fastest way to trim 30 carbine?

[morrow]

I have a bunch of 30 carbine that needs to be trimmed. I have a lathe and a drill press. On my rifle brass I use possum hollow trimmers mounted in the lathe, it makes it really fast and easy. Unfortunately that won't work for 30 carbine.

What options do I have to trim it quickly? I was thinking of getting the Lee case gauge/trimmer combo, mounting that in the lathe, then shoving the 30 carbine brass over it to resize...since I guess the length gauge locates off the inside of the brass or something?

Any other suggestions? Thanks guys

 

[lightman]

The Lee trimmer should work good on a lathe.You usually hold the cutter and turn the shellholder ,but with a lathe,I guess it would be the other way.You may have to make a device to help you hold the shellholder,but that should be simple enough.Lyman and Forester make drill press trimmers,but if I owned a lathe I would use it.Good luck,let us know what you come up with.Oh yeah,the length is controlled by the pilot hitting the shellholder and stud thru the flash hole.I guess you would chuck up the cutter and hold the shellholder by hand. Lightman

 

[USSR]

I use the L.E. Wilson case trimmer for all my cartridges, including the .30 Carbine.

Don

 

[WNTFW]

When using the Lee trimmer powered by lathe or drill I spin the shell holder/case. I can trim then debur in & out.

 

[Maj Dad]

I use the Lee, in a hand-drill if not too many, and drill press if lots. The Lee is very repeatable and you don't have to fiddle with settings and/or mess up a few cases getting making trial and error adjustments.

 

[rcmodel]

Just get the Lee trimmer pilot & cutter for 30 Carbine.

Chuck it in a drill press.
Hand hold the case on the table while trimming each one.

The drill press table becomes the depth stop so you don't have to screw with the shell holder stop every case.

rc

 

[morrow]

Just get the Lee trimmer pilot & cutter for 30 Carbine.

Chuck it in a drill press.
Hand hold the case on the table while trimming each one.

The drill press table becomes the depth stop so you don't have to screw with the shell holder stop every case.

I got this last weekend and tried it, couldn't get it to work. Tried a bunch of speed settings too
As SOON as the cutter touched the brass, it would grab and spin it. I was holding the brass really tight too.

 

[rcmodel]

Well, I don't know what to tell you.

Maybe the cutter is so new it is too sharp and grabbing?
Mine was used some with the shell holder in a lathe before I chucked it in the drill and started doing it that way because it was much faster.
So it had dulled some before I started doing it.

rc

 

[greyling22]

I've had a bit of trouble with the lee trimmer on some 223 brass where the case rim was slightly bent (blasted AR's are so hard on brass). Seems to work well for me otherwise as long as I twist the shell holder on to the chuck part firmly. I'd be happy for take your lee 30 carb. trimmer off you if you want. I've been meaning to pick on up and keep forgetting to tack it on to my midway orders.

 

[Maj Dad]

If you are putting the shell & holder on the table & running at slow speed, that might be the problem. I push the shell & holder up against the running cutter rather than press the cutter down with the wheel/arms. But mostly I use a drill in my lap while listening to music & drinking beer (NOT RELOADING!! May account for occasional trimming of fingers... )

 

[Balrog]

Does 30 carbine stretch when resized? Since it is not bottle necked, I would think it would behave like a pistol cartridge and not really need to be trimmed.

 

[USSR]

Does 30 carbine stretch when resized? Since it is not bottle necked, I would think it would behave like a pistol cartridge and not really need to be trimmed.

You would think so, but I have found the .30 Carbine needs to be trimmed quite regularly.

Don

 

[GW Staar]

I got this last weekend and tried it, couldn't get it to work. Tried a bunch of speed settings too
As SOON as the cutter touched the brass, it would grab and spin it. I was holding the brass really tight too.

You've had the same experience I had with the Lee....so I went back to my trusty Forster Original....with a few mods. The Forster collet holds the case with no slipping.

You said you have a drill press...the quickest way for you to trim .30 carbine would be IMO this:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=721759

Below is what I did with my regular Forster:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=510882

 

[Kristensdaddy]

Use the Lee trimmers in the drill press. Move the table out of the way, change the belts so the press is running nice and slow. Just put the case in the shell holder and feed it up on to the trimmer. When you feel the trimmer start cutting just push slowly until there is no more cutting taking place. It couldn't be simpler with any other trimming product.

 

[GW Staar]

Maybe you got iron man fingers, but I don't. A good collet holding the brass is superior in my experience....no torquing against your hands...that's what the O.P. is trying to get away from. With my setup, you handle the case only once...just to set it down on the collet...the trimmer shaft lowers onto the case to line it up, a quarter turn locks the collet and you trim hands free with the push of a button. On mine, upon backing off the collet lever, a spring flips the case into the bin....IMO there's not much simpler or easier on the hands, than that.

 

[morrow]

Use the Lee trimmers in the drill press. Move the table out of the way, change the belts so the press is running nice and slow. Just put the case in the shell holder and feed it up on to the trimmer. When you feel the trimmer start cutting just push slowly until there is no more cutting taking place. It couldn't be simpler with any other trimming product.

That's exactly what I ended up doing, except I used the lathe not the drill press...so at least I'd be pushing sideways not up. After ~400 shells of trimming my fingers were so tired.

The forster power case trimmer looks like a great idea to use with a drill press. Maybe i'll get that.

 

[GW Staar]

That's exactly what I ended up doing, except I used the lathe not the drill press...so at least I'd be pushing sideways not up. After ~400 shells of trimming my fingers were so tired.

The forster power case trimmer looks like a great idea to use with a drill press. Maybe i'll get that.

Bonus! The new Forster Three-way cutter fits it: Midway USA

Then you can trim, chamfer and deburr in the same operation...no case shoulder required as on a Giraud.

 

[Pat M]

I just finished trimming 50 .30 carbine cases with the Lee Trimmer in my right hand, and my variable speed electric drill in my left. I've used this method with great success on .223, but with the carbine cases the case length gauge is so tight in the case mouth, the blade will not make contact before the case spins in the case holder. It helps if you flare the case mouth before trimming, but still, I need to go treat the blisters on my index finger.