Giraud or Henderson Power Trimmer

[VA_XTC_Shooter]

I believe he is talking about Giraud’s original trimmer. Giraud started producing stand-alone case trimmers that were cartridge specific. It had a tri-cutter head and indexed off case shoulder with an encapsulated body to capture shavings, including a plexiglass view window. It was nicely designed and well machined.

By comparison a WFT is a Chevy and Giraud’s trimmer was a Rolls Royce. I drove over to Doug’s house a few times over the years with my first trip to pick up a .308 trimmer.

Ah, yeah I have the 223 version of the Giraud Tri-Way. HOWEVER, they are only available for certain cartridges. I called and asked Doug for a 6BR version, he gave me some spiel about how that accurate of a cartridge needed the full on trimmer he sells. I was not impressed with that sales tactic.

 

[Oso]

I found him to be agreeable and accommodating. I appreciated his ingenuity and dedication as a small operation, much like I do with Henderson.

I’ve heard worse pitches and spent more money on actual bad products and imitations. Ever bought more than one set of dies for a specific cartridge/rifle… I got a drawer full of “seduced” by better marketing material & hype

Someday my friends and family are going to wake up on Christmas to find all of their stocking stuffed with a set of reloading dies. My favorites will get the Redding, Forster, or Whidden sets… the naughty list gets Hornady!

 

[Mike in Oregon]

I know it's a win-win either way I go. However, I'm putting ergonomics as my priority. Secondly, it looks like a much smoother setup all together with a much quieter motor. If you level the playing field and don't consider price, I'm leaning heavily towards the Henderson.

 

[DDRanch]

Maybe see if anyone near you is using either one of those trimmers. That way you could try out to see what works best for you.

 

[Oso]

I bought the Henderson a couple years back. For me it was a toss up between Giraud and Henderson. If you reload a large enough group of different calibers then simply from caliber conversion cost the Henderson made sense for me at that time. Not sure how it would shake out at current pricing and availability may impact the comparison today.

I have a fair amount of wildcats and similar cartridges that I do case forming. For me Indexing off the shoulder isn’t best option for trimming these newly formed or not completely fire-formed cases. Shoulder location and just as important shape of shoulder isn’t properly formed, yet.

With the Henderson it takes a little bit of finessing to get the correct “target” coal by adjusting the extended length of a threaded bolt that gets locked in place with locking nut. Once this COAL is set for a specific cartridge I then dedicate this bolt to this cartridge. This “dedicated cartridge” bolt gets labeled and stored until I need to trim more of these specific cartridges. A bolt and locking nut are inexpensive and readily available at any hardware store or Amazon.

In my opinion the critical sticking point of contention between the Giraud vs Henderson camps is not really about the best way to set trim length (Shoulder vs COAL … 2 ways to skin a cat), but rather the “potential” for galling inside case neck when using Henderson setup. By my simple caveman logic is that cases are exposed to potential galling from: (1) turning necks; (2) expander ball or expander mandrel during case sizing; (3) tumbling cases with steel pins, etc. Throughout the various steps in case preparation we encounter and mitigate this risk by using quality lubricants and properly sized neck mandrel.

 

[Jerry Snyder]

Giraud in action, sorry for the crappy video.

 

[jpjulian]

I have never used or even seen a Henderson in person. I have had a Giraud for quite a few years and tens of thousands of cases. It works and works really well. If you need to do volume trimming it is the perfect machine to use.

 

[Matt_3479]

Copy. Nor am I a BR shooter. As a varmint hunter, especially in a rat patch, reaching out to 500-yards, accuracy is everything as far as I'm concerned. I try my best to eliminate as much human error as possible in my reloading for this sport we love so much! I'm a perfectionist with OCD, so that doesn't help. I want to make the right decision the first time on this purchase.

I think a lot of us feel the same way, the reason I got the giraud and Henderson is because I wanted to speed up the process, without sacrificing the accuracy. While I’m not a benchrest shooter we all like shooting small groups

 

[gmr4]

My Giraud trims cases to about .0015 accuracy. Probably the same amount my shoulders vary! I have a Wilson also and it trims to .0005. Never been able to tell any difference in Benchrest accuracy

My henderson is nearly exact across all calibers and I do volume.

 

[gmr4]

See, I learn something every day!! Thanks Evan!

