Case Trimmers - Quality and Price

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I spent $8 and 15 minutes to upgrade my Lee trimmer + Drill arrangement. Now faster and more finger friendly. I spin the cutter&pilot (not shown) in my drill press.

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I use the Dillon RT1200. I can trim a boat load of brass with that thing mounted on my 650. You still have to deburr. I wish that I would have at least seen the gerard before I made this purchace. Don't get me wrong. I am satisfied with the RT1200, but the gerard deburrs while it trims.
 
I would take my Rapid Trim over the Gerard any day of the week. It is so fast (probable in the range of 1000 per hour), it makes trimming a joy compared to others.

Chamfering is no big deal. I'll sit and watch a movie while chamfering, and be finished by the time the movies over.

RD
 
Hornady

I was considering this Hornady. It is about $65 and comes ready to go for nearly all calibers.

Anybody have any experience with this?? Heard anything good or bad?

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I've had the Forester for about 12 years. It's great for small batches. VERY accurate - not the fastest operation but when you load 'em one at a time you're not looking for speed.
 
i Have the Hornady timmer as well as a Giraud (shared with other guys). The hornady is very well made and shows no wear after thousands of cases, though i only use it for small batches now. I found the Hornady to be fast and extremely accurate, and I thought it looked the coolest on my bench, and still do. The Giraud is an ugly machine.
 
Giraud is the Ferrari of Power Trimmers!
Wilson is the Rolls Royce of Lathe Trimmers!

That new Redding is not a bad deal for reloader!
 
I have the exact lyman as een in the link. While it does good for what I need it for. If I were going to replace it it would be with the Forester hnds down. My father had one that was the grandfather to the forester and it worked great for 60+ years. It is still going strong and still trimmin cases like it is brand new.

One thing I have the power drill adapter for my lyman never use it to much hassle to deal with it. Plus mine would wobble all over the place. The one thing I do not like about the lyman is the fact that the utter shaft is held in with a plastic insert in an aluminum ring. This ring when trimming tends to grind down and then if you se grease like I do on the shaft for lube you have the sticky gooey black mess from it.
 
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the giraud puts all other trimmers in their place. imagine sharpening as pencil, that is just how easy it is with a giraud. i did over 20Kpieces this winter and i was smiling and enjoying the case prep as it makes it not that hard of work at all!
 
Obviously they all work good and have proponents here. Things that vary are in the details and personal preference more than over-all quality.

I have an OLD Lyman Universal and prefer it for common reloading over all others. It's fast to change cases, it does not need shell holders, it comes with a good assortment of neck pilots and Lyman markets several neat acessories for it - deburring tool, pocket cleaner and reamer, outside neck turner, etc. But perhaps the single most attractive feature to me is that it indexes the cases off a solid steel head, much like the excellant but slow Wilson, so finished lengths don't vary because of case head diameter differences.
 
I got the Redding 1400-XT for $65 from Natchez and I like it. Its built like a tank and is easy to use. I like the universal collet that fits all brass. Wouldn't want to trim thousands on it but it works for me!

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I like the Wilson for tapered cases, I don't think it would work well with straight walled cases. I have a Lyman trimmer which has turned into a sloppy pile of cr@pp.
I had a problem with the Wilson trimmer, the hole bored in the shell holder was not concentric with it's out side diameter.
 
lyman

I have one of the lymans,had it for a million years it seems,i have to say,im not in love with it,i trimed some 223,i had smoke coming out of my ears i spun that handle so hard and so long.i worn holes in my fingers,and not to mention how it killed my elbow.i stoped said thts it,I want a power one,I need something i can just push the button and let it trim with out all that pain,So i will get that atactment they have so i can add my drill,i did how ever buy the new cutter heads,i wish i would have bought the carbide cutter,maybe thats a better deal.So maybe one of you guy know whats wrong with my trimmer,I might need to get one of the other thats been discused here,

i guess the botom line is you buy what you can aford,
 
I won't recommend one over the other as they are all good trimmers. I can only add that I have been using my Lyman for probably about 20 years and it still works like the day it was purchased. The only thing I did was to replace the cutter with a carbide one.
 
From Febuary :)
Wilson is best, Forster is next, RCBS is good too. I have and use all three. Wilson for critical trimming. Forster and RCBS for everything else.
Click to expand...


The Wilson is the best for turning or reaming cases, as well as getting a uniform length. The Forster is good, very good, but not as good as the Wilson. The RCBS will flex if you are not carefull and give some differences in case length, but does well enough for most things if your careful.

The Wilson is not quite as quick as the others and just works differently. That may be what some folks don't like.
 
What do you not like about the Wilson?
Click to expand...

Cons:
1. It requires different shell holders for each cartridge.

2. I can't seem to get it adjusted to reliably trim each case to the same length.

3. It is small and very narrow with no way to mount it to a bench. Very difficult to use in your hands. I think you're supposed to mount it in a bench vise... which I don't have. Like most people, I like to trim in front of the TV. With the Redding, I can mount it securely on a 1x12, and carry it where I want.

4. It didn't come with any instructions on how it should be used... and yes, I bought it new from Midway... It just came with an advertisement on why you should "Trim, Ream, Gauge"

5. If you want to trim handgun cases, forget it. You have to tap the cases into and out of the shellholder. Most people don't do this anyway, so it doesn't matter for them.

6. There are some cartridges that have two different shellholders: one for unfired cases and one for fired cases.

7. They don't make shellholders for every cartridge. The .284 Winchester shellholder mostly works for 7.5 x 55 Swiss, but not entirely.

Pros:
1. It is really well built. You can tell that a lot of craftsmanship went into the trimmer and the shellholders. Everything is nice and solid.

2. It is inexpensive. I paid like $25 for it. The shellholders are like $6 each, and are really works of art, so I guess I should complain about them either.

3. Did I mention that it is really well built? I mean that sincerely.
 
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