Brass Trimming made easy!

S

scairns

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Yellowknife, NWT
Wish I had done this several thousand casings ago! Finally built a simple adapter for my RCBS case trimmer. Total build time about 10 minutes. I had a lathe available, but would only take 15 minutes with a hacksaw and file... All I did was unscrew the manual handle and add a small hexagonal bar that is easy to chuck in my drill.

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Drill clips on and away I go. I trimmed 300 .223 in an hour and a half, including manually chamfering the inside and outside of the cases...Adding power to this step is next!

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Hope it helps someone.

Cheers,
Scott
 
nice idea

don't run the drill to fast or your brass will start to roll instead of cutting, also get a three way cutter head now and chamfer and debur at the same time. That really steps up the production rate of the brass tuning.
 
For speed case trimming - I use one of these - hxxp://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=05-7X&type=store

Once I get a groove going, I can do 150 cases in about 15 minutes. :)
 
brotherjack said:
For speed case trimming - I use one of these - hxxp://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=05-7X&type=store

Once I get a groove going, I can do 150 cases in about 15 minutes. :)
Click to expand...

That looks like an awesome little device, sort of like a mini Gracey or Giraud trimmer.
 
scairns said:
Wish I had done this several thousand casings ago! Finally built a simple adapter for my RCBS case trimmer. Total build time about 10 minutes. I had a lathe available, but would only take 15 minutes with a hacksaw and file... All I did was unscrew the manual handle and add a small hexagonal bar that is easy to chuck in my drill.

Drill clips on and away I go. I trimmed 300 .223 in an hour and a half, including manually chamfering the inside and outside of the cases...Adding power to this step is next!

Hope it helps someone.

Cheers,
Scott
Click to expand...

Good idea Scott - I've done exactly the same thing. ;) Some good tips from others as well.
 
For the folks that use the lee trimmers, How do you get consistant lengths, I alway find I get 10-15 thou variation between cases due to burs in the flash hole and different web thicknesses. is there a trick? Perhaps cleaning up the flashholes first? I also found the RCBS collet chuck infuriating as I would get .ca 5 thou variation between cases depending on how much I tightened the collet chuck.

That sinclair looks like a nice machine!
 
With the Lee trimmer, it is supposed to space off the lock stud on the far side, not the brass itself! If the web or flash hole is interfering in the process, then there is some problem I've never had with any of mine. ??

As to that sinclair thing - yeah, it's super-slick (and boy oh boy, is it fast!).

With either system, I have never measured to see how consistent the lengths were coming out. They seem to be plenty consistent enough for good accuracy, is all I know. :)
 
scairns said:
For the folks that use the lee trimmers, How do you get consistant lengths, I alway find I get 10-15 thou variation between cases due to burs in the flash hole and different web thicknesses. is there a trick? Perhaps cleaning up the flashholes first? I also found the RCBS collet chuck infuriating as I would get .ca 5 thou variation between cases depending on how much I tightened the collet chuck.

That sinclair looks like a nice machine!
Click to expand...
The Lee is very consistent, my cases come out just fine except for the ones that were too short to begin with.
 
scairns said:
For the folks that use the lee trimmers, How do you get consistant lengths, I alway find I get 10-15 thou variation between cases due to burs in the flash hole and different web thicknesses. is there a trick? Perhaps cleaning up the flashholes first?
Click to expand...

I find mine consistent enought for my needs, If you are not getting through the flashhole on a regular basis and butting up against the lock stud then maybe your brass in not lined up in the lock stud properly. Ive never had to tinker with flasholes to make this work.
 
I haven't started reloading yet but I have a question about the trimming aspect.

Suppose you have a pile of range brass that needs trimming. Do you need to set the trimmer based on each piece of brass assuming that they are all different lengths or does the trimmer reference from the neck?
 
All that I have been using are 10-32 machine screws with the heads cut off. About once a year, the machine screw snaps, at which time, I cut the head off another and go from there.

It is an often used trimmer as well. I trimmed 1000 223 recently for example.
 
baci2004 said:
I haven't started reloading yet but I have a question about the trimming aspect.

Suppose you have a pile of range brass that needs trimming. Do you need to set the trimmer based on each piece of brass assuming that they are all different lengths or does the trimmer reference from the neck?
Click to expand...

If you use the Lee trimmers, then you will buy the trimmer pilot for each cartridge which will determine the trim length.
If you get a lathe type trimmer, you have to set it to length for each individual caliber/cartridge.

If you are going to resize the brass, do this before trimming. Which, if you choose Lee, you will have to do before anyhow.
 
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