Case trimmer speeds. can you beat this

[45crittergitter]

My RCBS power trimmer is faster and easier than that Lee thingy. Deburrs at the same time.

 

[milanuk]

Started out w/ a Wilson case trimmer w/ all the Sinclair goodies, including stand, clamp, and Starrett micrometer for fine tuning the cut. Absolute perfection, but a little slow and still had to chamfer/debur separately.

Read Glen Zediker's book 'Handloading for Competition: Making the Target Bigger' (primary focus is on NRA Highpower Rifle) and got introduced to the Gracey case trimmer. I found one used for $150 locally and jumped on it. It worked well enough for what it was, but setting the chamfer/debur was a bit finicky, plus the piece of hose for a coupler and no on/off switch (turned it on by plugging it in) and the oil-filled bronze bushings instead of bearings seemed a bit primitive to me (considering they sell for $225 or so new at the time). It was not uncommon to see shooters w/ *two* machines... one for .308 & one for .223. Tearing down and re-setting up the Gracey for different calibers is a PITA for most people, and usually results in a few trashed cases each time. I'm sure there are some folks that can do it by eyeball and get it perfect every time, but there ain't many.

Through the Highpower rifle community online I found out about Doug Giraud's stuff. Where as Doyle Gracey is a shooter and a Marine, Doug Giraud is a shooter and an engineer, and had been building upgrade kits for the Gracey for a while... one piece carbide cutters instead of the PITA two-piece HSS cutters, higher speed motors for less chatter and smoother cuts, re-wire kits for on/off switches, etc. and finally he just started building a machine built from the ground up to take the good of the Gracey and make it better. Kind of like Volquartsen upgrades for a Ruger 10/22!

So now the Giraud has sealed ball bearings, instead of oil-filled bushings. Cogged belt drive instead of a chunk of hose attached w/ hose clamps. A better chip shield, and is capable of working properly either horizontally or vertically. Vibration dampening feet. The ability to replace the entire cutter head w/o distubing the blade settings, which allows the user to have one cutter head seat for .223, one for 6mm, one for .308... or multiple ones for a given caliber (i.e. two .223) but w/ different chamfer angles if one would want such a thing. Finally, the Giraud unit now offers the ability to mount a small end-mill cutter in the machine and you can get caliber specific (i.e. .224, .243, .264, .308) inserts for meplat uniforming... which beats the hell out of sitting there w/ one of those little twisty thingys doing each bullet by hand the 'old' way.

Yes, they are expensive. One Giraud costs over 50% more than a Gracey. IMHO, it's worth it. One Giraud set up for two calibers costs about the same as the two Gracey setup mentioned earlier, and is still worth it. Add a third caliber... and the Giraud leaves everything else in the dirt. When trimming .223 Rem brass for my AR's it's not hard to get going literally two handed... one hand is reaching for a new case while the other is holding one in the trimmer... fairly easy to do 500 cases/ hour or more.

Is there a down side? Sure. You have to F/L size the cases first, or have Doug make you a custom shell holder.

Is it expensive? Yep. Is it worth it? For me, yes. For others, maybe not. I got by for a number of years w/ the Wilson trimmer, which isn't cheap in and of itself (but I'm kind of a picky SOB about some things, and it did what I wanted). I could see someone getting by just fine w/ any of the Lee tools for a long time. I just think when you reach a certain point where time spent reloading is time *not* spent doing something else... like dry firing, other hobbies, time w/ the family, or even shooting, then the Giraud unit starts to become worth the $$$.

YMMV,

Monte

 

[-terry]

I made a trimmer out of a pencil sharpener and a three-jaw chuck. Seems to work OK and the sharpener was free.