Hi Everyone,
I thought this thread was worth resurecting, http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116909&highlight=Giraud but decided to do a brief write up seperately.
As the Christmas season approaches, I've given myself a task of prepping all of my 5.56 brass for the coming service rifle season.
Now I like to handload ammo, but ultimately, it is all about getting out and shooting.
With a small family, my 'me' time is at a premium, and frankly I'd much rather be firing off ammo than loading it.
About a year ago I started loading 5.56 with a Dillon 550, and although a huge time saver, brass prep. is still a necessary evil and by far takes up the majority of my loading time.
Like a lot of guys I started with a Rockchucker supreme kit, which includes the RCBS case trimmer. While it does a decent job, this system is painfully slow, followed by equally tedious hand cranking of the case mouth to chamfer inside and outside. I thought of getting the trim-pro station, but hated the idea of still having to go through the three steps (albeit automated).
Enter the above thread. I had heard of the Giraud before, and in fact his web site was logged into my 'favorites' some years ago, waiting for the oportune time to choke up the funds for his product.
If you've looked at this type of item, you'll know none of them are cheap, and some are downright expensive. His is the later, so out comes the Visa....
First Impressions:
After viewing his site, (which is a little on the hoaky side) and reading his instructions (online in pdf) I had the image of some pencil necked 55 year old geek F-Class shooter making crap in his garage.
Then I looked at my pile of brass again, and thought 'pencil sharpener' and decided to give it a go. I Emailed Doug Giraud a couple of times, deciding after talking with him to order the trimmer configured for .223, with an optional .308 conversion set up. The package was landed in Calgary within a week.
I normally don'tget worked up over packaging, but looking at how this thing came with its proprietary foam end blocks & formed foam body shrouds just speaks to the care and attention on an often overlooked detail.
The case trimmer is simple enough, essentially it is a motor and cutter mounted on a frame with an on/off switch. The sum of the parts, and how it has been put together is very well thought out.
The base /frame of the unit is simple break-shape metal sheeting, and has rubber feet mounted as to allow the operation of the unit either horizontally or vertically.
The motor is a good quality 1/8 hp 120v/60hz that should prove to be easily sourced and replaced when/if it should fail.
the motor transfers its power via a geared pully and belt to the trimmer.
The trimmer is made up of machined aluminum housing, which mounts the trimmer shaft, blade & case holder.
The trimmer shaft is mounted to the aluminum body with sealed bearings.
The trimmer body has a lexan cover that slips on and off to keep the shavings in one place, and allow for easy clean-up.
These are just my personal observations of the unit, a more detailed discription is given in his PDF instructions.
On to the start-up:
As others discribe, this thing is as simple as a pencil sharpener. My unit was set up for .223, and the sample case was trimmed to 1.755. Close enough for me, I decided to give it a whirl...
After 20 minutes I had half an ammo can worth of trimmed and chamfered once fired Ruag brass. I miked about 20 cases from various steps in the process and got a spread of 1.757 to 1.754 case length.
Overall, I'm very happy with this unit. It wasn't cheap with the final bill at $471.55 U.S. shipped for the two calibers, but I'm confident this thing will pay for itself in the long run.
I thought this thread was worth resurecting, http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116909&highlight=Giraud but decided to do a brief write up seperately.
As the Christmas season approaches, I've given myself a task of prepping all of my 5.56 brass for the coming service rifle season.
Now I like to handload ammo, but ultimately, it is all about getting out and shooting.
With a small family, my 'me' time is at a premium, and frankly I'd much rather be firing off ammo than loading it.
About a year ago I started loading 5.56 with a Dillon 550, and although a huge time saver, brass prep. is still a necessary evil and by far takes up the majority of my loading time.
Like a lot of guys I started with a Rockchucker supreme kit, which includes the RCBS case trimmer. While it does a decent job, this system is painfully slow, followed by equally tedious hand cranking of the case mouth to chamfer inside and outside. I thought of getting the trim-pro station, but hated the idea of still having to go through the three steps (albeit automated).
Enter the above thread. I had heard of the Giraud before, and in fact his web site was logged into my 'favorites' some years ago, waiting for the oportune time to choke up the funds for his product.
If you've looked at this type of item, you'll know none of them are cheap, and some are downright expensive. His is the later, so out comes the Visa....
First Impressions:
After viewing his site, (which is a little on the hoaky side) and reading his instructions (online in pdf) I had the image of some pencil necked 55 year old geek F-Class shooter making crap in his garage.
Then I looked at my pile of brass again, and thought 'pencil sharpener' and decided to give it a go. I Emailed Doug Giraud a couple of times, deciding after talking with him to order the trimmer configured for .223, with an optional .308 conversion set up. The package was landed in Calgary within a week.
I normally don'tget worked up over packaging, but looking at how this thing came with its proprietary foam end blocks & formed foam body shrouds just speaks to the care and attention on an often overlooked detail.
The case trimmer is simple enough, essentially it is a motor and cutter mounted on a frame with an on/off switch. The sum of the parts, and how it has been put together is very well thought out.
The base /frame of the unit is simple break-shape metal sheeting, and has rubber feet mounted as to allow the operation of the unit either horizontally or vertically.
The motor is a good quality 1/8 hp 120v/60hz that should prove to be easily sourced and replaced when/if it should fail.
the motor transfers its power via a geared pully and belt to the trimmer.
The trimmer is made up of machined aluminum housing, which mounts the trimmer shaft, blade & case holder.
The trimmer shaft is mounted to the aluminum body with sealed bearings.
The trimmer body has a lexan cover that slips on and off to keep the shavings in one place, and allow for easy clean-up.
These are just my personal observations of the unit, a more detailed discription is given in his PDF instructions.
On to the start-up:
As others discribe, this thing is as simple as a pencil sharpener. My unit was set up for .223, and the sample case was trimmed to 1.755. Close enough for me, I decided to give it a whirl...
After 20 minutes I had half an ammo can worth of trimmed and chamfered once fired Ruag brass. I miked about 20 cases from various steps in the process and got a spread of 1.757 to 1.754 case length.
Overall, I'm very happy with this unit. It wasn't cheap with the final bill at $471.55 U.S. shipped for the two calibers, but I'm confident this thing will pay for itself in the long run.
