Case trimmer

[Brian o 23]

Hello All, I could use some advice on a case trimmer. Right now I have a Rdding case trimmer which works well but it's slow to process.
I've been looking at the Giraud Tri-Way Trimmer and the Trim it 2 both three way trimmers but I don't have any experience with either. Could someone suggest a trimmer that could speed up case trimming time that won't break the bank.

 

[spife7980]

They are basically the same.

The trimit2 has a swappable case holders so that’s easy enough but if you switch calibers you still have to change the blade which is a pain. I would at least dedicate one body to each caliber and then swap case holders within that parameter.

The giraud is similar in like all aspects.

How many chamberings and calibers do you trim for? Once you get to 4 chamberings I think the giraud benchtop becomes a serious consideration.

Ther than that I would get a drill adaptor for the large to speed it up and a rcbs three way cutter from brownells to do the chamfer and deburr at the same time.

 

[Bugzlife19]

Have a giraud it’s the best gift my wife ever gave me. And just love the damn thing

 

[jcam]

I used WFT from Little Crow Gunworks for a while but it doesn’t chamfer & debur, I had to do that in the Lyman case prep center. Thats until I finally invested on Giraud power trimmer. The WFT did serve me well its just not tri way.

 

[Brian o 23]

I reload 300 blk out, 308 Win and 6.5 Creedmoor is the Giraud power trimmer easy to switch between these calibers?

 

[Jmccracken1214]

I use a rcbs trim pro, but it sucks having to adjust for a different caliber. I leave it set with my 6.5cm. And got a WFT for my grendel and use a Lyman case prep for my chamfering

 

[jcam]

I only reload 308 right now until I burn out this AI barrel. Then I’ll get separate blades for a 6.5 or 260.
Giraud has youtube vids on how to change cutter heads, caliber set up, caseholder for the Power trimmer.

 

[Millsworks]

It's not fancy, but the Lee trimmer is the cheapest, easiest, accurate, and pretty fast with the tool chucked in a drill.
To each his own. But I personally can't see using anything else.

 

[spife7980]

I reload 300 blk out, 308 Win and 6.5 Creedmoor is the Giraud power trimmer easy to switch between these calibers?

Yes. It takes like 3 minutes including shaking the old brass chips out in the trash can first step. Just use the two included spanner wrenches to break the trimmer blade holder lose and spin it out, spin in the new one and torque it back down. Then screw in the case holder. With lock rings its just swapping parts, no initial set up every time, it returns to its previous position.

300BO and 308 would use the same cutter blade, I would get a second cutter blade for 6.5.
Then a case holder for each cartridge.
That set up would be
495 for cutter with 308 set up
38 for second 300bo case holder
38 for third 6.5 creed case holder
49 for 6.5 cutter blade
15 for three lock rings
= 635

A giraud triway is 105 (but no 6.5 creed option)
A trimit 2 is 120

2 triways for 308 and 300bo and a trimit2 for 6.5 totals 330. Thats ~half the price of the benchtop.


A power drill adaptor for your lathe is 20, a rcbs three way cutter blade is 60 and you would want 2 which equals 140. Thats 80% of the benchtops price.

 

[Brian o 23]

Yes. It takes like 3 minutes including shaking the old brass chips out in the trash can first step. Just use the two included spanner wrenches to break the trimmer blade holder lose and spin it out, spin in the new one and torque it back down. Then screw in the case holder. With lock rings its just swapping parts, no initial set up every time, it returns to its previous position.

300BO and 308 would use the same cutter blade, I would get a second cutter blade for 6.5.
Then a case holder for each cartridge.
That set up would be
495 for cutter with 308 set up
38 for second 300bo case holder
38 for third 6.5 creed case holder
49 for 6.5 cutter blade
15 for three lock rings
= 635

A giraud triway is 105 (but no 6.5 creed option)
A trimit 2 is 120

2 triways for 308 and 300bo and a trimit2 for 6.5 totals 330. Thats ~half the price of the benchtop.


A power drill adaptor for your lathe is 20, a rcbs three way cutter blade is 60 and you would want 2 which equals 140. Thats 80% of the benchtops price.

With those suggestions which would you choose?

 

[spife7980]

I chose the giraud benchtop myself but I have 6 different case holders of which several you can use for multiple chamberings (such as using my 3006 holder to fit dads necked down 270), and 5 cutters for different calibers so there is less of a delta between all of that and individual triways/trimit2s.

I mainly went with the benchtop though because they make a dasher and 6xc case holder which you would have to have custom reamed by someone else using a blank case holder for the trimit2. It was the easy button in my situation.

Theres more to it than economics.

The benchtop is nice because I dont have to hold anything other than the individual pieces of brass.
The triway/trimit 2 require you to also hold the drill unless you vice it or attach your own bench motor set up but you pay 1/2 as much for this inconvenience.
The lathe requires you to drill but at a different less speedy manner with slow insertion extraction of the brass but you pay 1/5 as much.

 

[Pilotscrappy]

Anyone try the new lyman electric powered trimmer? It's like 100$ I think, Gavin from ultimate reloader did a review of it on his YouTube channel and it looks decent?

But its still fairly new and I haven't seen a whole lot of real world use from people yet.

