Best Case Trimmer

[elChupacabra!]

Well, the Giraud trimmer looks great, but honestly it was out of my price range, so I started with the Lee trimmer system and the brass chucked into a cordless drill. That worked ok for small batches (50 or less at a time), but was very slow and frustrating to me when the brass would catch on the cutter and stop rotating with the chuck - that made me CRAZY. So I asked what a better way to do it was, and got great advice from rcmodel - chuck the cutter and length gague into a drill press, set the brass on the iron table and just drop the cutter into the brass which you hold in your fingers (gloves are a good idea for this).

I didn't have a drill press, and was leery of spending TOO much money, but lo and behold, Harbor Freight has 5 speed bench drill presses on sale until 9/22/08 - $49.99! So i picked one up yesterday, got it assembled, chucked my cutter and length gague in there, and tried it out on 5 pieces of scrap brass - it was a beautiful thing. I did all 5 in less than a minute, and it was taking me about a minute per each to do it the other way (cordless drill).

Tonight I'm going to do 150 pieces, then quickly chamfer and debur them by hand (don't yet have the Possum Hollow Power Adapter to chuck my RCBS chamfer / debur tool into the press) and (hopefully) have a much better experience than I have been having.

So for those keeping score, the price is -

$50 - drill press
$4 - lee case length gague (223) and shellholder (which you won't need)
$5 - lee case trimmer cutter and lock stud (won't need the lock stud, either)

That's less than $60 bucks for a very efficient, foolproof system... I'm sure it's not nearly as good as the Giruad, but you can also switch out for any other caliber Lee makes a case length gague for for an additional $4 bucks per each, AND you have your first drill press which will (surely) come in useful someday for something other than trimming brass

To me, that's a fantastic solution to an irritating problem that might not warrant a $400 capital outlay, if your situation is like mine.

 

[Sport45]

Just keep in mind that you still need to de-burr the brass after trimmiing.

I chuck the Lee shellholder in a drill thats clamped in my bench vice. While the case is spinning I trim (lee trimmer with vice-grip handle), chamfer inside and out (Lee chamfer tool), and polish (steel wool or Scotchbrite).

I've used a Giraud to go through several hundred .223 and really liked it. But now I only trim 50 or so at a time so the above method works for me. It is also more adaptable to different cartridges.

 

[jhansman]

For bulk trimming, I favor the Possum Hollow product. Coupled with the power adapter chucked in a hand drill, you can get a lot of brass trimmed. The adapter will also take the Lyman or Forster deburring tool, so those steps can be automated as well.

 

[jmorris]

Just keep in mind that you still need to de-burr the brass after trimmiing.

I have loaded buckets of .223 without any de-burr (I only shoot jacketed rifle bullets). I size and trim on a 650 the run through another size die on station 2 of a 1050 then again with the expander on station 3. No problems and with sorted brass sub moa accuracy.

 

[ranger335v]

"What is the best case trimmer available without breaking the bank?"

For those trimming less than a hundred rounds at a time, the Lyman "Universal" is perhaps the easiest and most versatile conventional trimmer to use. But simular units by Forster, Redding, Wilson, RCBS, etc. are good too.

For maybe two-three hundred rounds per session, a simple file trim die is the answer.

Trimming more that three hundred rounds at a time, at least very often, suggests using one of the powered trimmers.

 

[Wilburt]

I still love my Giraurd