Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Case Trimmers

My setup using a standard Forster trimmer.
Saves a lot of aches and pains in the wrists and hands.

Overkill? ^ lol

Like many discussions on this site, there is often overkill, or guys spend large sums of money for things that they simply do not need. They just have to keep up with the Joneses. That should ruffle a few feathers.

With the exception of persons who process brass for clubs, or commercially, there isn't a need to get too high tech, or spend a lot of money for equipment to trim cases. The majority of people are not trimming thousands of cases in one sitting. Heck, most aren't even doing 100s. Even people who buy 1000s of unprocessed military cases, do not need to trim them all in one session. Most guys are not constantly trimming, or annealing and trimming 100s of cases every week. I will say that there are a few, but they represent a small number of shooters.

There's nothing wrong with these expensive, or high volume, high tech trimmers, but the practical side of me says, put the money where it will do more good. Get another press. Buy an extra die or two. Get a second powder scale. Buy more bullets, primers, etc.

I rednecked two trimmers into one. The RCBS power unit works great but the shell holder sucks and didn't cut square. The Wilson worked great but was hand powered. So one day I got the idea to mate the two. It works great.

M16 That looks like the best of both worlds. If I had it to do over again the Wilson seems like one of the best for alignment and ease of use if not going to a Gracy or Giraud. I must have five different set ups but use the Lee Quick trim pilots the most. For my use I have found no real advantage to dialing in the case length, a generic but uniform length is good enough.

And your needs are the same as almost everyone else. Well done with the QT.

Never overthink the solution to a simple problem.

Yep. It works well for me...questions?

I feel the same way about my Frankford Arsenal case prep center. The best $ spent on my bench.

https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Platinum-Hardened-Scrapers/dp/B00HS7JEB4

John

I switched over to trim dies from a Lyman trimmer and I never looked back. Trim dies with a good, full size file and you’re on your way. You need one die for each cartridge that your trim brass for.

Jeffrey, I'm giving trim dies a try for the first time. I think I'm going to like them. Perhaps no faster, but they sure trim square, and take away the need for measuring. If it sticks up above the die, take it off and debur. My .223 die trims to 1.748...about perfect I'd say. How do you integrate the trim die into the sizing procedure. I'm thinking deprime, trim, size and prime and load. I did have to get an extended shell holder for the .223 die....just too short and the file was hitting the lock ring.

This one is in the mail heading my way.

https://www.lymanproducts.com/brands/lyman/case-trimmers-accessories/brass-smith-case-trim-xpresstm

SU35,

That unit looks like a good one, for a decent price. I have been tempted to try one, but really can't justify it with all the other trimmers already on hand, but will be very interested in hearing how it works for you.

MD

I will let you know how it works. (I bought it for $150.00 shipped)

But really, after decades of trimming by hand with a Lee, and just finishing up 120 pcs of 7mag.
I finally broke down and bought one of these Lyman's.
So I am sure anything will be better than what I was doing before. So expect a glowing report!


I like this guy and I think he does a great job of testing reloading equipment.

i've got the lyman brass smith express. i had a bag of hundreds of 223 brass. never counted them but trimmed them up rapidly easy set-up. only down side i see its a little rough on fingers holding brass.

Ed

1234,

A few people have mentioned that wearing a glove to hold the cases helps a lot with that type of trimmer. I have one sitting right next to my Gracey....

The Wilson trimmer makes a nice square cut. Much better than my rcbs that would leave one side randomly longer than the other. Its actually a little relaxing to see use the Wilson too and once you get a rythm down it goes fairly quick.