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Case Trimming and Brass Prep Equipment

treillw

Finally need to break down and get some tools for case prep and trimming. Recommendations?

Multiple calibers. Thousands of rounds of military brass.

Wanna it to be fast, easy, machine powered, as cheap as possible.

I have access to drill press, power hand drill, milling machine, and lathe.

Thanks!
 
Sounds like you need a good case prep center like RCBS or Lyman makes. Maybe a hand neck turning tool from one of the many good ones out there. K & M, Forster, etc.
 
Since you already have a lathe get a couple WTF trimmers for the high volume brass, parting tool for the rest. VLD chamfer for neck, standard for crimp removal. Hornady Lg / Sm pocket uniformers. Sinclair flash hole deburring tool.
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If your spending the money on a dillon, why not get the Giraurd, it cuts and chamfers in on step and is super fast and accurate

When you're prepping brass, there is nothing fast accurate and cheap. You'll need to compromise. You could build something motorized with the access of equipment you have
 
Giraurd trimmer for the 223/556 brass, does it all with only one handling of the brass, other calibers are available from Giraurd, but no experience with those other calibers. WFT is good quality IMO.
 
Just thinking out loud...
There was a paradigm in school they used to show us with a diagram. A triangle formed with each word in a corner. Better, Faster, and Cheaper.
The grey beards would then lecture on how rare it is to hit all three since you can usually only get two. On a rare occasion, there was some sort of breakthrough story where they got a paradigm shift and hit all three. It makes some sense if we think about it.

Now to your question, I am guessing that the only way to go better and faster, and in order to avoid repetitive task injury, is to take advantage of the motorized tools you already own.

For example, a progressive press with a straight cut trim and a primer pocket swage is fast and the least amount of fiddling with each piece, but it is not at all cheap. A Giraud or Henderson trimmer is great, but again it isn't cheap.

If you get the style of three-way trimmer to be driven with your motors, and primer pocket swage cutting tool bit, then you have the optimum in terms of motorization and automation, while hitting the cheap button at the same time. YMMV
 
treillw said:
The trim-it II looks good. Any feedback?
Click to expand...
I have a Trim-It II dedicated to my 6.5 PRC brass. It works really well, giving me fast and consistent case lengths. And since it uses a 3-way cutter, I like the time savings.

Since you said you're looking at multiple calibers, this doesn't seem to be a good choice. IMHO Because, when you change calibers, you'll have to go through a hassle of readjusting the cutting head after inserting a different die in the trimmer. Of course, you can have a dedicated one for each caliber. :rolleyes: :)
 
Straightshooter1 said:
I have a Trim-It II dedicated to my 6.5 PRC brass. It works really well, giving me fast and consistent case lengths. And since it uses a 3-way cutter, I like the time savings.

Since you said you're looking at multiple calibers, this doesn't seem to be a good choice. IMHO Because, when you change calibers, you'll have to go through a hassle of readjusting the cutting head after inserting a different die in the trimmer. Of course, you can have a dedicated one for each caliber. :rolleyes: :)
Click to expand...
How hard is it to switch cartridges?

I mainly shoot three cartridges - 300 win, 6.5 Creed, and 5.56.

I think it would be worth it to get something that has a three way cutter for 5.56 brass. Being able to do three operations in one is going to be a big time saver when doing thousands of rounds.

I don't see as big of a need to trim the other cartridges nearly as much. I can live with doing multiple operations on a few hundred pieces of brass no problem.
 
treillw said:
How hard is it to switch cartridges?

I mainly shoot three cartridges - 300 win, 6.5 Creed, and 5.56.

I think it would be worth it to get something that has a three way cutter for 5.56 brass. Being able to do three operations in one is going to be a big time saver when doing thousands of rounds.

I don't see as big of a need to trim the other cartridges nearly as much. I can live with doing multiple operations on a few hundred pieces of brass no problem.
Click to expand...
It's not particularly hard to change out the particular cartridge die and adjust the cutter heard. The Trim-It II design for adjusting the head is much easier than the Giraud set up. Though it's not really hard to adjust, getting the setting to be exactly as before (like one might want for precision reloading), takes a lot of time and effort.

If precision is not really an issue with your 5.56 brass, and that's the bulk of your process, then making the adjustments shouldn't be an issue. But if you're looking for precision with your 6.5, just be prepared to take more time in trying to get the cutting head adjustment just right before you start to trim. If you've got a lot of patients . . . no problem. ;)
 
I'm also am interested in a trimmer than also does outside and inside chamfers at the same time. That leaves out the WFT that seems to only trim. Leaving the Giraurd and Trim-it 2. RCBS and Forster also sell 3 way cutters for thier trimmers, but I'm guessing they are slower and not as good.

Between these 2 Giraurd and Trim-it 2 which is better and why? It seems to me that the Trim-it cuts a very sharp edge on the case mouth. IMO that may lead to hand injuries on unloaded rounds and is less than idea for loaded rounds that are crimpped.
 
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I've been using the Lyman Case Trimmer for years; I have two of them. the Universal Chuck is a plus.
I trim by hand as I just haven't gotten around to buying a shaft for the power drill.

I also have some of the Lee Case Length Gauge individual trimmers for some cartridges. These are nice as it is easy to adjust the length, and they seem to come with an over long stem.

One of the prep stations is a must, I have the Lyman.

I do not load or shoot a high volume of rifle cartridges so I'm good.

But it was interesting to look up the Giraud Trimmer. It looks like a nice piece of equipment; I didn't even know it existed. It looks like they've got most cartridges listed
 
treillw said:
I really don't want to spend $400 to trim brass
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Then there is a very simple way to do nice brass trimming & chamfering on the cheap…. Manual Operation … hand turn the hand crank.

If you want speed/volume and quality output then you are looking at Henderson or Giraud or something else similar. $$$

It all really just depends on the type of shooting you are participating in, level of personal OCD and disposable income.

If you aren’t forming cases where you are removing large volume of brass then you don’t need a Dillon…. A WFT (end mill cutter) will work. If you are just doing minor case trimming and adding a chamfer for better bullet seating then there are other tools that are a better fit.

If you are not planning on doing Bulk (thousands of cases) and you want to be extremely budget friendly then I would go give a very hard look at recommended 2 tool setup by FClass John recommended or some similar setup. Even if you have a top-end trimmer, the hand chamfer tool is well worth having as a backup.
 
These are the 3 things I have been using for trimming and chamfering . Very accurate and speedy on a cordless drill .
www.midwayusa.com

Lee Case Length Ga Shellholder 500 S&W Mag

The Lee Case Length Gauge is a precise and easy way to trim brass cases to length and square the case mouth. Requires a Lee Cutter and Lock Stud to...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com
www.midwayusa.com

Lee 3 Jaw Chuck Case Trimmer Kit

The Lee 3-Jaw Chuck Case Trimmer Kit features a hex shank that fits popular, low-cost cordless screwdrivers (sold separately). The universal 3 jaw chuck...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com
www.midwayusa.com

Redding Chamfer Deburring Tool 17 to 45 Cal

The Redding Chamfer and Deburring Tool removes burrs and bevels case mouths for easy bullet seating. The hardened precision ground flutes make clean,...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com
 
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