Case Prep: What are you using?

[Amay1234]

Wondering what everyone uses for case prep. Trimming, chamfering, primer pocket brushes/cleaning, etc. I've been loading pistol ammo for while but just now getting into rifle ammo, especially precision rifle ammo. Starting out with .223 before I work up to something with more expensive calibers. Is something like the Hornady Lock N Load case prep center worth it?


Thanks

 

[straightshooter1]

Wondering what everyone uses for case prep. Trimming, chamfering, primer pocket brushes/cleaning, etc. I've been loading pistol ammo for while but just now getting into rifle ammo, especially precision rifle ammo. Starting out with .223 before I work up to something with more expensive calibers. Is something like the Hornady Lock N Load case prep center worth it?


Thanks

No . . . not IMHO, because consistency is what's important for precision loading and the case prep center is just not designed to be able to get that. It's designed for convenience, that's it.

 

[simonp]

I use a Giraud for trimming & chamfer

 

[acudaowner]

frankfor arsonal case prep center with bronze brushes to hit the inside of the necks , and a lee case trimmer it's all seems to me to only be as important as it is to you you could trim , chamfer and deburr by hand , or skip it at together all if you don't wanna do it .

 

[Superminokla]

I am using the Frankford Arsenal. I have a friend who has broken two of the hornady. They don't seem to be very well built.

 

[Gohring65]

You don’t need anything fancy, trim your cases with a lathe trimmer in the color of your choice.. I do recommend annealing and deburring flash holes. Cleaning necks and primer pockets is a waste of time, in fact cleaning necks squeaky clean can hinder precision results.

 

[Dogtown]

I’ve gone down the case prep center route in the past and I always return to doing things with separate tools. That doesn’t mean you can’t make good ammo or even enjoy the process - it’s really just a personal preference thing in the long run.

Case trimming is a big one as it can be one of the most annoying and tedious processes. Hand cranked trimmers are fine but they get old when you start doing more than 40 cases at a time. There are some great powered trimmers out there, but the one thing that always bothered me is setup and adjusting when swapping cartridges. Obviously not a problem when you’re doing just one, but I do a lot of short action and magnum cartridges and would often have to swap the tool components out regularly and with some that can be time consuming.

For example, I loved the Giraud trimmer, but every time I swapped cartridges I had to replace the insert and adjust it to be just right, and then do the same with the cutting head, which resulted in about 10 minutes of trial and error and some over trimmed cases. Some others are similar in that there’s this arbitrary adjustment you have to do like turn a bolt until it’s trimming the correct amount.

Over the years I settled on a simple system: Little Crow Gunworks WFT. Not the modular WFT2, but the one cartridge WFT. I set it to trim one cartridge, then leave it. I have a rack of 8 different WFTs and when I need one I just throw it in the hand drill and start trimming. Super fast to trim a whole bunch of brass for different cartridges.

There are others out there that do a step better and chamfer/debur while trimming.

Just my trimming evolution - YMMV

 

[John Glidewell]

21st century mini lathe and 3 way cutter.

 

[kthomas]

I’ve gone down the case prep center route in the past and I always return to doing things with separate tools. That doesn’t mean you can’t make good ammo or even enjoy the process - it’s really just a personal preference thing in the long run.

Case trimming is a big one as it can be one of the most annoying and tedious processes. Hand cranked trimmers are fine but they get old when you start doing more than 40 cases at a time. There are some great powered trimmers out there, but the one thing that always bothered me is setup and adjusting when swapping cartridges. Obviously not a problem when you’re doing just one, but I do a lot of short action and magnum cartridges and would often have to swap the tool components out regularly and with some that can be time consuming.

For example, I loved the Giraud trimmer, but every time I swapped cartridges I had to replace the insert and adjust it to be just right, and then do the same with the cutting head, which resulted in about 10 minutes of trial and error and some over trimmed cases. Some others are similar in that there’s this arbitrary adjustment you have to do like turn a bolt until it’s trimming the correct amount.

Over the years I settled on a simple system: Little Crow Gunworks WFT. Not the modular WFT2, but the one cartridge WFT. I set it to trim one cartridge, then leave it. I have a rack of 8 different WFTs and when I need one I just throw it in the hand drill and start trimming. Super fast to trim a whole bunch of brass for different cartridges.

There are others out there that do a step better and chamfer/debur while trimming.

Just my trimming evolution - YMMV

Lock rings are a good upgrade for the Giraud trimmers.

 

[kthomas]

I use the Giraud trimmer, I like it. The Henderson seems nice as well.

I don't bother at all with primer pockets or flash holes. I don't even clean my primer pockets.

 

[Stugots]

Frankford Arsenal large brass wet tumbler loaded with SS pins first tumbled after de-priming and a 2nd time after full length resizing after i have annealing them. (Primer pockets come out spotless.) Trim to length with my Henderson, and in the case of my F-Class build, I turn the necks with a K & M neck turner at a friends machine shop using one of his mills.

 

[Dogtown]

Lock rings are a good upgrade for the Giraud trimmers.

I went down that road too, but ultimately I found to be efficient I needed a separate cutter head and blade set for each cartridge. 16 years ago that was too expensive and time consuming for my ass.

 

[Amay1234]

I went down that road too, but ultimately I found to be efficient I needed a separate cutter head and blade set for each cartridge. 16 years ago that was too expensive and time consuming for my ass.

I like your thinking Dogtown. I unfortunately don't have a lot of time for reloading, hence why i have 3 presses set up for different pistol loads so i dont have to swap around lol. So your solution seems simple enough.

