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case length trimmer

Just saw the Accurate Shooter review on the WFT. It does seem to be accurate. Besides the cost (needing a $70 tool for each cartridge, although cases of the same family , i.e 270/30/06) may use the same tool, it seems that it might throw brass chips everywhere....and since it indexes on the shoulder, any chips that get caught between the tool and brass will influence the length.
 
LH,

On the surface,the comments you make about slinging chips and the resultant effect of a chip lodging in the shoulder area of the tool make sense. My experience with the tool has been that centrifugal force holds the chips inside the cutting area ( not the shoulder area) while the tool is spinning. They easily drop out of the exit hole when the tool is stopped. As I said in my post, I run the tool in my lathe so it is basically turning all the time while I am processing a batch of cases. So far, I've seen no evidence of chips flowing into the shoulder area. Again, this may be because the tool is always turning and the chips are being captured in the cutting area.I think the tool would work equally well in a drill press if the spindle speed is high enough to hold the chips against the inner wall of the tool.
 
Eljay- Do you find the chips tend to block those holes, and require a lot of clearing? Other than the fact that I need trim tools for a dozen or so cartridges, I could see how it might live up to it's name. I did notice that on the video a q-tip was used to wipe the shoulder area of the tool....but virtually any trimmer requires removal of shavings in order to maintain consistency.
 
LH,

The exit hole for the chips is about 1/2" so clogging is not an issue. The chips themselves are very fine especially if your feed rate is slow as recommended. I have not seen any buildup in the neck area requiring the Q-tip. At the end of the session (50-100) cases, I rotate the spindle of my lathe so the cleanout hole is facing the chip pan and blow out any remaining chips with compressed air.
I am only reloading 223 Rem so I only need one unit. I can see that if you are reloading for 12 different calibers the cost could add up. However, I can't see myself going back to my hand cranked Lyman if I do expand my horizons.
 
I bought a lyman power trimmer 15 years ago on the advice of a friend and fellow reloader whose been in the business for over 60 years. The only problem I have had with consistent trim lengths has been with 223 brass fired from different AR15's (dont know why) other than the brass has come from three different companies (winchester, remington and hornady). Resized with 223 dillon dies and annealed prior to sizing. This trimmer has over 100,000 pieces of brass worked through it without so much as a 2 thousands difference. I use a carbide cutter from lyman. One thing I have noticed with this trimmer as well as others (ie., RCBS from friends) is that brass that is allowed to grow to max length or has been formed up or down from other cases tends to have to be trimmed and dechamfered and then again trimmed to correct length. A bit frustrating but knowing these types of cases need this extra attention up front makes the end game easier to understand. Not sure this helps no am I am suggesting lyman as your choice of trimmers. There is a load of great equipment available to shooters now more so than ever before. Good luck Scott
 
What I've learned about a few off the shelf trimmers. Never used a Lyman sorry.

Any trimmer that uses a collet such as the RCBS is only as accurate as the head diameter it clamps onto.
For instance if your head diameters fluctuate it will automatically flucuate cut length with them if tightened by feel.
For best accuracy (still not great) you need to wrap tape around the body and make hash marks to get a confirmed distance on the threads which should result in a fairly consistent cut.
Some brass may need to be tightened hard. Some may be sloppy to the point of impossibility. A real PITA.

Hornady trimmer uses case rim thickness as a measure. Usually quite more accurate. Definately an improvement over the collet IMO.

Nothing beats any quality trimmer especially if it indexes off the shoulder and no pilot needed.
 

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