MIRAMICHIER
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Miramichi,Nb
Little Crow case trimmer handiest of them all just need a cordless drill.
Case trimmer?
- Thread starter G.loomis
- Start date
I use lee quick trim die together with their power trim cutter mounted on station #4 of my progressive press. Station #1 does sizing. In one pass I get sized and trimmed case ready for wash then prime.
I like dilliom RT1500, but me doesn't hate trimming $500 much either, so I opted for the poorman dillon.
I like dilliom RT1500, but me doesn't hate trimming $500 much either, so I opted for the poorman dillon.
I may want to try enlarging my non-Hornady sheel holders with a 7.6mm (.2992") drill. So far only found some in High speed steel, not harder.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gyros-7...de-Metric-Drill-Bit-6-Pack-45-42094/204614360
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gyros-7...de-Metric-Drill-Bit-6-Pack-45-42094/204614360
I've been doing it with a drill since I started reloading 20 some years ago. Fast enough for me and I enjoyed the whole process.
I tend to load all winter and shoot it in the summer, rarely do I do much loading in the summer unless it's development.
That looks like a wood bit...
A 19/64 will do the job, just measured a new Hornady shell holder, .296, the nub on the trimmer head is .292. Search 19/64 Cobalt drill, they're .2969, close enough to call it .297.
I've been using the lee trim dies and my cordless drill... that all works well, quick, and accurate. It's the chamfering and deburring that gets old quick. I think it's time I buy a powered machine for doing this in bulk... or is the deluxe trimmer head that does it at the same time effective & accurate?
I disassembled and pulled the outer blades off of mine. They kept on getting bound up by chaff from the trimming process and f*****g up the brass. Take it apart, clean it out and 20 or 30 cases later and they would be sticking again. If left without rigorous cleaning, they would keep chamfering until so well over chamfered as to ruin the brass. Bottom line is to just use the regular Lee trimming head. I use a Lyman Case Prep Xpress post trimming to do the inner and outer chamfer, primer pocket final clean, and then a couple of strokes on the appropriate nylon brush to clean out any chaff. Since I normally only trim once this isn't too onerous a task, although it gets a bit old after 100 or so.
Edit ->> Forgot to add that the trimmer blades do wear out at some point. Tool is so inexpensive that I just buy a couple every so often and replace it. I figure that for the price of one of those fancy carbide cutter units, I can buy more than enough standard Lee cutter assemblies to do about 10 times the amount that one carbide cutter will do in its lifetime.
That's my experience anyway.
Hornady power case prep center arrived, all is well with it. Works out to under 500.00 Cdn with the bullet promo ( 500 7mm 139gr Interlocks), includes chamfering tools, primer pocket tools, shellholders, pilots, case neck brushes. So, if I were to buy one of the top end trimmers from Brownell's, it'd come out cheaper by the time I got the add-ons needed for say the Wilson or Giraud. They have made at least one update on it since the first ones by the look of it, first thing I noticed was there is now an indicator for the length setting handle on top. Also saw a post where somebody put an RCBS 3 way cutter head on it. RCBS and Forster pilots work with it. We shall see how this goes.
All they did on the indicator was machine a groove in front of it, and put an indexing line into that groove. I 'd have to go back and look at some videos of the older ones, I think they've recessed the top handle into the top a hair also. By the way, guess I should have picked it up before year end, bullet promo is gone for 2019. Oh well, still cheaper and more versatile that the Giraud. Can't get all the shellholders I needed for a Giraud, there are some they don't make for stuff I have, and I would have needed 7 anyway, which would be way more than the Hornady without exchange and freight.
