World's Finest Trimmer by Litttle Crow Gunworks - some caveats

slug

slug

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The World's Finest Trimmer is powered by an electric hand drill. It uses a 3/8 inch milling cutter with a bushing in a bearing. After setting to the desired length, you insert a case into the bearing, up to its shoulder and the cutter shortens the brass case. It can work fine, up to a point.

Firstly, their ad says, that by flicking the case upon withdrawl, the burr will be removed. Well, as my sainted grandmother, long since departed, would say: That's Codswallop! Perhaps, if you're just removing a whisker from a light case like a Hornet or .223, it will work. But not when you're removing brass from military .30/'06, .303. or .308. There's still a healthy burr to remove.

If a chip lodges in the shoulder, or there's some lube collected there, the case can come out long. I often use my Lyman crank-em to remove the last tiny bit. If you neck size your brass, and haven't set the shoulder all the way back, you can find that some long cases don't get trimmed. This is really noticeable in my .303's, when I neck size them, with generous chambers.

While the WFT's aren't cheap, be aware that they charge $50 US for mailing them in a $7 flat rate box.
 
Used mine tonight actually. Was doing .223s. I agree with Slug.......

1) got to debur after trimming the case. I have an RCBS motorized station thing. Works well.

2) got to watch out for those small chips that will stick in the tool and leave the case long. No matter what though, I run all my cases through a go / no go case gauge before accepting the case. If I have to, I will resize on the trimmer. Also, I verify for case quality.......specifically looking for neck splits (I always find some).

It is a good trimmer though. Fast and a lot more fun as compared to the hand crack method.

:)
 
It is fast - I have one for .223 and .308 - but your concerns are valid. :)

The deburr still needs to be done for sure... twisting it does nothing, as there is no reamer or anything that cuts the INSIDE of the case mouth.

But again- it's waaaay quicker than anything else that I've used.
 
tried a few different trimmers but recently got a Hornady case prep center, I have to say its quick and has extra stations for brush, reamer ect, you can put any tool that has the threaded end,
 
Since no two rifles have exactly the same headspace, this tool makes no sense to me. I want to reference from the base, not the shoulder, to have a consistent case length. I never bought one for this reason. Same goes for any other trimmer that uses the shoulder as the reference point.
 
I've been using the Lee case length gauge/trimmers since I got into loading, cheap cost per cartridge, cutters are cheap and last a long time, chuck it in a drill and it's quite fast.
Recently for some unknown reason other then "it was on sale" I bought a bench mounted manual trimmer....what a slow pain in the ass that thing is, complete waste of time and money lol.
The WFT is like the Lee trimmer, but more set up and more expensive. I looked into it, but didn't like the idea of going off the shoulder for the measurement.
 
I have
a Forster hand crank works great except doing 200 .223 is really crappy
Lyman power trimmer does a sort of good job I still need to do the last bit on the Forster to get them square
Forster drill press rig you need a really good drill press --better than mine for precision
Frankford Arsenal power trimmer best I used so far trims, deburrs inside and outside in one operation, stick in the case pull it out use the outside then inside tools done.
I like the little crow idea but being caliber specific I would need 13 of them at $100 each
 
The Lee deluxe quick trim is sweet. Trims, outside chamfers and inside chamfers all in one step and works with primed cases. I couldn't imagine using one of those hand crank lathes unless I had downs syndrome or heavy medication that makes me drool on myself and stare at the wall. One of these days I'll get the power adapter and try it that way but cranking the quick trim by hand is fast and easy thanks to the design and cases are done in a few seconds. Dies are cheap and it works well.
 
I had a Wilson Stainless trimmer with micrometer adjustment. Very accurate trimmer and fairly quick with the power adapter but it didn't chamfer or debur. Now use the Giraud powered case trimmer, the Cadillac or trimmers. Trims, chamfers and deburs all in one step. Takes about 2 secs to do a case. Absolutely the best investment I have made in reloading equipment.
 
Hitzy said:
I've been using the Lee case length gauge/trimmers since I got into loading, cheap cost per cartridge, cutters are cheap and last a long time, chuck it in a drill and it's quite fast.
Recently for some unknown reason other then "it was on sale" I bought a bench mounted manual trimmer....what a slow pain in the ass that thing is, complete waste of time and money lol.
The WFT is like the Lee trimmer, but more set up and more expensive. I looked into it, but didn't like the idea of going off the shoulder for the measurement.
Click to expand...

I also use the Lee case length gauge/trimmers, but recently discovered that lee decided to go cheap on making the length gauge. As of 2009 they no longer use a hardened steel pin and just make the whole gauge out of one piece of mild steel. The pin can be burred / shortened by using too much pressure. I have replaced the pins on my new case gauge's with hardened pins, lee recommends using less pressure.
 
Cleftwynd said:
Since no two rifles have exactly the same headspace, this tool makes no sense to me. I want to reference from the base, not the shoulder, to have a consistent case length. I never bought one for this reason. Same goes for any other trimmer that uses the shoulder as the reference point.
Click to expand...

Cleftwynd

This is not criticism leveled at you or anyone else but the WFT is adjustable for cutting length. With my Lyman trimmer I always trimmed to minimum length and with my WFT it is set at the midpoint. When you chamber a cartridge the ejector is pushing the case forward until the shoulder of the case contacts the shoulder of the chamber. Meaning trimming the case length from the shoulder means very little because from the shoulder to the case mouth the distance is the same. Also the nomenclature stampings on the base of the case vary for measuring purposes and the base of the case is pushed away from the bolt face by the ejector and firing pin. And just the force of the firing pin hitting the primer can shorten the case several thousandths depending on annealing and how hard the neck shoulder area is.

Bottom line, if you do not turn your case necks, uniform the cases, separate the cases by weight and have a custom made rifle, then a few thousandths variation in case length means nothing.

Below I can trim my cases with several type trimmers for all the calibers I shoot. And all of them will cause burs inside and outside the case mouth that requires deburring.

trimmers-b_zps161eba67.jpg


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And when trimming large batches of cases the WFT is worth its weight in gold.

halfdone_zps8557fc4b.jpg


And annealing and brass hardness has more effect on bullet grip than .002 variation in case length. And at 65 years of age, drinking too much coffee with chronologically gifted eyesight with off the shelf factory rifles .002 is meaningless. And if you younger guys can tell the difference with so little variation in case length please let us know how much it makes in group size.

Signed the Old Grump
bigedp51
 
i ordered direct from them for the original trimmer in 223 and shipping was $20usd, expensive but not the worst i've paid.

It works as advertised but it will come out to different lengths with different brands of brass. since it's going in my ar15 i trim it short and haven't had any problems. I've tried the lee quick trim deluxe and found it doesn't provide a very good debur/chamfer. I process my brass in 3 steps on a drill press, 1. trim 2. debur 3. chamfer.
 
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