well. The Lee hand trimmers are accurate but limited without adjustment. Haven't tried the 'new' press mounted Lee. For neck reamer, the RCBS reaming die and cutter also works for the extreme case forming - 30-06 to 22-250, not much of that going on since WW2 surplus is done. I have had the Forster adjustment move on me, operator error(?) but something to watch for.

[RED BEAR]

I really like my hornady. The only draw back is it only takes hornady shell holders spent more on the shell holders than the trimmer. Also the customer service leaves something to be desired. Wanted one trimmer for all calibers but after buying the shell holder found out it will not do 25 acp so had to make something to trim them with file. But it is very easy to use and very accurate.

[DonMountain]

I really like my hornady. The only draw back is it only takes hornady shell holders spent more on the shell holders than the trimmer. Also the customer service leaves something to be desired. Wanted one trimmer for all calibers but after buying the shell holder found out it will not do 25 acp so had to make something to trim them with file. But it is very easy to use and very accurate.

I also discovered this same problem with my new antique Pacific case trimmer I purchased from eBay for my reloading tool collection. The center shaft will not fit through the center of RCBS and LEE made shell holders. But I only have 4 or 5 of them so I just put them all in the drill press and drilled out the holes a little larger and they work great. Also the pilots that I have been using for 35 years with my Forester case trimmer fit right in that old Pacific.

[Alstep]

I've used Wilson's from the start 50 years ago, fine quality product, quick & easy to use. Just seat the case in the holder with a light tap, trim, another light tap and the case pops right out. Only takes a few seconds. Only good on tapered cases tho. I've got several set up for specific calibers.
Have an RCBS trimmer for straight walled cases, does a good job but awful slow.
Now if you're a competitive high power shooter and need to trim a lot of cases of the same caliber, a Gracey is the best thing since sliced bread. Trims hundreds in an hour, and it deburrs the mouth too.

[KenT7021]

I have Forster,L.E.Wilson,and a couple of the Lyman trimmers with the quick action chuck.I also have some file trim dies.They all have different ways of holding the case.They all work.I like the Lyman trimmers over the other two mentioned.I don't care for the file trim dies but they are part of case forming die sets.