trimming and prepping rifle brass

rodregier said:
If you are feeding a semi-auto rifle or shooting rifle matches you're ready for a Giraud.

Once it's setup for a cartridge it's like using an electric pencil sharpener with a feed stop.
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I am long overdue for a powered case trimmer, and I'm looking at the frankford, and wondering if the Giraud is worth the step up... it really looks like it. but that also led to Giraud's tri way trimmer (http://w w w.giraudtool.com/Tri%20Way%20Trimmer.htm)... which begs the question, is the full scale Giraud worth it, over their Tri way trimmer? I can just stick the tri way trimmer in my lathe is what I'm thinking... Anyone used both by any chance and can comment on whether or not the Tri Way is for all intents and purposes just as good as the full size model ?
 
I used a Forster hand powered unit for many years, works good but requires a separate chamfer tool. I picked up the Frankford unit for doing large batches, it works very good. Still use the Forster for small batches 20 or less. Cheapest way to start and if only one or two calibers is the Lee stuff.
 
Kryogen said:
if you are shooting large volume of semi auto, imo, you just need the dillon trimmer on the press.... why handle all brass another time when you can trim on the press?
Imo, ar15 brass is not going to care about the nice inside bevel.

The giraud looks nice, but you still have to handle brass 1 by 1... and that's an annoyance.
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I don't shoot semi auto or have a progressive setup. When it takes roughly 2-3 secs to accurately trim, chamfer, and debur a case, the Giraud is not an annoyance buy any stretch. I had a Wilson stainless Micrometer trimmer and though very accurate, took a lot of time with having to put a case in the case holder and then trim. You then had to debur and chamfer after that. It was very time consuming and I hand load to shoot, not the other way around. I was on the fence for the longest time about getting a Giraud trimmer was sick and tired about hearing guys rave about it. As my hand loading progressed I eventually got one and my only gripe was why did I wait so long. That's my experience anyway.
 
Just buy a Gracey power trimmer, does everything the Giraud does but is cheaper. Easy to set up and takes about 2 seconds a case to trim, and chamfer inside and outside.
 
Kryogen said:
no, the tip wears down and your trim length increases until its unusable.
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The opposite is true. IF the tip wears down, and I doubt it would do so significantly for most users, the trim length will get shorter, not longer. This would/should be noticed when loading to the cannelure. It wont affect the COL, but if you are applying a crimp, the crimp will be less and less and time goes on
 
I'm just saying that you can forget the lee tool for batches of 1000 rounds of 223.
After 2-300 rounds the trim length has decreased significantly and it's unusable.
Buy a 10 pack for 100$ and replace every 200 rounds if you want, I would rather have something that works all the time instead.
I went through 3 lee kits before getting something else.
Obviously lee doesnt understand what the issue is *cough* cheap metal *cough*
 
PitBull1973 said:
For $100 more I bought the Giraud , built much better than the Gracey. Reviews I've read about the Gracey turned my off
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You atleast own the Giraud power trimmer, what are your thoughts on the Tri Way Trimmer by Giraud? If a guy were to run that in a lathe, do you expect it would be as good or better than the Giraud power trimmer? Maybe I just need to call Giraud tomorrow and get their opinion, because it's really hard to come up with an answer. I guess it depends how it mounts into the lathe, that could be a variable that introduces vibration or chatter also... blah, I can't decide if I want to go all the way with the full scale Giraud or if I can get the equivalent quality just using their tri-way trimmer.
 
EC said:
I know its not cheap but I have a Giraud Powered Case trimmer. It trims, chamfers, and deburs at once. Its a buy once cry once thing but my only gripe was I wish I got it sooner, worth every penny imo.
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I think in this case it'd be buy once cry for a week! Didn't realize it was almost $500 USD, in which case I wish I had bought it when the dollar was at par...
 
I have the Lyman prep Center and the worlds finest trimmer 2.

I'm gonna try and get a machinist friend to make me a chuck with threads to match the Lyman so that I can trim, debur, and chamfer all with one device.

Can make quick work of 100 cases with it, I'd guess 3 per minute.

Lyman is 189$ at cabelas, and the WTF is about 70$ and available from x-reload.
 
Kranatos said:
You atleast own the Giraud power trimmer, what are your thoughts on the Tri Way Trimmer by Giraud? If a guy were to run that in a lathe, do you expect it would be as good or better than the Giraud power trimmer? Maybe I just need to call Giraud tomorrow and get their opinion, because it's really hard to come up with an answer. I guess it depends how it mounts into the lathe, that could be a variable that introduces vibration or chatter also... blah, I can't decide if I want to go all the way with the full scale Giraud or if I can get the equivalent quality just using their tri-way trimmer.
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My buddy runs his triway in a small drill press. He preps anywhere from 6-8 thousand 223 cases a year with no problems
 
I just picked (ordered I should say) a Giraud set up for 6.5X55 and a cutter and case holder for 308 as well.

With the FX rate it obviously was pricey but I was getting pretty tired of doing it all by hand.

Now for an annealer...
 
35Wailin said:
The opposite is true. IF the tip wears down, and I doubt it would do so significantly for most users, the trim length will get shorter, not longer. This would/should be noticed when loading to the cannelure. It wont affect the COL, but if you are applying a crimp, the crimp will be less and less and time goes on
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You understood what i meant. Trims more, gets shorter... Whatever.
I was 30 mils short after a few hundred rounds.
 
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