 

[spife7980]

Anyone try the new lyman electric powered trimmer? It's like 100$ I think, Gavin from ultimate reloader did a review of it on his YouTube channel and it looks decent?

But its still fairly new and I haven't seen a whole lot of real world use from people yet.

Still have to chamfer and deburr on a separate tool. So its fine if you dont want the time savings that comes by combining steps.

 

[Duffman1975]

I use Little Crows Gunworks trimmer for autoloaders, and 21st century lathe for my precision bolt guns.

 

[Brian o 23]

I chose the giraud benchtop myself but I have 6 different case holders of which several you can use for multiple chamberings (such as using my 3006 holder to fit dads necked down 270), and 5 cutters for different calibers so there is less of a delta between all of that and individual triways/trimit2s.

I mainly went with the benchtop though because they make a dasher and 6xc case holder which you would have to have custom reamed by someone else using a blank case holder for the trimit2. It was the easy button in my situation.

Theres more to it than economics.

The benchtop is nice because I dont have to hold anything other than the individual pieces of brass.
The triway/trimit 2 require you to also hold the drill unless you vice it or attach your own bench motor set up but you pay 1/2 as much for this inconvenience.
The lathe requires you to drill but at a different less speedy manner with slow insertion extraction of the brass but you pay 1/5 as much.

Is it true you need 2000 rpm or more for the tri way,?

 

[Brian o 23]

Yes. It takes like 3 minutes including shaking the old brass chips out in the trash can first step. Just use the two included spanner wrenches to break the trimmer blade holder lose and spin it out, spin in the new one and torque it back down. Then screw in the case holder. With lock rings its just swapping parts, no initial set up every time, it returns to its previous position.

300BO and 308 would use the same cutter blade, I would get a second cutter blade for 6.5.
Then a case holder for each cartridge.
That set up would be
495 for cutter with 308 set up
38 for second 300bo case holder
38 for third 6.5 creed case holder
49 for 6.5 cutter blade
15 for three lock rings
= 635

A giraud triway is 105 (but no 6.5 creed option)
A trimit 2 is 120

2 triways for 308 and 300bo and a trimit2 for 6.5 totals 330. Thats ~half the price of the benchtop.


A power drill adaptor for your lathe is 20, a rcbs three way cutter blade is 60 and you would want 2 which equals 140. Thats 80% of the benchtops price.

Can you use hornady lock ring for the case holder I have several of them?

 

[spife7980]

No idea on the rpm. My bitch ass 10 year old single speed ryobi drill has to be slower than that but my lee cutter still did the job, however slowly and crudely. I think any drill more than the as-seen-on-tv 15 buck screwdrivers will do fine.

Yes, I use a couple hornady rings myself. Any lock ring will work.

The cutter is adjustable for diameter but it’s a pain so I set once and forget it. That’s ideally how you would do all three way cutters though.

Threads down into the drive shaft.

Tighten

Then the case holder threads down on in until it bottoms out on the lock ring.

And that’s essentially how the triway and trimit work as well, just different ways to skin the cat. All have a semi die cut into the case holder end to hold and index the case properly along the shoulder to the cutter blade.

The lathe is a bit different as it references it’s dimensions off of the case base instead of the shoulder. So if exact overall length is important then this is the way to go. With the girauds/trimits the actual length can vary by the amount of difference in shoulder location. But good sizing practices can alleviate those discrepancies.

 

[Brian o 23]

No idea on the rpm. My bitch ass 10 year old single speed ryobi drill has to be slower than that but my lee cutter still did the job, however slowly and crudely. I think any drill more than the as-seen-on-tv 15 buck screwdrivers will do fine.

Yes, I use a couple hornady rings myself. Any lock ring will work.
View attachment 7146476

Threads down into the drive shaft.
View attachment 7146479

Tighten
View attachment 7146480

Then the case holder threads down on in until it bottoms out on the lock ring.
View attachment 7146477

And that’s essentially how the triway and trimit work as well, just different ways to skin the cat. All have a semi die cut into the case holder end to hold and index the case properly along the shoulder to the cutter blade.

The lathe is a bit different as it references it’s dimensions off of the case base instead of the shoulder. So if exact overall length is important then this is the way to go. With the girauds/trimits the actual length can vary by the amount of difference in shoulder location. But good sizing practices can alleviate those discrepancies.

 

[Brian o 23]

One thought was to use the tri way with the trim it 2 motor.

 

[Cerwinski]

So far I'm happy with mine. Very consistent and fast enough for me. It fits my reloading style well.

Edit; I'm referring to the Lyman trimmer mentioned earlier. Forgot to add the quote lol.

 

[Brian o 23]

So far I'm happy with mine. Very consistent and fast enough for me. It fits my reloading style well.

Edit; I'm referring to the Lyman trimmer mentioned earlier. Forgot to add the quote lol.

No problem Thanks.

 

[Mike Casselton]

No problem Thanks.

I bought the Lyman in August and tried it out.
For the $100, it's totally worth it.
I set mine up on a board with the RCBS case prep machine and it processes pretty fast.

I despise trimming and ended up doing 600 308 cases.

The key to consistency is to resize all cases first, and actually read the provided directions.