Lyman universal case trimmer

[roots911]

Does anyone know nif the Lyman universal case trimmer will work on the 7.62x54r Russian? I known that the rim is one of the largest diameters made.
Thanks for any info you can provide.

Frank

[45-70 Chevroner]

Does anyone know nif the Lyman universal case trimmer will work on the 7.62x54r Russian? I known that the rim is one of the largest diameters made.
Thanks for any info you can provide.

Frank

I really don't know if the lyman universal case trimmer will work for that case or not, it depends on if they have a collet for it. I do know that Lee makes a trimmer specific for that caliber. I use and have a Lee trimmer for every caliber I shoot. They are a great tool, very low cost. All you need is the cutter and caliber specific length guage. The cutter is like $6.00 - $7.00 depending on the one you want and $5.00 for the case length guage. I got the ones I have from Midway.Very simple to use, full size the case punch out the primer and follow instructions.

[Dan Cash]

I do know that the Universal will work just fine. I just walked down stairs and checked. With the Lyman Universal., there is no collet required, only the apropriate pilot; .311 I think..

[45-70 Chevroner]

I do know that the Universal will work just fine. I just walked down stairs and checked. With the Lyman Universal., there is no collet required, only the apropriate pilot; .311 I think..

Thanks Dan, I was not sure how it worked.

[roots911]

Dan,

Thanks - that was the info I needed! What a great board and great people!!

Frank

[winchester85]

i have a lyman universal. i cut the handle off and turned it down so i can use a drill on it. but the cutter does a poor job of cutting. there is a large burr on the outside of the case. does anyone have any experience with the carbide replacement cutter?

[C.F.Plinker]

I too have had my share of problems with the cutters but, so far, I haven't been willing to spend the dollars for the carbide cutter. What has worked for me is to resharpen the steel cutter. First I put some wet/dry sand paper on a piece of glass and hold that against the chuck. Then advance the cutter against the sand paper and rotate it until it has smoothed all four of the tops of the cutting edges. This eliminates having one edge doing all of the work because it is standing proud of the other edges. If you use the cutter at this point you will probably just polish the case mouth because the top of the cutter won't cut. You need to take a stone or a grinder on a Dremel (shudder) and reduce the width of the top starting at the back of the flat surface and working toward the front. This will give you some edge relief so the front of the cutting edge can cut into the brass and trim the case.

I will be interested to see what the folks that use the carbide cutter have to say.

A friend has the RCBS trimmer and that cutter seems to be a better design than the Lyman. Has anyone ever adapted the RCBS cutter to the Lyman trimmer?

[Bent Ramrod]

I wore out two steel cutters in an astonishingly short time after I went from .22 Hornet shells and hand cranking to larger, thicker brass and the electric drill operated cutter arbor. I never had any luck resharpening the cutters and the heavy burrs, length variations from setscrew slip caused by the excess pressure needed on the dull cutters, and, finally, the wear on the bearings from the added time and pressure made me wish I'd gotten the carbide cutter as soon as I bought the case trimmer.

Case trimming is still the worst job in handloading, but the carbide cutter is worth twice its price in hassle reduction IMHO.

[L Ross]

Lyman Universal with carbide cutter and the drill adapted spindle are very nice. I like to set it up and then do hundreds of cases. Small batches I use my Wilson timmer as it is quick to change caliber.

Duke

[Jal5]

So what are you guys doing to the handle to change it to connect a drill? I don't see anyway to disconnect the handle piece without messing it up. I hate the monotony of trimming large numbers of cases by hand! I try to do that only once or twice a year. Joe

[Bent Ramrod]

Lyman offers an accessory arbor with a hexagonal spud on the end that fits an electric drill chuck. Just take off the cutter, withdraw the crank arbor, move the adjustment rings from the crank to the drill arbor and reassemble.

[Coffeecup]

I've had one of these for years, could never get decent consistency in length with it. How do you get it to cut cases to the same length? I put one of the power adapters in some time back, but haven't even tried it because of the consistency problem.

[1hole]

"I've had one of these for years, could never get decent consistency in length with it. How do you get it to cut cases to the same length?"

Cutting any metal leaves a burr, large or small and the softer the metal is and the duller the cutter is the worse the burr is. The inside case neck burr builds to prevent the end mill cutter from touching the mouth of the case. Withdrawing the pilot will turn the burr outward so it can be cut cleanly on the next pass.

[boltons75]

Lyman offers an accessory arbor with a hexagonal spud on the end that fits an electric drill chuck. Just take off the cutter, withdraw the crank arbor, move the adjustment rings from the crank to the drill arbor and reassemble.

Actually the replacement arbor comes with its own adjustment rings.

Always carry, never tell.

[Coffeecup]

"I've had one of these for years, could never get decent consistency in length with it. How do you get it to cut cases to the same length?"

Cutting any metal leaves a burr, large or small and the softer the metal is and the duller the cutter is the worse the burr is. The inside case neck burr builds to prevent the end mill cutter from touching the mouth of the case. Withdrawing the pilot will turn the burr outward so it can be cut cleanly on the next pass.

As I recall, my last experiment before replacing the shaft involved a new cutter, trimming new brass. I gave the handle a half-revolution, withdrew, and repeated until it stopped cutting. Over probably a hundred cases I had length variations of nearly .008". Compared to cases from the same lot trimmed in a trim die, and deburred the same way at the same time, group sizes were significantly larger.

It might have been beneficial to try changing the diameter of the pilot, but I was just too tired of messing with it to bother any more. For the most part I use trim dies now, with a Forster for cases I don't have trim dies for.

[1hole]

"... I use trim dies now, ..."

You know anyone making trim dies today?

[Coffeecup]

I think CH4D makes them, and RCBS may. The last one I bought new was a Redding.

[monge]

I cut 44mags down to 44sp use a forester case trimmer with a drill made a adapter,leaves a good burr on the outside and inside of case. I use the lee case chamfer in a 1/4" socket with a rap of tape put it in the drill and hold the case to it , turn it around and do the in side.Works good and is fast!