NFOA MEMBERS FORUM
Ammunition & Hand Loading => Cartridge and Shotshell reloading => Topic started by: bkoenig on December 28, 2012, 07:14:55 PM
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For years I've been trimming using the Lee trimmers chucked up in a cordless drill. It's slow but it works ok - I just mic each case after resizing and only trim the ones that exceed the max length. Today, however, I found myself staring at a box of 500 .223 cases that all needed trimmed. I made a valiant effort, but after a couple of hours I had a grand total of 100 of them done. So, I decided I needed something better.
The Giraud trimmer is widely recognized as the Cadillac of case trimmers, but at $400 it's out of my price range. I did some research and stumbled across this:
http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html (http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html)
From the reviews I read online I'm pretty impressed. At $70 it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the Giraud. It doesn't chamfer and deburr in one step like the Giraud, but reviews indicate that it cuts so cleanly you often don't need to do either. It sounds like this is almost the same as the Possum Hollow trimmer, but apparently makes a much cleaner cut. The trimmer is case specific, so you need to order one for each caliber you want to trim. I shoot a LOT more .223 than anything else, so I'll stick with the Lee trimmers for my low volume reloading.
I put in an order for one just a few minutes ago, so I'll post my impressions once it gets here and I have a chance to try it out.
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I have used and like my Possum Hollow trimmer in an electric drill, but I can't get away with not chamfering the inside of the neck because I load mostly flat bottomed bullets.
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I've got a Foster bench top trimmer. Love it. Well, grabbed the 'bundle' that included several guides and collets.
I have no desire to hook it up to a drill, but it wouldn't be hard to build something for doing so. I just see no point personally ;) ... the thing cuts brass like it's warm butter.
On to a question:
Looking at the WFT -- it seems like it spaces off of the shoulder ?
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Correct, it spaces off the shoulder.
I got the trimmer yesterday and it appears to be very well made. I trimmed a few cases and it is extremely fast. Each case takes maybe 2-3 seconds to trim, so you spend more time picking up and setting down cases than you actually do trimming. I think once you really get into the groove you could easily do 10 or 15 cases a minute without trying too hard.
The trimmer is basically an end mill that chucks into your cordless drill, and there is a collar that slips over that and is held in place by 2 hex set screws. The collar has a bevel that matches the case shoulder, and the position of the collar on the shaft determines your trim length. It's a little bit of a pain to get the trim length where you want it - that's one of the few beefs I have with it. I used a case that was already the correct length as a gauge to set the collar.
Here's a picture to show what it looks like - I can't find my camera right now.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQDKtwNe03GGjIUvwhnBXDpKG3wrzTm5UZAnbCiMW3W8VTwVE6XSA)
The trim is perfectly even and smooth. There are no burrs on the inside or outside of the neck, so if you were shooting boat tail bullets I don't think you would even need to chamfer. The cases will still need to be chamfered for flat bottomed bullets, though.
Trim lengths appear to be pretty consistent, usually within 1 or 2 thousandths of each other. I did run into one case that ended up about 7 thousandths longer than all the others. Since this trimmer spaces off the shoulder I'm guessing this was a case that didn't get sized down as far as the others, for some reason.
I do think that the hand holding the case will get pretty tired from gripping the cases after a while. I'm guessing a thin pair of grippy work gloves would help a lot.
Overall I'm pretty pleased. It's not a Giraud by any means, but it is ridiculously fast and a heck of a lot cheaper. Is it better than a Possum Hollow? I'm not sure, but its head and shoulders above the Lee trimmers.
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Does it fling brass all over the place with it being a self cleaning system?
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A little bit. You'll want to use it over something at least the size of a 5 gallon bucket to catch the trimmings.
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I've been curious about these. I use a Gracey which from what I understand isn't quite as nice as the Giraud. The Gracey is a bit challenging to set up but once it is you're set.
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The RCBS 3way cutter head in an RCBS trim pro chucked to a drill will do length trim, chamfer and de-burr all in one step - total cost is about $130. The nice thing is if you want to do other calibers you just swap out the pilot/chamfer which run about $8 each, and set the trim pro to the length you want.