[bender]

I've never trimmed cases, although I've been reloading for quite a while. I mostly shoot 45acp, and some 9mm. occasional rifle shooting (m1 carbine, 30-06, 7.62x39) but not much rifle shooting. May get an AR soon.

what do you need to trim cases? I have one of those table things with a crank on it... actually its someone else's but he lets me use it.

What are those Lee gauges, with some kind of cutters....? are they for trimming cases by hand, or do you use them with one of the table top trimmers...?

I've got a 44mag revolver coming this week, and I want to get a used 357 mag revolver. also, I want to get back into rifle shooting more, so I want to learn about case trimming.

what do I need, besides the crank thing I already have ? (its a Lyman I think)

[ocabj]

I still use a hand trimmer. I have both the RCBS and LE Wilson. I prefer the LE Wilson because the way the case is secured in the trimmer keeps it more square than the shell holder method used by the RCBS.

The RCBS is faster to use since you have to tap the case out of the LE Wilson shell holder, but the LE Wilson in my opinion, gives a squarer cut.

Basically for the standard trimmers, you'll need the trimmer and shell holders for each case head size you'll be trimming. Depending on the style of the trimmer, you'll need collets which guide the neck as you trim. The RCBS uses collets whereas the LE Wilson does not. I hate the collets myself. I had to grind the .22cal collet down a little for my RCBS because it was very difficult to turn the handle since the collet was too tight for the inside diameter of the brass.

Quite a few of the hand trimmers allow you to power it using an electric drill via an adapter. I haven't done this, but the older guys I know have done this.

I am going to get a Giraud trimmer soon once I get the cash for it. I am loading a lot of .223 for service rifle competition, and while hand trimming gets tedious, the deburring and chamfering of the case neck is also tedious, and the Giraud does both of those in one step.

[bender]

by "hand trimmer" you mean the trimmers that sit on your loading bench, and you put the case on the left side, and then turn the crank on the right side... ?

I was wondering if there was something like where you would hold the case in your left hand, and in your right hand you would have a case length gauge with a cutter on it, and then stick it in the case and twist it a few times to trim the case...

[ocabj]

Hand trimmers are trimmers are typically designed such that you insert the case into the trimmer held by some sort of shell holder. Then you turn a crank and trim the case using the cutter on the crank.

I don't know of a trimmer where you hold the case in one hand and twist the cutter with the other into the neck. That's how you use a deburring/chamfering tool, though. If they made a trimmer like that, that would be a lot of *hard* wrist turning and I can imagine that you'd quit after about 20 rounds. In order to trim case, you need to exert a bit of pressure and turn at a speed that you couldn't perform using your hand/wrist in a screwdriver motion.

[Ol` Joe]

I think you need to bone up with a good reloading manual. Trimming hows and whys are discussed in all of them.

[revolverman357]

I use the Lee case length gage, lockstud trimmer and shell holder. You lock the case into the lockstud with shell holder and the trimming tool screws onto the length gage and you can hold it in one hand and turn the length gage with trimmer in the other hand. Or, you can put the lockstud end into a power drill and hold the drill and insert the trimmer into the case with the other hand.
The Lee trimmer and lockstud and length gage are very inexpensive. You can get them at midwayusa.com or I got mine locally where they handle Lee equipment. Hope this helps.

[bender]

ok. since I've not done it before, I didn't know how much effort was involved. thought there were ways to do it with your hands.

well, I have someone's trimmer, so I just need the Lee case length gauges and lockstud trimmers. I have all the standard shellholders, or do trimmers use different style shellholders? (like the Lee auto prime uses different type shellholders)

I have several reloading manuals :) . Its just a step I've skipped over the years. I mostly load 45, and not rifle cartridges, and besides that, I don't have any cases that have been loaded more than 2 or 3 times so far. Now that I am shooting more often, I figure my cases will be used over and over and thus I will need to do some trimming...

[revolverman357]

The Lee trimmer is just a tool bit that screws into the case length gage. The gage and the trimmer become one unit. You trim with the case length gage held in your hand and turn the case in the drill chuck, or hold in hand. The lockstud is your shell holder. They come with the length gage.

[bender]

ok, I think I got it now...

I probably sounded like a moron there at first... It's just a step I've not bothered with over the years.

I bought thousands of cases many years ago from Midway, and I still have some that haven't been loaded for the first time yet. Most haven't been loaded more than 2 times.

[revolverman357]

Some people would probably think I was a moron for trimming by hand. It does take some time, but I like to reload and it is relaxing for me and I'm not in it for a race against time.
I don't trim cases too often, but I do check overall length and if some cases become more elongated more than max length, I trim them.
Have fun reloading!

[bakert]

I don't load for anything but handguns. I use a Lee trimmer on all new revolver brass at first and check .357s periodically since they can and do stretch a bit. Occasionally check .44 mags but since most of my shooting is with lighter loads no problems. Never trim .45 or 9MM auto cases. Many if not most .45s will minimum or less anyway.

[dmftoy1]

I did my first year's reloading with a Lyman "Universal" and all it needs is the correct size "collet" in the cutter head and you can trim away. (The shellholder is "universal) They also sell one that requires specialized shell hoders.

Turning that hand crank on 600 rounds gets pretty old though. This year I spent $15 to add the "power adapter" to the Lyman Universal and I can now turn them with my cordless drill. (slowly) I don't like having to move the drill in/out to insert the shell but it's night/day difference in terms of trimming speed and I don't wear out my hands spinning that crank. (Just don't crank the drill up to high speed! :) )

I find it really useful to break my brass down into groups of 100 which I deprime/resize in one session, trim in another (longer) session, and then come back and chamfer/deburr in another followed by priming. This keeps me from getting sick of trimming. (I used to do all my brass one step at a time) FWIW


Have a good one,
Dave

[bender]

regarding the lyman trimmer that someone is letting me use, yesterday he said that I don't really need anything else to start trimming...

I also do reloading in small steps at a time, these days I'm doing 50 of each step...

when I get faster and better, I'll probably to the steps in batches of 100...

[bender]

I trimmed some .30 carbine cases tonight. The Lyman trimmer has several "guides" that can be put on the cutter, that go into the case mouth. The "30" guide would not go into my 30 carbine cases however, so I had to use the "28" guide. Once you get the cutting correct, you then lock the cutter at that spot, and then do all your cases.

I did 30-something cases, and then I had enough. Not really much fun.