 

[HemiPowrd]

LE Wilson Trimmer with the Forster 3n1 three way trimmer head.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I use a Lyman trimmer and a Lyman case prep center. I have a system where I can use both hands at once on the case prep and I like that it's all on the same horizontal plane and I can easily vacuume up the shavings. The Lyman trimmer is spring loaded and it takes a little getting used to but once you do, it trims pretty accurately and is very fast. Works well for me.

 

[kthomas]

I went down that road too, but ultimately I found to be efficient I needed a separate cutter head and blade set for each cartridge. 16 years ago that was too expensive and time consuming for my ass.

I also have a separate cutter head for each cartridge - but I only reload for 3 cartridges so that makes it easy. Constantly adjusting cutter heads would be a real PITA.

 

[supercorndogs]

I’ve gone down the case prep center route in the past and I always return to doing things with separate tools. That doesn’t mean you can’t make good ammo or even enjoy the process - it’s really just a personal preference thing in the long run.

Case trimming is a big one as it can be one of the most annoying and tedious processes. Hand cranked trimmers are fine but they get old when you start doing more than 40 cases at a time. There are some great powered trimmers out there, but the one thing that always bothered me is setup and adjusting when swapping cartridges. Obviously not a problem when you’re doing just one, but I do a lot of short action and magnum cartridges and would often have to swap the tool components out regularly and with some that can be time consuming.

For example, I loved the Giraud trimmer, but every time I swapped cartridges I had to replace the insert and adjust it to be just right, and then do the same with the cutting head, which resulted in about 10 minutes of trial and error and some over trimmed cases. Some others are similar in that there’s this arbitrary adjustment you have to do like turn a bolt until it’s trimming the correct amount.

Over the years I settled on a simple system: Little Crow Gunworks WFT. Not the modular WFT2, but the one cartridge WFT. I set it to trim one cartridge, then leave it. I have a rack of 8 different WFTs and when I need one I just throw it in the hand drill and start trimming. Super fast to trim a whole bunch of brass for different cartridges.

There are others out there that do a step better and chamfer/debur while trimming.

Just my trimming evolution - YMMV

When I was reading the first part of your post. I was thinking of suggesting exactly what you say you do now. I have a 90 degree drill attachment I put in the vice, choose my tool for what ever caliber to put on, I out a prince albert tobacco can turned into a shaving cacher over it, put on some gloves, zip tie the trigger on my drill at medium, and go to town.

Then to an RCBS case prep center for chamfer and debur. I don't know why the Hornady unit wouldn't be just fine too.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

I'll echo skipping the Hornady case prep center. I had the trio, and it spun too slowly, and there wasn't a good way I could find to mount it on the bench.

Whatever you pick, pick a three way trimmer. The less you have to touch the brass and change tools, the happier you'll be. Time/frustration saved is worth the cost of separate cutter heads.

 

[MTRecon]

For 223 I use the Giraud bench model for trimming in addition to a RCBS hand crank trimmer.

For primer pockets and flash holes I use carbide uniforming tools I got from Sinclair years ago.

I also have a roll sizer I use for 9mm and 45 ACP and decided to get the 223 conversion. I noticed right away the length of 223 brass before trimming became much more uniform after roll sizing. Roll sizing is now my first step before sizing etc.

 

[CK1.0]

I use a Hornady case prep duo, purposefully because it doesn’t do everything, just chamfer and deburr, it’s fast and foolproof.

I trim with the Frankford Arsenal drill mounted trimmer and an 18v Milwaukee, tears through cases at warp speed as fast as I can grab them.

 

[supercorndogs]

 

[Amay1234]

For 223 I use the Giraud bench model for trimming in addition to a RCBS hand crank trimmer.

For primer pockets and flash holes I use carbide uniforming tools I got from Sinclair years ago.

I also have a roll sizer I use for 9mm and 45 ACP and decided to get the 223 conversion. I noticed right away the length of 223 brass before trimming became much more uniform after roll sizing. Roll sizing is now my first step before sizing etc.

Never thought about roll sizing 223. I do it for 38 supercomp, 9mm, and 40. Mainly to take the "glock bulge" out of 9mm range brass.

 

[bax]

Bench-Source Annealer. As you will be told, no doubt at very high volume, there are other annealer tools. Giraud case trimmer - separate cutter heads by caliber, lock rings on the case holders. I think that flash hole debur is a good thing - only do it once per case. 21st century expander mandrels and die bodies. I also clean primer pockets, probably not necessary, I do it mostly out of habit. I use Redding and Wilson button dies. All of the above work for me, YMMV. My sequence: tumble, anneal, lube, size, tumble to remove lube, expand necks, clean PP, trim to length, prime, drop powder, seat bullets.

 

[pinch45]

For trimming, I use a Lyman case trimmer and a Lee case length gauge to ensure uniformity. Chamfering and deburring is done with a RCBS chamfer and deburring tool. For primer pocket cleaning, I use a Lyman primer pocket cleaner tool. The key is to find a system that works for you and stick to it.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

I use the Giraud trimmer with a separate cutter head for each caliber. It was one of the best upgrades to case prep I made years ago.

 

[acudaowner]

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/frankford-arsenal-platinum-series-case-prep-center?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=BPS%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CCatchAll%7CGeneral%7CNAud%7CNVol%7CNMT&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IGnBhDUARIsAMwFDLkFdOblTMlUcRItGpuDrqOezqhaHjpVQhchOvAmPpFhkameYHTxw3gaAu2IEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[simonp]

I use the Giraud trimmer with a separate cutter head for each caliber. It was one of the best upgrades to case prep I made years ago.

100% agree