Henderson Case Trimmer

[Hays25]

I’m about to pull the trigger on one and I’ve some negative feedback of galling / marking on the inside of the neck. Does anyone have any pictures or indication of how much occurs? This is about all that’s preventing me from buying right now.

 

[avidflyer]

very much so….I had to use an expander to get my brass over the pilot. Your basically using a modified Forster trimmer pilot.

 

[1kbrxDave]

Do the trimming first after firing. I love mine

 

[fisherman987]

I agree with 1kbrxDave. Neck is too tight to fit after sizing

 

[mgunderson]

Any cutter that touches the insde of the case has the potential to leave marks. In certain instances this might be a problem. If you aren't currently polishing the inside of your necks it should be an issue. Let us k ow how you like it.

 

[stavey]

Honestly save your time and frustration. Buy a Giraud. Unless you don’t mind galled inner necks and uneven chamfers.

 

[T Kop]

I had the issue of neck being too tight, a small strip of 400 sand paper on pilot while machine was running took care of that In short order. The trimmer is pricy but well worth it.
Tim

 

[Hays25]

Do the trimming first after firing. I love mine

I actually thought about this but hadn’t heard of any doing it.

 

[Hoser]

I polished the pilot like others have. I get perfect cases. Very happy with mine. I do see some occasional scoring on the inside of my necks. That does not show up on a chronograph or a target so I am good with it.

I have even trimmed some revolver brass and 30 Carbine brass.

I went from a Wilson to a Giraud to a Henderson. Very happy with my decision.

 

[6BRA]

Process speed isn't important to accuracy.

 

[Texas Solo]

I actually thought about this but hadn’t heard of any doing it.

Bad idea. Brass grows during sizing. Thus the early trim is useless.

 

[jimmymac]

I went through this not long ago. I bought a Giraud because I did not and do not want a pilot in contact with the inside of my case necks. Giraud is easy and fast with no potential to do damage to the inside of case necks.

 

[Oso]

If you steel pin tumble your brass then everyone's thoughts/opinions on galling are less meaningful to your heathen process. Along that logic thread, if you resize your case necks then something is already touching the inside of your neck... granted it is less aggressive than spinning a case on a lathe. If you expand the necks in advance and use a little bit of lube during the case trimming then you'll greatly reduce the risk of galling.

A little neck lube and a .306" expander mandrel should open a .30 cal neck adequately to slide over the pilot on the Henderson. Pick the right size expander mandrel for your caliber (usually .002" smaller than bullet diameter) and use some lube. 21st Century has some nice water soluble lube from Italy that works great and easy to clean up.

 

[jimmymac]

If you steel pin tumble your brass then everyone's thoughts/opinions on galling are less meaningful to your heathen process. Along that logic thread, if you resize your case necks then something is already touching the inside of your neck... granted it is less aggressive than spinning a case on a lathe. If you expand the necks in advance and use a little bit of lube during the case trimming then you'll greatly reduce the risk of galling.

A little neck lube and a .306" expander mandrel should open a .30 cal neck adequately to slide over the pilot on the Henderson. Pick the right size expander mandrel for your caliber (usually .002" smaller than bullet diameter) and use some lube. 21st Century has some nice water soluble lube from Italy that works great and easy to clean up.

We tend to over complicate things. My focus has been on simplifying things. I am surely not going to jump through additional hoops to ensure a desired result when I can achieve that desired result without added steps. I don’t even tumble my brass because it is an unnecessary step.

if you use a bushing die instead of a standard die with an expander button then the inside of the necks remain untouched during sizing. If you follow that up with trimming on a non-piloted trimmer they remain untouched. Simple stuff.

I’m not bashing the Henderson. I’ve never used one. When I evaluated it for my needs, I went the other way.

 

[muleystalker]

Its pretty simple, fire cases, trim, this will also leave carbon in necks to act as lube on pilot. If you want to trim new brass then check the fit on the pilot, if its too tight hit it with a sizing mandrel and your GTG. Then Size and load. And it's not like you are trimming that often on most cases. I have looked at brass trimmed on a Giruard, Henderson and Little Crow or Worlds Greatest Trimmer and to me the brass trimmed and chamfered by the Henderson looked the best and felt the best while seating a bullet. That is my experience, YMMV.

 

[jimmymac]

Its pretty simple, fire cases, trim, this will also leave carbon in necks to act as lube on pilot. If you want to trim new brass then check the fit on the pilot, if its too tight hit it with a sizing mandrel and your GTG. Then Size and load. And it's not like you are trimming that often on most cases. I have looked at brass trimmed on a Giruard, Henderson and Little Crow or Worlds Greatest Trimmer and to me the brass trimmed and chamfered by the Henderson looked the best and felt the best while seating a bullet. That is my experience, YMMV.

I can appreciate that. In my situation where my focus is on BR competition I evaluate potential purchases based on that. For my application I decided I liked the pilot free design more and went that way. The Henderson looks like a fine machine. It just didn’t check all my boxes.

 

[muleystalker]

Honestly save your time and frustration. Buy a Giraud. Unless you don’t mind galled inner necks and uneven chamfers.

If you gall necks on a Henderson you shouldn't be around power tools. Any body with a little common sense knows you dry fit/test before powering up a tool you have never used. If you did that you couldn't gall the case unless you seen the case was tight on the pilot and forced it anyway. But in this day and age we have to put instructions on the bacon package to tell people they need to remove the packaging from the bacon before frying because some people have no common sense or are too lazy to think something through before they jump in head first.

I find it funny because the Henderson uses a Forster pilots off the Forster case trimmer which has been used for decades and no body ever complained about having to trim fired brass or expand the necks before on new brass before trimming and never heard complaints of galled necks. I have been using a Forster case trimmer for over 40 years, started using one at about the age of 11. I bought it myself and figured it out on my own. I even converted it to power on my own and never had any galled brass.

 

[muleystalker]

I can appreciate that. In my situation where my focus is on BR competition I evaluate potential purchases based on that. For my application I decided I liked the pilot free design more and went that way. The Henderson looks like a fine machine. It just didn’t check all my boxes.

Thats what's great right now, there are enough different trimmers that we all can choose what checks all our boxes, and as we know that varies from person to person, its just nice that there are several to choose from. Me myself my hands and wrist have injuries and holding and pressing brass into the Girurd or the WGCT or Little Crow trimmer causes great pain, even using the computer hurts me after 10 to 15 minutes. So the ease of the Henderson works better for me with the bigger handle and not having to hold the brass and push it into the cutter. Shoot people said I was crazy for buying a used Primal Rights Priming tool but priming brass on other tools caused me so much pain the money I spent was worth it to me. Its just nice to have choices and we can choose what's best for our own needs.

 

[Benchrest Braxton]

I’m about to pull the trigger on one and I’ve some negative feedback of galling / marking on the inside of the neck. Does anyone have any pictures or indication of how much occurs? This is about all that’s preventing me from buying right now.

if you are getting marks/galling from the pilot you need to reduce the diameter of your pilot (if you are happy with your current neck tension).

 

[stavey]

This has been talked about lots of times. I tried literally everything. I polished the mandrel. Tried running a brush in the pilots place . I tried everything. Still scored the inner necks . Then there is the collet which by nature produces uneven chamfers .When for less money the Giraud will trim, chamfer, and debur perfectly.