Frank in the Laurels
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- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
- Messages
- 2,026
..I bought a Forrester gold trimmer with all the accessories back in the 70's and its served me well over countless uses..guess there's no reason to change at this point..
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Brass trimmer recommendations
- Thread starter Teekerguy
- Start date
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jlphillips1
Active Member
Teekerguy
Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the responses it's much appreciated. But I mostly I load for hunting rifles but I do have a dasher and a 223ai just for long range plinking so total probably close to 6-700 brass will need to be trimmed at some point. I understand Giraud will be the most efficient in time but as far as consistency goes is it that much better or am I mostly gaining less trim time
Sdvldog1371
Well-Known Member
if all of your brass is sized identically, and you trim to the smallest length piece, you will have brass within 1-2 thousandths with giraud. Remember, Giraud indexes off of the shoulder, so all of your necks end up within 1-2 thousandths. Your overall may be different if the cases aren't identical. With the Giraud you will have great consistency along with speed. I have Lyman hand and drill powered cutters, a black widow 2, a couple rcbs cam lock, hand-crank style trimmers and I replaced it all with the Giraud. 1 cutter per caliber so there is no messing around with cutter settings. I wasn't impressed at first, then I realized when I set the cutter I set it backwards, Lol. It works amazingly well now.
Russ661
Well-Known Member
I also use the Lee trimmers. I have a drawer full of them. I chuck up the case holder in my cordless drill and hold the pilot/cutter with a tiny vice grip plier. I trim after sizing if the brass needs trimming. It may not be the best, fastest or most accurate system but it is what I have and it works for me. YMMV
I use the LE Wilson with a small, low speed electric screwdriver attached. Works great, incredibly consistent results and plenty fast for me.
Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
I use a Hednerson Precision trimer for case lengths. Cuts and bevel all in one. I aslo use a 21st Century for cutting the necks for thickness. I have cutters for .224, 243, 257, 7mm, 308, and 338 calibers. I don't like changes, so I ordering sometime additional cutter for the 21cty. I am told that I shouldn't make a single cut for thickness, and should be done in two cuts. I want my thickness to be the same in the finish cut for thickness. So I don't have to change the setting. I also use Inline fabrication plated for each application. Easy change out and take up a lot less space on your reloading bench. So you can change out for whatever you are going to use. Instead of bolding down a press and leaving it there and having to spread out across the table for reloading you can change out presses or whatever only need one spot or place to do your work.
Svashtar
Well-Known Member
Exactly what I have as well. A few years ago Brownells / Sinclair had a sale so I picked up the LE Wilson with the Sinclair micrometer and stand, along with the shell holders and power adapter. For as much brass as I'm processing which isn't huge it's fast enough and super accurate. I was looking at the Henderson last year, which is a really nice unit, but based on the cost and my yearly volume couldn't justify it. But you know, for what I've spent on reloading stuff I couldn't justify, if I were even 10 years younger I'd probably spring for the Henderson.
Yeah I basically load for precision not volume, and unfortunately don't get enough time right now (with a 2 year old) to shoot even the low volume I'd like to. I'd like to someday start shooting competitively when I've got a little more time. But for now I'm using most of my time to hunt vs shooting at the range. So any range time goes to load development and verification for hunting.Exactly what I have as well. A few years ago Brownells / Sinclair had a sale so I picked up the LE Wilson with the Sinclair micrometer and stand, along with the shell holders and power adapter. For as much brass as I'm processing which isn't huge it's fast enough and super accurate. I was looking at the Henderson last year, which is a really nice unit, but based on the cost and my yearly volume couldn't justify it. But you know, for what I've spent on reloading stuff I couldn't justify, if I were even 10 years younger I'd probably spring for the Henderson.
Laguna Freak
Well-Known Member
I just ordered one of these with a couple different cartridge collets. It looks pretty solid.
Svashtar
Well-Known Member
I've seen these, it does look good, and I'd consider it if I didn't already have a solution. I have several products from Ugly Reloading / Derraco Engineering: their Ugly Annealer which is simple but one of the best designed flame annealers available, a really good quality anodized threaded multi-caliber comparator set for less than sixty bucks, and their PCPS press mounted micrometer primer seater which is a nicely engineered piece of equipment for about a third the cost of the Primal Rights CPS, which also allows fine tuning primer seating depth. They also sell some better quality shell holders for the PCPS that are much more precisely machined than the Lee ones I'd normally use. Their rep in the US Carl answers the phone personally day or night, so they also have excellent customer support.
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Svashtar
Well-Known Member
Good for you. Try to get time when you can. When my son was 2 I was working 70 hours a week trying to save for a house for my young family, and finally succeeded 10 years later when he was 12, but there was no money for hunting and only for occasional target shooting. Now my son just turned 40 last week, and I still haven't done any real hunting to speak of, and am set to retire in a few months at age 69, after 52 years of work, with the last 40 spent staring at a computer. I hope to get to the range a lot more after retirement, and maybe finally a few hunts, (but obviously not while in my prime!). Grab as much as you can now, it goes quick, and there's always some (sometimes legit, sometimes BS) reason your wife will give why the money you earn and save has to go for something "more important."
Anyway, I see your profile says you're on the Central Coast? Salinas here.
This is what I use as well. I agree that the results are incredibly consistent and fast with the drill adapter. It is almost perfect within .001" every time. It makes me wonder why I used the ol' RCBS for so long.