I dont get marring of the necks.. after once reading this is an issue I’ve paid close attention with a loop and light… I guess its the amount of sizing I do??? 7MM or 6MM no marring and the Henderson takes just minutes to change calibers.. my friend says the Girrard takes some adjusting…. Dont know.

 

[Hoser]

One other thing that makes me appreciate my Henderson is short cases like 17 Mach IV and 300 Whisper/Blackout. With the Giraud just holding on to the cases was a chore. Spark plug pliers were ok, but still a pain and made the process painfully slow.

With the Henderson it is easy. I even trimmed some cases under 1 inch and it was still fast, easy and dead nutz accurate.

 

[Fern]

One other thing that makes me appreciate my Henderson is short cases like 17 Mach IV and 300 Whisper/Blackout. With the Giraud just holding on to the cases was a chore. Spark plug pliers were ok, but still a pain and made the process painfully slow.

With the Henderson it is easy. I even trimmed some cases under 1 inch and it was still fast, easy and dead nutz accurate.

This is what I wondered how much of a pain it would be on the fingers after a while with the Giraud.
I even looked at the Hornady one which looked like a knock off henderson but with no support for anything less then 22 so that was out the window for me

 

[Hoser]

This is what I wondered how much of a pain it would be on the fingers after a while with the Giraud.
I even looked at the Hornady one which looked like a knock off henderson but with no support for anything less then 22 so that was out the window for me

I just took a Forster/Henderson 22 caliber pilot and had it turned down to .1695 inches. Instant 17 caliber support.

 

[Mike in Oregon]

One other thing that makes me appreciate my Henderson is short cases like 17 Mach IV and 300 Whisper/Blackout. With the Giraud just holding on to the cases was a chore. Spark plug pliers were ok, but still a pain and made the process painfully slow.

With the Henderson it is easy. I even trimmed some cases under 1 inch and it was still fast, easy and dead nutz accurate.

Yes, I will be loading for 17FB, 20VT, 20SCC, 20P and 223. Watching videos I saw that the Henderson might be a little better on the hands.

 

[DDRanch]

This is what I wondered how much of a pain it would be on the fingers after a while with the Giraud.
I even looked at the Hornady one which looked like a knock off henderson but with no support for anything less then 22 so that was out the window for me

For short cases like the 300 BO or volume trimming, for me it's the Dillon RT-1500 trimmer with carbide dies on my S-1050.

 

[Oso]

For short cases like the 300 BO or volume trimming, for me it's the Dillon RT-1500 trimmer with carbide dies on my S-1050.

I agree for forming/converting cases, such as 300BO or 300HAM’R, using a medium router with an end-mill cutter (aka Dillon RT1500) is best way to efficiently remove large volume of brass from a bunch of cases. Afterwards can either add a chamfer or run it through steel pins to knock off any burs. Quick & Dirty for cases that get lost in the grass. Perfect for run of the mill AR15.

I have a couple of bolt rifles (300BO) that get top shelf treatment for their brass. The Henderson works great for this job…. No finger cramps trying to hold a short case. Each rifle has its own dedicated stop bolt set to its chamber. I’ve trimmed about 2k of these short cases on Henderson without issue or regret.

 

[Mike in Oregon]

I agree for forming/converting cases, such as 300BO or 300HAM’R, using a medium router with an end-mill cutter (aka Dillon RT1500) is best way to efficiently remove large volume of brass from a bunch of cases. Afterwards can either add a chamfer or run it through steel pins to knock off any burs. Quick & Dirty for cases that get lost in the grass. Perfect for run of the mill AR15.

I have a couple of bolt rifles (300BO) that get top shelf treatment for their brass. The Henderson works great for this job…. No finger cramps trying to hold a short case. Each rifle has its own dedicated stop bolt set to its chamber. I’ve trimmed about 2k of these short cases on Henderson without issue or regret.

I was sort of wondering when the AR vs bolt comes into the comparison. Both have there places. Me setting up for bolt guns for varminting, I think the Henderson is the way to go. I also have a Dillon 550 setup for my two AR's and handguns. I have probably 15K pcs of 223 and another 15K in 9mm I've managed to get my hands on from our range. Oh how I look forward to doing all that!

 

[Hoser]

For short cases like the 300 BO or volume trimming, for me it's the Dillon RT-1500 trimmer with carbide dies on my S-1050.

I do the same. I cut about 0.005 long and then final trim, chamfer/deburr happens on my Henderson. I tried it on my Giraud and just ended up pissed and sore.