Case trimmer burr issue, ADDED PHOTOS

Kelly Timoffee

BANNED
BANNED
BANNED
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
52   0   0


My Redding trimmer is burring the cases cutting over the pilot and making it impossible to retract the case back over the pilot.

The diagram is exaggerated obviously , I have taken it apart checked for clearance issues but everything is seated properly, it does it with different sized pilots as well.The cutter is still cutting cleanly.

Anybody have this happen?
 
Last edited:
What's the life span of the cutter heads typically? Sure doesn't seem like it sould be partied out yet.

It's hard to say as it depends on how much you are trimming and how clean your cases are. Also, nickle plated cases also eat a carbon steel cutting head very quickly. As mentioned a carbide cutter head would last much longer. I have been told - but haven't verified it for myself - that the RCBS heads use the same thread as the Redding. If they do it may be easier to find one.

I have touched up dull cutter heads with a very fine diamond hone in the past.
 
I might be getting a new trimmer by the looks of it, not very much available out there.Redding says no stock, the few place I found in Canada say you can back order.

I know how this will turn out.
 
Make sure the pilot is properly seated in the cutter head. I had a similar problem with my RCBS, there were a couple tiny curls of brass between the base of the pilot and the cutter.
 
I had a lyman that did something similar but the cutter wasn't dull.
The pilot has a rad where the smaller shank fits into the cutter face, and that rad would hold the pilot slightly away from the cutter face which would allow the brass to roll into the gap.
I turned the rad sharper at work and that fixed the problem.
 
This problem also occur when you are pushing too hard on the cutter. The cutter have to do his job by letting it do the cutting. Pushing too hard - swage the lip of the brass instead of cutting properly and cleanly.

You can order a new cutter head directly from Redding. But to have a dull cutter, you need to have cut thousands and thousands of case or have it damaged in some way.

I do not cut any of my case to minimum. I cut only case that are over the max. I cut more often, but a lot less material is removed that way, it’s faster and case fit better in the chamber.
Another benefit, carbon do not build up and create a ring in the end of neck area in the chamber.
There is simple tools avail to check your chamber - neck oal. It’s a simple button that fit in a shortened case. This showed me over time, that chamber neck are generous in non custom barrel.
 
Last edited:
My Forster cutter was leaving a burr and I had to keep pushing harder.
The burr would grow on the inside of the case mouth that extraction of the guide was difficult.
Sent back to Forster and they sharpened the cutter.
There was no problem before I tried trimming some nickel plated 280 Remington.
Now every piece of 280 that needs trimming is "re-cycled".
When I started reloading the 280 in 1998 there was nothing else available in unprimed virgin brass but it sure looked good.
Some things that look too good to be true probably are . . . like it until trimming required!
 
My Forster cutter was leaving a burr and I had to keep pushing harder.
The burr would grow on the inside of the case mouth that extraction of the guide was difficult.
Sent back to Forster and they sharpened the cutter.
There was no problem before I tried trimming some nickel plated 280 Remington.
Now every piece of 280 that needs trimming is "re-cycled".
When I started reloading the 280 in 1998 there was nothing else available in unprimed virgin brass but it sure looked good.
Some things that look too good to be true probably are . . . like it until trimming required!

This could be it, I have some 7WSM brass that is nickle plated, could been the culprit.

Since Redding has no stock or ETA and suggests I find it in Canada I'm thinking it's a paper weight.
 
Years ago I was told by someone far more knowledgeable that RCBS was the Canadian Tire quality of products, if I wanted a good trimmer to look at Wilson or Sinclair or Herters
Found a Herters, and have never had a dull cutter
 
Here are some photos of the cutter head, did some .338 diameter cases today and it worked fine, I'll leave it for those cases and use the new Lyman for everything else once it arrives.









Difficult to photograph but you can see it is dull at a certain part of the cutter edge.
 
Back
Top Bottom