Case trimming

[jednorris]

I have reshot my Starline .45/70 brass probably 30 - 40 times and rarely have to toss a case. When "flaring" however I am getting different degrees of flare as some cases are longer than others. I have a hand crank trimmer but it is too much of a chore to trim 300. Is there a place that I can send them and get them trimmed reasonably ?.

[country gent]

Once the trimmer is set there's nothing that says you need to do them all in one sitting, do 25 or 50 at sitting and take a break. Or the Lee trimmers can be ran in a drill, drill press, or lathe. There are other trimmers that are quick fast and more efficient but cost may be an issue. I have a gracey from my high power days it has heads set for 243 223 and 308. Allows me to trim a couple hundred an hour. but the trimmer and extra heads was several hundred dollars. The Lees trimmer is under $30.00 and works well it is caliber specific though.

Removing .010 or so actually goes pretty quick on a batch of brass with the hand lathe type trimmers once you get in the pace of it. A sharp cutter helps alot

[Bent Ramrod]

You might take the crank off your trimmer and see if you can fit the stub into a cordless screwdriver. I clamp my trimmer, attach the screwdriver, and then it’s just a matter of replacing cases and pulling the trigger.

Never did more than 120 or so at a time, and, of course, case trimming is still boring no matter how it’s done, but at least the drudgery is taken care of. Cordless screwdrivers are pretty cheap these days, if you don’t need “professional grade.”

[EDG]

I process my all my loading operations in batches just to reduce the work in any one session.
Trying to process all cases through all operations make reloading a chore that I try to avoid.

Normally I would use a battery powered drill and a short nut driver to turn my trimmer. I will only trim about 50 cases at one time.

I use a stepped expander like the Lyman M die to expand the cases. I never use the poor expanders that come with Lee dies in case that is the brand of expander you have.

I crimp any cases that I crimp with a Lee FCD because it is more tolerant of different length cases.
Mostly I just use the crimp die to straighten up the flared case without much of a crimp being used.

[Captain*Kirk]

I have the RCBS trimmer, which makes chucking the brass up a snap (push the lever down and insert the case). I try to process a little brass each evening and have lots of little baggies full of ready to load brass as a result. This makes loading up 50 rounds a piece of cake compared to trying to prep the brass at the same time as loading.

[fast ronnie]

Forster makes a little trimmer that is used in a drill press. It is fast. I use a somewhat similar setup, only I use an industrial collet holder in my milling machine. The operation is exactly the same, however. Isert case in collet and tighten with the lever, bring the cutter down to the stop for a second or so, then remove case and repeat with the next one. Time only takes a few seconds for each case and no hand cranking.

As someone else said, it is one part of reloading that is boring, but is absolutely required.

Don't forget to chamfer after trimming. I do the outside on a 1" x 42" belt sander with a fine belt. Just a quick spin between thumb and fore finger. The inside gets done with a Vargas deburring tool. Gets a better job than the three-cornered tool and is much faster.

[country gent]

If you want any trimmer can be mounted in a drill press for use. Make a "angle plate" to mount it to. One leg 4" or so and the other long enough for the trimmer. Pin and glue the 90* joint solid. in a circular saw clamp the long side to the guide set to 90* and just trim the face. rotate this face to the guide and trim the short face . Use a c-clamp to hold it in place. THis makes a very square plate. Hang trimmer in spindle of drill press and with plate on a clean table spot mounting holes thru to plate drill for screws and mount trimmer. Remember to leave room for collet drive and such. Trimmer now stands upright and can be clamped to drill press table then the drill press to drive and spindle to operate.

A good piece of hardwood for this makes a nice solid angle plate and finishes up nice. I have used maple for mine

[Captain*Kirk]

As someone else said, it is one part of reloading that is boring, but is absolutely required.


I don't actually find brass prep boring or monotonous, as long as you limit it to batches of 50 or less at a time. In fact, shiny, gleaming brass is easier on your dies, tends to result in fewer stuck case incidents, and shows off your craftsmanship, if you will. I finished up 50 .44 mag cases last night...this is how they turned out after 6 firings:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7876/47474752861_d8f39ff9f9_z.jpg

A couple things that really help are my vibratory tumbler using corncob media and Lyman brass polish, and in terms of brass prep, I recently bought the RCBS case prep tool, which I thought might be a waste of money. NOT! It automates the tedious parts of brass prep like primer pocket cleaning, primer pocket uniforming, flash hole uniforming, and chamfer/deburr case mouths...the tasks that give you the hand cramps...and speeds up the process as well. Ya gotta do it, so I figure, might as well make it as quick and easy as possible, and have your brass look new in the process.
The nice thing about the vibratory cleaner is that you can dump 100 filthy cases in, turn it on, and go about your business. When you pull them out several hours later, they are squeaky clean and ready to go into your dies without dragging all the dirt and powder residue along with them.

[mazo kid]

You might take the crank off your trimmer and see if you can fit the stub into a cordless”
Before I got my Lyman power case trimmer, I made my old Lyman hand cranked trimmer into a powered one. I used a piece of 1/2" drill rod as I recall and replaced the old shaft, using a drill motor for power. Worked great, just not as convenient as a self-contained power unit.

[rfd]

like powder measures, i found out there are no shortcuts to quality tools that work great. i use an l.e. wilson case trimmer to standardize all new cases.

[Winger Ed.]

Depending on which brand it is, you can take off the hand crank, and put the nub in a drill.

Also, screw it down to the bench to hold it. You can knock 'em right out if that'll work for ya.

[MrHarmless]

I had about 300 .308 brass to trim not long ago. I went with a Lee Quick Trim die. I used a cordless screwdriver. Made fairly short work of it, definitely easy to adjust.

[RED BEAR]

I use a hornady trimmer and it works great on the cases it will do. Just put on electric drill and screw driver and its a breeze. The only downfall to it is it will not do all cases and be prepared to spend a lot for shell holders unless you use hornady holders anyway. The shell holders cost m more than the trimmer.