Trimming?

ilovepotatos

ilovepotatos

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I was given advice by a trusted friend on here that I wouldn't have to trim my cases the first time I reloaded them. He was wrong, and I scratched the muzzle on my mauser trying to get the damn cartridge out of the chamber.

It's still in there. :(

Anyways, the cases are too long, and I have to trim all of them. What is the best way to do so? I tried doing it by hand, and it's a pain in the ass for doing anything more than about 2. Should I get the Lee Zip Trim machine? Or is it's pull action design a piece of garbage? I like how I wouldn't have to use a power drill to operate it, since it would be quieter and wouldn't use any batteries.
Plus, it seems more fool-proof than the drill...which I could get going at a slightly wrong angle or something.
 
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Was the brass brand new unfired, and then you sized and loaded them? What caliber? I always measure brass, just to be on the safe side. Chambers vary.
 
I use the Lee cutter & lock stud with a case length guage and it works fine for me, although you need to use the power drill.
 
blargon said:
I use the Lee cutter & lock stud with a case length guage and it works fine for me, although you need to use the power drill.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry...I forgot to give that piece of information.

I have the Lee Anniversary kit, and it comes with a cutter and lock stud. I do not have a case length gauge yet, nor the shell holder required to use it with the case trimmer.

So should I use the drill or this gismo? Anyone used it before?
 
Hmmm

Once fired brass shouldn't be so long that it sticks into the leade and refuses to extract, especially with a Mauser.

Was the brass originally fired in the same rifle?
 
Cases that are too long can cause problems because the case mouth jams into the end of the chamber, and this can cause pressure spikes because the bullet cannot release cleanly. There may be other causes for a stuck case. You will need a caliper to measure your cases. The ones that Cdn. Tire and Princess Auto put on sale for $20 will be fine, or one of the plastic vernier calipers will do the job.
 
Do the ends of the fired cases look odd from being jammed into the end of the chamber?
Trimming cases with a Lee tool by hand is pretty slow. A drill speeds things up. I've never used a zip trim, so cannot comment.
 
ilovepotatos said:
Yeah, sorry...I forgot to give that piece of information.

I have the Lee Anniversary kit, and it comes with a cutter and lock stud. I do not have a case length gauge yet, nor the shell holder required to use it with the case trimmer.

So should I use the drill or this gismo? Anyone used it before?
Click to expand...

You can't use the Lee cutter without the case length gauge. And when the gauge comes with the shell holder, why would anybody do it buy hand instead of a drill? Doesn't take long to trim up a bunch off cases with my cordless. Keep an extra battery charging to switch out.
 
I use a Lee zip trim, and it works pretty damn good. Lock in the case, a couple of yanks and she's trimmed. A quick inside/ouside chamfer and it's all good. Hell, if you want, you can hit it with some 0000 steel wool and shine 'em up at the same time.
Just make sure it's well anchored.

(E) :cool:
 
Trimming cases a la Lee is a TV thing, you get so many done even by hand you don't know where the time went. Bad idea to fire neck sized from one rifle into another. If you FL these cases you'll bump the shoulder back and wa la (voila) the neck goes back too.
 
I trim all brass every time, I don't even bother to measure them. I set up my Lyman trimmer to the correct length and they all go for a quick trim and deburr.
 
I think I am going to get one of those Lee gismos then. I'll have to get the appropriate shell holder and depth gauge, apart from the gizmo, correct? Do I need to get that chuck ring, with the three teeth for it? I have no idea what it does.
 
ilovepotatos said:
I think I am going to get one of those Lee gismos then. I'll have to get the appropriate shell holder and depth gauge, apart from the gizmo, correct? Do I need to get that chuck ring, with the three teeth for it? I have no idea what it does.
Click to expand...

It's supposed to be for quick caliber changes (?) while doing trimming :confused: . Mine crapped out on me, never bothered calling Lee. It was a bit of a PITA. You need the proper trim gauge, and you get the lock ring with the gauge, so what I needed the 3 jaw chuck for still escapes me :rolleyes: .
A bit of advice if you get the zip trim. Mount it firmly! I lost mine off the table a couple of times being a little too aggressive while trimming. Now I have it mounted to a 4x8" piece of lumber with rubber feet (door bumpers) under it. Once clamped down, it won't start walking around on you.

(E) :cool:
 
I just hold the drill in a padded vice and chuck the Lee thingy in that, and trim away. Bin doing it that way for 15yrs. Simple and effective.

I needed a trim gauge for a 375/338, so I had a millwright at the refinery trim a 458Win gauge back to .370". Works perfectly. :)



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Check the sales at Canuck tire or house of tools etc. you can get low end cordless drills for $20-30 dollars just fine for this if you're sick of twisting by hand.
 
You haven't stated yet whether or not you've ever gotten the case removed to examine it. In fact your initial post says it's still inthere. As there is usually a bit of leeway in a chamber how did you conclude that it was case length rather than en excessive load that froze it up?
 
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