Case Trimmer

[Gatehouse]

Nope no drill press. If I was thinking of getting one how big would it have to be? 10", 12" o.k.?

This is what I use:

http://www.forsterproducts.com/Pages/power_trimmers.htm


A bench top drill press woudl work fine. The brass really flies with a drill press, although if you have to get set up for it, the cost may be the same if you just bought one of the good power trimmers...

 

[gushulak]

I have not seen anyone say anything bad about the Giraud Trimmer. I have not used it myself so all I can go on is other peoples reviews.

Do a search in this section and I am sure you will find lots on the giraud.

Just bought a Giraud because I was sick of trimming tens of thousands .223 by hand. The Giraud trimmer is truely a work of art, worth every penny. Within a second I have a perfectly trimmed case, perfectly chamfered and deburred. Its a great machine, has speeded up my brass processing exponentially.

My only regret about the Giraud is I didn't get one sooner.

Give Doug a call or an email, he's a great guy to deal with and you wouldn't be disappointed with a Giraud trimmer, they are the best out there!

 

[looch]

This is what I use:

http://www.forsterproducts.com/Pages/power_trimmers.htm


A bench top drill press woudl work fine. The brass really flies with a drill press, although if you have to get set up for it, the cost may be the same if you just bought one of the good power trimmers...

That's what I was referring to. I didn't have a small enough press for my reloading area, but I found a used bench-top model for $35 close to home. So my power trimmer cost me about $100 total, including the Forster, drill press and the various collets and guides.

 

[twig_40]

Kombayotch, how much fooling around does it take to get it set up? I had heard that some of the complaints about the Dillon was getting the trimmer set up for the correct length was finicky.

 

[kombayotch]

If you replace that stupid 7/8-14 Dillon nut, it doesn't take long at all to adjust it for sizing. The top half is very easy to adjust, even with the smaller Dillon nut. Adding a locking nut or two Dillon nuts just allows you to take the motor on and off without having to re-adjust each time. That's handy if you want to use it on different calibers, but unnecessary if you're only going to use it on one.

 

[kombayotch]

Let explain how its done a little better.

Here is your trim die:

That's the 7/8-14 nut that gets replaced with a Hornady locking ring. I use the cut on the locking ring as a reference when adjusting.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time setting up sizing dies, and want to do it correctly; get a Hornady Heaspace Gage. Or, you can just buy the insert because it uses the same head as the bullet comparator if you already have that.

I adjust the die down coarsely until I see that the neck is getting sized all the way down and the die is getting close to bumping the shoulder. Then I start measuring the shoulder with the Hornady gage and start making fine adjustments down. You know you're getting close when you start to see the shoulder grow a bit. The body is being sized, as is the neck, and the shoulder is bowing a bit (this is why "partial" resizing is a bad idea). I eventually see the shoulder go back to the same position as a fired case. Then one small adjustment and I've got my 0.002" shoulder bump. I then test a handful of case to verify.

To adjust the trimmer, I screw the motor down till it contacts the case mouth. Then I remove the case and adjust it a bit more. I hold it in position and tighten up the nut. Then I turn it on and trim the case and measure. Its pretty easy to judge how much to turn it to cut 0.001" more since those threads on the top are pretty fine. And with the die in tight, its easy to hold the motor still while you tighten or loosen the nut.

I can install and adjust a new setup in about 10 min. And if you lock that top nut, its just a matter of screwing and unscrewing the motor.