[heckinohio]

Per my previous post and contributing comments, I have concluded that case trimming is the biggest slow down. I have an old Lyman hand-crank one. Works fine, but time involved per cartridge including case mouth smoothing operation are not only slow and tedious, but soon hurt my arthritic fingers and my back doesnt like the required forward lean at the bench........

Any one have a power one of these that can give me some insight on any pitfalls???? .......recommend a brand to buy .......brand (s) to avoid???? Do these come with a primer pocket reamer too???? Much of the empties supply I have have swagged in primers.

 

[mt-ac]

Case Triimers

I use the Dillon power trimmer most often. The advantages are: works with progressive Dillon press, has many caliber options, is a small base sizing die, and is fast. Some of the dis-advantages: they have become VERY spendy, the electric motor is NOT covered by the no BS lifetime warranty, dies are caliber specfic (were $20 each and now are up to $40 or worse), it does nothing for primer pockets, does not de-prime brass, it requires a vacuum to pull off chips, and LOUD do to motor noise and vacuum running. The trimmer will jam if run without the vacuum attached (I had to try just to be sure). I also find using it on my Rockchucker I get better results for consistant trimmed case length.
Other options are: add a drill to the RCBS or Lyman trimmer using their optional parts for this. I found that the bearings in my Lyman trimmer developed wear doing this. RCBS and Lyman also offer power trimmers, they work great but slow, and do have accessories for primer pockets and case mouth. There are at least two other major power trimmers available and I'll let those that use them make comments on price and features.

 

[loboslanding]

It is really pricy ($375), but I wouldn't trade my Giraud trimmer for anything when it comes to trimming cases...zip, zip, zip and you're done. It trims to length, chamfers the mouth inside and out and deburrs in one operation that takes about a second. It won't do straight wall cases, only bottle neck cases. You would have to reload a lot to make it pay. I bought it when I was doing 50 cal, but wisely bought the 30 cal collet at the same time so I can trim the '06 and 308 cases.

 

[heckinohio]

Hey........my kind of gadget!!!! To quote some sage, 'The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.' Even though I dont consider 2-3000 rnd annually a big timer, I like this kind of gadget. Maybe I would do more.......wife always want to learn this stuff.

Got a phone # for Giraud??? I wll do an Int. search but .......would still like contact info....

 

[Rory]

all of the 50 cal reloading people swear by the giraud

Contact Information
Doug Giraud
Telephone
713-907-2695 (cell) or 281-238-0844(home)

one of the things on my wish list that i just didn't get around to buying.

rory

 

[Roc Rat]

http://www.giraudtool.com/prod02.htm

 

[kkkriverrats]

Trimming and work area

My experience with the Dillon power trimmer mirrors mt-ac's, but since I was using a Lee Zip trimmer and a Lee "hand job" previously I thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is noisy but short work of trimming and sizing. Mine stays mounted on a RCBS Jr press, it looks to me like you would have to thake the Dillon 550 press apart to mount this thing on it.

I don't know how others are set up, but I found a long time ago that a high top work/reloading bench is less tiring to work from. The way to figure how high is stand errect with your arms at your side, keep your upper arm at your side and raise your lower arms so they are at right angles to your body, measure that distance to the floor, subtract 2 inches (a friend that was an industrial engineer who worked for IBM in ergonomics mentioned this when he saw my first bench, it was kitchen counter height.) This will customize the bench top height for your body. The top of my bench is 44 inches from the floor looks odd, but is really comfortable. Another thing that helps is to place a rubber pad on the floor where you are standing, I bought a package of pads 2' wide that interlock so you can make whatever length you want cost something like $20 made a difference. The other thing that makes work less tiring is proper lighting I have an 8 foot 2 bulb hi intensity flouresent fixture directly above the bench work area so that there are no shadows, and plenty of light. If one is going to spend that much at the bench it needs to be as comfortable as you can make it

 

[Roc Rat]

Black Smith's figured this out a long time ago as to how high the top working surface of an anvil should be,, nothing new under the sun. My bench is just about the same as you are saying kkk,,, made of a four inch thick slab I cut out with my Chainsaw lumber mill years ago. I can work at it all day,, got a tall stool just in case I get tired of standing.

As to power trimmers,,, I still have my hand trimmer,, When I build ammunition, I don't mind taking my sweet old time. Ya make smaller groups that way.

 

[ajmdreammg42]

I bought a gracey case trimmer about 10 years ago for about 120- just the trimming head and found a old electric motor form a surplus dealer for about 15.00 . mounted it on a board with somerubber hose as a shaft and it works great !! here is the web site http://www.matchprep.com/trimmer.htm
it runs just a little more now but if you can find a motor it would be the cheapest way to go

 

[heckinohio]

I have Gracey info enroute.......seems like the hot ticket for small stuff, I will keep the other trimmer info for .50......

 

[jerrykn]

I use the Lee trimmers and have adapted them to use a cheap ($30-40) drill press from harbor freight.
I attached the base part to a cut off screwdriver handle and chuck the cutter and spindle part in the drill press. I can trim about 6 to 10 cases a minute that way. I get quite consistant case length with the cheap Lee stuff.
I'd like some of the other powered setups but can't really justify the expence.

Jerry

 

[loboslanding]

I chucked a LEE cutter in a drill press for years and it works just dandy. It was too hard on the wrist trying to do that with hundreds of 50 cases so that's what prompted me to spend the money.

If you want to do the cases even faster (approx 15 5o 20 per minute) toss the LEE shell holder and adjust your drill press base to be your pilot stop and then you save time not having to screw and unscrew the shell holder onto each case. Only caveat is that you gotta have strong fingers to hold the cases, but if you go easy you can do it...I tumble them to get the lube off first and then use a pair of gloves. It works good on rifle cases and fat pistol cases, but when you get down to 9mm it gets kinda tough to hang onto them.