I've got some .223 brass that I need to trim back into specs. Anyone have any tips on the best way to do this. Or any good devices (trimmers) for this task?
There are many trimmers out there ranging from a few dollars to many hundreds of dollars. All do the job well but with how much effort. Depending on the numbers you need to process you will have to decide how much time you are willing to spend which will dictate how much money you will need to spend.
I bought several inexpensive trimmers including the Lee Zip Trim when I was only trimming rifle brass for target work and hunting. When I started shooting an M1 Garand and then the AR15 I had a lot more brass to process so I bought a Forster Original Cast Trimmer Kit for just over $100. I like the trimmer which acts like a small lathe and will do other jobs than just trimming brass cases. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/614276/forster-original-case-trimmer-kit
I'll second the wft. I really dont see how brass trimming could get any faster or easier. You can trim the cases as fast as you can shove em in there. mine trims within a half a thousandth.
Wft is good, and don't want to take anything away from them, however the trim-it! has a few features that make it superior. However if you want to keep dedicated adjustments the wft is great.
It does not require any additional adapters to change brass sizes. Out of the box it will trim just about any shouldered rifle case. I use it for .223, .308, .30-06, 8mm, 7.62x54r, 30-30. The only thing I bought for it is an RCBS carbide cutting head, which works more smoothly than the one it came with.
I use the Trim-it II for all my 223R high volume trimming. It's very similar to the WFT trimmer. I was thinking that WFT came out with an adj model. Then the Best is probably the
Giraud, http://www.giraudtool.com/prod02.htm
same here
Some with size & trim, and some with just a trim die. With the size and trim I like to do it part way with a conventional sizer die and the rest with the size and trim die.
There are literally dozens of case trimmers out there having various designs and price tags. I happen to have started with a manual RCBS trimmer and a few years ago was given the motorized version. They work fine for me but really depending on what you want to spend there are plenty hat will do the job. As long as you have a sharp cutter that trims the cases uniform.
I think my WFT (Worlds finest Trimmer) is worth every penny. Huge time saver over my lathe type Hornady trimmer.
Trimming brass is still work but no longer a chore.
I use the Lee case trimmer and lock stud in a drill. I did upgrade to the cutter with ball grip and can easily trim, debur and chamfer several hundred in a couple of hours. It trims to an exact length every time with no adjustments needed. The icing on the cake is that the whole setup is less than $23.
I mostly use the Lee system and like it. I use the cutter and length stud in an inexpensive drill press. For the older calibers I reload I use the old style trimming die and a flat file. This method is really time consuming compared to my other methods but works amazingly well for repeatable results with little set up time. I also have an old RCBS lathe style trimmer but rarely use it because I do not like the time spent resetting it for each length cartridge when I swap calibers.
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