trimming brass

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trigga

trigga

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okay guys, I think I'm ready for the next stage in reloading .223. I recently purchased 2k of 223 brass. All range brass and mostly military brass. I've just finished resizing/depriming them all and wet tumbled them.

With my last purchase of the lee classic turret press kit, I decided to give the lee cutter a try. It was rather cheap and I already have the cutter so I just bought the shell holder and length gauge. It works rather well, just painfully long to trim one case. The drill makes it nice. Very consistent at 1.75 until I debur it with the lee debur tool which sometimes brings it down to 1.748 or 1.745. Speaking of that, I need to buy a better debur tool too. I do realize I also need to remove the military crimps too. We'll save that for another day.

I was at a reloading shop yesterday and one of the items I was looking for was a lathe style trimmer. They had the Lyman kit, RCBS Pro Trim 2 kit, Hornady, and a fourth one I forgot. Which one do you guys have and which one do you guys like? They were all around $100 except the Hornady was a bit cheaper.

I was leaning more towards the RCBS one. A drill attachment mod would be nice. I remember the lyman one comes with the chamfer/debur cutting head...
 
Look at the Little Crow WFT (World's Finest Trimmer) or the possum Hollow trimmers. Much better than the lathe style trimmers in my opinion.

The standard Lee trimmer that uses a case stud, shell holder and hand held cutter is good as well.

You will need a chamfer/deburring tool as well.

If you got once fired military cases, you will need to remove the crimp from the primer pocket after removing the primer. Otherwise, you have lots of difficulty priming the cases.
 
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I plan on loading the 500 or so commercial brass i have before I get to the military brass. I was considering the dillon swager
 
If your removing that much brass when reaming and chamfering, then you are over doing it. All you need to do is knock the rough edges off on the outside, and then create a smooth internal edge so the bullets don't shaving during seating.

In all honesty, my brass measures the same after reaming and chamfering, as it should.

GS
 
If you want to address that crimped primer issue you can just pick up a Lyman primer pocket reamer for $10. I'm not sure why it got some bad reviews online, because it's pretty much idiot proof.
 
I picked up a Forster lathe off ebay. It works well, but I've only used it to trim about 100 9x19 cases down to reload as 9x18 rounds. This spring I'll be getting set up to reload 223 (have to finish building my ar first). At that point I'll probably get a drill adapter.
 
i use a corded drill to trim and simply use the chamfer/debur tool by lee to remove sharp edges. I have to apply some pressure to remove the edges or else the outside seems to have a lip. yes it is taking quite a bit of material off. I will give the Lyman primer pocket reamer a try before I invest in anything more expensive. will the reamer work with a drill or is that too much?
 
trigga said:
will the reamer work with a drill or is that too much?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't bother using it with a drill because you'd have to put each piece of the brass in the chuck of the drill and then you risk crushing the case. The tool has a nice handle on it so you just hold the brass in one hand and give the tool a few turns and it's done. There's not that much brass that needs to come out and you only need to de-crimp one time in the life of a casing, so it's not that much time in the grand scheme of things.
 
trigga said:
i use a corded drill to trim and simply use the chamfer/debur tool by lee to remove sharp edges.
Click to expand...

Possum Hollow and maybe some others like Sinclair International make an adapter that holds a chamfer/deburr tool and allows it to chucked in a drill.
 
CTS trimmers on ebay. They run around $45 each. They are similar to WFT. I made a motorized base but they work in a drill or drillpress too. I use an adapter to run a deburring tool in my motorized base also. I use CTS for 223, 30-30, 30-06, and 460 mag. The length varies a tad. I have older versions of his trimmers. Supposedly they have been improved a bit.
 
The Dillon primer pocket swage is kind of expensive, but it costs a lot less than buying 3 or four cheaper alternatives that don't work near as well and THEN buying the Dillon.
 
This is one of those few times when I agree and recommend drinking the blue koolaide .....The Dillon super swage is possibly the single best crimp removing tool known to man. I love the hell outta mine. I trim and de-bur with Lee tools and a drill. Good to go.
 
I use the Lyman universal trimmer with the power adapter that lets you chuck a drill to it. Takes about 5 seconds to trim a piece of .223 including puting it in and taking it out of the trimmer. Then a couple of seconds each to debur and chamfer with the Lyman VLD and outside chamfer tools. I use the Dillon super swage 600 to take the crimp out of the primer pockets. Here is a link to a good deal on the Lyman trimmer.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000157862003

If you are going to do reasonable volume it is worth it to tool-up and save yourself a lot of effort. There are even better options for trimming i.e. Giraud, but costs a lot more.
 

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Very nice horse. By o ring I'm guessing snap ring? This would be a lot faster than any lathe style trimmer
 
I am another happy user of the WFT. I will likely be getting one in 308 soon since I am about to pick up a AR 10 style rifle.

I am also a believer in the X die by RCBS. Between the two brass prep is quick and painless.
 
I've been using the Lyman trimmer for many years, but I'm certainly not in love with it.

The WFT looks interesting, but I'm a little concerned about the cutters. The site says they're "High speed", but doesn't mention the actual material they're made of. Carbide would be optimal, but tool steel would work if it can be easily sharpened by the user without throwing things out of adjustment.
Can it be easily sharpened?
Thanks.
 
+1 on the CTS trimmer. I chucked mine in the lathe and trimmed them up in a hurry. Then I chucked up my Lyman deburring tool in the lathe and cleaned up the casemouths. The CTS trimmer does not leave much of a burr behind to deal with.

Here is a review on the CTS trimmer and the WFT trimmer: Trimmer review
 
I have the LC WFT and it works very well. It is regular steel so not sure who long it will last or if it can be sharpened.

Also have the RCBS Trim Pro manual, I bought a power drill adapter and the 3 way cutter which trims, chamfer and deburs. Just the 3 way head costs almost as much as the WFT but I can use the other pilots for many calibers.

The Sinclair deburr tool works great in a powder drill.

They have an updated version now

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/114864/rcbs-trim-pro-manual-case-trimmer-kit

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...se-mouth-deburring-tool-holder-prod34054.aspx
 
The standard WFT uses a 3/8" single ended end mill probably high speed steel and 4 flute if I remember correctly.

You would have to reset the adjustment when removing the cutter. i do not think they could be dharpened in place.

Keep a trimmed case on hand. Pretty easy to adjust with a "gauge" on hand.
 
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