Power trimmers

[jak67429]

Anyone have experience with the RCBS power trimmer? I like the idea that you can trim chamfer and debur in 1 step. Trying to decide if it is worth the $300.00 price tag with the special trim tool and the shell plats I would need.

 

[Rembrandt]

I love mine, three way trimmer head lives up to it's claims. Everything is done in one slick operation. No regrets here....

 

[myhandle87]

I'd go with possum hollow products. Much cheaper, and I think just about as easy to use. Very, very fast trimmer.

 

[Walkalong]

I like the Possum Hollow trimmers, but you need something to drive it. I use a Mini Lathe.

 

[Howard Roark]

Giruard Trimmer, the very best there is.

Video of ten (10) .223 cases trimmed in one minute on a Giraud power trimmer. Note that the Giraud Trimmer trims, deburs, and chamfers all in one step.

 

[mhconfo]

I second the Giraud, an outstanding trimmer for Rifle brass. I use it for 7.62, 30-06 and 50 BMG.

Take Care,
Mike

 

[WNTFW]

I don't own a Giraud. I was able to use a borrowed one. Spoiled me.
Minimum of 6,000 cases trimmed. I trimmed more, just had the 6k counted. These were sized and ready to trim. The rest I sized & trimmed.

I'm fairly certain I trimmed well in excess of 8k of .223 in one week. My fingers felt like I played with catepilars or some other stinging venimous creature. I did this in my spare time. I also helped pick & can vegetables that week so the trimming was done during a busy week. Some cases didn't need much trimming and one batch of 400 were too short. That is one advantage of the Giraud. It is just as easy to just run the case through the trimmer as it is to check the length. Some times we would have 2 people trimming at once by alternating cases.

I was blown away buy the speed. The machine works, not so much about operator skill. If you can sharpen a pencil . . . .

Cost was buying lunch and having numb fingers for a while.

 

[Grumulkin]

If you only need to trim a few different cartridges, then the Giraud would be attractive. I have bunches of different ones to trim so I went with the RCBS powder trimmer since it's more flexible and love it.

 

[NuJudge]

I believe the previous message meant to say that if trimming only a few cases the Giraud would be UN-attractive, with which I agree, largely because of the $400 cost.

I disagree that the Giraud is less flexible than the various mini-lathes. I can change calibers on mine in just a few moments. I can change case lengths in just a few moments.

The only bad thing about the Giraud is I get blisters on my finger tips from all the cases I putting through it.

 

[mhconfo]

I agree very strongly with the previous post that the Giraud is very flexible, I can change from a different caliber in about 2 minutes flat, and the Giraud does an incredible job.

However, my opinion is that the price of the tool is justified by the labor saved and quality of the output. It is similar to the arguments of a progressive press over a single stage...if one is doing a small quantity of rounds and time is of no issue then one may not be able to justify the price of a progressive over a single stage. Same here, in my opinion, about the trimmer. I shoot several thousand rounds each month of 308, 30-06 and 50 BMG and I would rather spend my time shooting then trimming/reloading thus to me the cost of the Giraud in order to get the volume and quality in the shortest amount of time was well justified. However, that is only true for me as everyone has their own factors to consider.

Take Care,
Mike

 

[rodregier]

If you are feeding a semi-auto get the Giraud. I'm very glad I did. Night and day compared to the alternatives.

I use a glove to reduce the transmitted vibration effects from running a bunch of brass thru the unit.