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Looking for a case trimmer. Are any of the brands better than the others? Anyone who has a case trimmer for sale, let me know. Thanks
WN:
This is one where you find all the hand trimmers are about the same in terms of set up, operation, time, and precision.
Your best bet is to find one for about fifteen or twenty dollars at a gun show. Just do a good inspection to ensure the cutters are in good shape and that the locking screws are still serviceable. You can buy the pilots and colletts for very little at Sinclair or Midway. I picked up a Forster at a gun show for under $25.00 and it has held up for many years. I don't intend on buying another one.
If you have a good barrel and are using a good sizing die that won't overwork the brass, most likely you will wear out the Grendel brass before you have to trim any of it. So, trimming isn't something you will do each session unless something is wrong with the rifle or your sizing die.
For high volume Giraud is the best. It trims, deburrs and chamfers in one quick step. It is also the most expensive. ~$440 shipped with one caliber included. Wilson is probably the most accurate, and slower, but does a square cut and need to deburr and chamfer seperately. Forster is probably next in accuracy, and you can get cutting heads that do all three steps. With the 3 way head it is mid range in price.
In my first reloading session I measured all my brass(AA's Lapua) and saw quite a bit of variation, from 1.509-1.522. So figured in order to get consistent crimping I need to trim to get them all at the same length. Am I correct on this assumption?
Also, while we are on crimping, if I don't crimp my first reloads and then later on a different lot of reload start crimping will that change pressures or velocities at all?
In my first reloading session I measured all my brass(AA's Lapua) and saw quite a bit of variation, from 1.509-1.522. So figured in order to get consistent crimping I need to trim to get them all at the same length. Am I correct on this assumption?
Also, while we are on crimping, if I don't crimp my first reloads and then later on a different lot of reload start crimping will that change pressures or velocities at all?
Any pressure on the neck (more pressure or less pressure) will have an effect. Crimping versus non-crimping is always gonna be one of those yes and no things depending on who you to talk with. I know many people do, but all the highpower and F-class folks I shoot with do not, so neither do I. But, I am not saying you should or should not crimp, only what I do and why.
For high volume Giraud is the best. It trims, deburrs and chamfers in one quick step. It is also the most expensive. ~$440 shipped with one caliber included. Wilson is probably the most accurate, and slower, but does a square cut and need to deburr and chamfer seperately. Forster is probably next in accuracy, and you can get cutting heads that do all three steps. With the 3 way head it is mid range in price.
Medic...out!
The Giraud saves me a lot of time. But the cost can be steep for many folks. I just figured what my time was worth and for me it was a no brainer.
The Giraud saves me a lot of time. But the cost can be steep for many folks. I just figured what my time was worth and for me it was a no brainer.
Same here. I just recently got my Giraud when the time spent prepping brass got out of hand. I am loading .223 and .308 for highpower matches and just knocking the dust off the Grendels and getting them going again. I may try to get one going for F-Class.
Ditto on the Wilson trimmer. I bought it to remove crimps from military 50BMG cases but now I use it for everything else. I even bought the Grendel caseholder before I even got the rifle. It holds everything square to the cutter. With my RCBS and Forster I am never sure.
I use a Forster, a Dillon and a Gracey. Each has it's place for certain jobs. The Forster is used for small runs of cases or those that are not used enough to warrant the trim set up for the Gracey. I do have a power adapter for the Forster.
The Gracey for big runs of others like 20 Tactical, 243 and 6X45. The Dillon is used to size, trim 556/223.
The Giraud is the Cadillac of trimmers. For now, I'm using the Possum Hollow trimmer...it is really fast, cheap, but I do have to deburr the inside and outside of the cases in separate operations. I think the Possum Hollow trimmer in a drill is the next fastest option to a Giraud.
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