Trimming issues

[jlorenzo]

I am very tired of trimming. Using my hornady case trimmer and RCBS case prep station it's taking me a ridiculous amount of time. By far the most time consuming step in the whole process.

With both Lake City and Lapua 223 brass, it comes of the trimmer mushroomed/smashed more than trimmed. Then I have to grind away for quite awhile using 2 different angle deburring tools. Should not be this hard. I have done 308 brass and it seemed much, much easier. Just gently champfering and deburring.
With the 223 I have to get it down to a Knifes edge which I do not like. Often I will get strange chatter marks and also feel weird nicks in the case mouth catching on the tools.

I am currently trying to decide between a Giraud and a Henderson but never the less I still think something is wrong. It takes me several minutes sometimes maybe even 5 per case to successfully chamfer and debbur? Am I pushing too hard with the trimmer doing more smashing than trimming?

 

[jlorenzo]

Here is the trimmer.

 

[ASD9055]

people say the new rcbs x sizer die will help. I have not tried it.

 

[Bill Norris]

I find ease of trimming with the Wilson trimmer. Smooth as silk cutting. But, yes I still need to chamfer & deburr afterwards.

 

[TIMO]

I find ease of trimming with the Wilson trimmer. Smooth as silk cutting. But, yes I still need to chamfer & deburr afterwards.

Just like Bill said and a sharp cutter (all case prep tools) makes a huge difference.

Tim

 

[ronemus]

I use a Gracey trimmer with a Giraud Carbide cutter, but if I were buying today it would be the Giraud. I haven't used the Henderson, but it looks like overkill to me. With a powered tool, trimming should take only a second or two; with you as the power source it depends on how fast you can turn the crank, but no more than a few seconds. The Giraud cutter chamfers and deburs as it trims, but even with hand tools it should only take a second, if that. The tools do need to be sharp; I really like carbide tooling because it's still sharp after tens of thousands of rounds.

 

[rdremsek]

Did you try the new lyman push feed trimmer it works pretty good

 

[SecondsCount]

How much are you taking off? I trim 223 to 1.758, just under max, which on Lake City brass is usually around 4 or 5 thousandths.

After that I try to only bump 2 or 3 thousandths, which keeps the growth to a minimum.

On edit- Annealing really helps to soften brass that has been fired multiple times, and makes trimming much faster.

 

[Turpentine]

Something isn't right. You may have a dull cutter or need to replace the pilot bushing if it uses one. I'm not familiar with your trimmer. I use a Forster 3 in 1 in both 6.5-06, 6.5 Grendel, and 308, 30/06 with standard and military cases and they might take 20 seconds. Trims, deburrs, and chamfers in one step. My 308 started acting up once and I had to change a knife angle just a little and it was back to smooth.
Someone mentioned the X die. Mine works great but you still have to do an initial trimMing. It also is in 308 and they only make the X die in a couple of sizes.

 

[jlorenzo]

How much are you taking off? I trim 223 to 1.758, just under max, which on Lake City brass is usually around 4 or 5 thousandths.

After that I try to only bump 2 or 3 thousandths, which keeps the growth to a minimum.

On edit- Annealing really helps to soften brass that has been fired multiple times, and makes trimming much faster.

Not much been trimming after every firing back to 1.750 for 223. Also started trimming every firing to ensure I'm trimming less material. Its still more of a pain than it should be.

 

[jpjulian]

I had a manual trimmer, Hornady, a powered trimmer, Lyman, and was never happy with the time it took or the need to de-burr and chamfer each case. Enter the Giraud trimmer and have since trimmed countless thousands of cases since Doug first offered his trimmer. Completely and totally satisfied. I trim with every loading whether they need it or not, just because. No disrespect to the Henderson but I have no experience with one.

 

[Turpentine]

I'll add that with the X die, once you do the initial trim that's it. You won't have to trim again

 

[6Creed73]

Little Crow Gunworks Worlds Finest Trimmer for the win. As long as your sizing/shoulder bump is consistent it's 100% accurate and will make quick work of trimming.

It's never done me wrong.

 

[Dkk37058]

Yes I have a little crow WFT it is caliber specific but works good

 

[SecondsCount]

Not much been trimming after every firing back to 1.750 for 223. Also started trimming every firing to ensure I'm trimming less material. Its still more of a pain than it should be.

Then it sounds like your brass has hardened or your cutter is dull. Take the advice of others on here and pick up a WFT or similar. It makes life so much easier.

 

[358WCF]

Here is the trimmer.

Like Bill said, the Wilson is in a class of its own. I rarely use my Redding trimmer anymore except for the odd case I dont have a case holder for.

Blurry pics, but it sure looks & sounds like your cutter is dull. I wonder if this will fit your trimmer? Surprised the big red H doesn't make carbide replacements.

Cam-Lock Case Trimmer Replacement Cutter

Cam-Lock Case Trimmer Replacement Cutter by HORNADY RELOADING TOOLS Product Overview: Replacement Cutter for the Hornady Cam-Lock Case Trimmer. Made of steel.

www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

 

[209jones]

Only way I know of, to speed things up a bit more, is to put on a 3 way trimmer head, still leaves you with cleaning primer pockets. See Hornady listed one for a while, then de-listed it. I put one on my Forster trimmer, was worth it, also have a 21st Century unit set up for 3 way and neck turning as well. Not so sure that maybe a new cutter head and maybe new debur tools on your existing unit wouldn't help a whole bunch though. No idea how long it really takes to wear those out to need replacement, my Forster cutter was 40 yrs old, still cut just fine. The 3 way is an improvement though. Don't remember what size & thread Hornady trimmer cutter is, think RCBS 3 way will work on them though.

 

[DiRTY DOG]

World's Fastest Trimmer is nice, and FAST, but changing bushings and resetting the cutting depth for different calibers kinda drags.

Instead, get the caliber specific World's Cheapest Trimmer on eBay for 223, 308, etc. Same thing, just cheaper design.

Save the WFT for custom or unique bushing/calibers. You can send him wildcat fired brass and he'll ship you a custom bushing. Easy.

Then, get better chamfer/debur tools. Finish with a twist on 0000 steel wool.

I agree, trimming on a mini hand lathe used to be my most hated operation. It's worth some money to speed it up. Not Henderson $$, for me. But a few bucks sure.

 

[Shooter13]

Giraud was my choice, haven't tried the other one, if you buy the Giraud DO NOT use the nuts they supply, it is a minor pain to set up but once done......you're done. I can trim 200 cases in 10-15 minutes. Let me caution you not to "rush" as you can (and I have) have a bad or rough trim finish. Push the case straight in to trim, then you're done.

 

[Captrayj]

Henderson is quick, easy, and is a one step process….