Case trimmer recommendations

Griffo13

Well-Known Member
Hi All

Long story short, my Lee press quick trim does the job but takes a long time to stand and manually turn, especially when it’s 100+ cases.

My current quick trim I have removed the deburr and chamfer section as it got stuck and chewed the end of my 300win cases !!

Ideally something electric maybe that does the trim, debur etc?

Thanks!
 
I've changed over to the Shoulder Reference Trimmer from Derraco UK into a cordless drill
and an eBay'd Hornady Lock n Load Case Prep Trio for chamfer and deburring

These looks pretty good and cheap too. But how an earth does it work. You getting on alright with it ? Easy to use, accurate?
 
I've changed over to the Shoulder Reference Trimmer from Derraco UK into a cordless drill
and an eBay'd Hornady Lock n Load Case Prep Trio for chamfer and deburring


here's a video from the makers - works great for me, quick and easy


I use these, they are popular within our club, must be a dozen members use then. Very simple to setup and a decent price. I bought 1 for each calibre never need to change the length until I work out a new load
Highly recommended 👍
 
I've changed over to the Shoulder Reference Trimmer from Derraco UK into a cordless drill
and an eBay'd Hornady Lock n Load Case Prep Trio for chamfer and deburring

I had the trimmer delivered today and absolutely cannot got the life of me get uniform trims!!

Set the trimmer to 1.750 for 223, put a case in there, trimmed it to 1.750, great.

Put the next case in there, trimmed it to 1.743, next case the same, 3rd case 1.750….

Now I’m thinking the case shoulders are different, even though they have all been full length resized.

Any ideas ?
 
I had the trimmer delivered today and absolutely cannot got the life of me get uniform trims!!

Set the trimmer to 1.750 for 223, put a case in there, trimmed it to 1.750, great.

Put the next case in there, trimmed it to 1.743, next case the same, 3rd case 1.750….

Now I’m thinking the case shoulders are different, even though they have all been full length resized.

Any ideas ?

are they all the same headstamp (brand) ?
what does a row of un trimmed cases look like on your bench ?
if you have a comparator then get the micrometer out and check a batch of un trimmed cases ?

+ looping in @Derraco
 
are they all the same headstamp (brand) ?
what does a row of un trimmed cases look like on your bench ?
if you have a comparator then get the micrometer out and check a batch of un trimmed cases ?

+ looping in @Derraco
Yeah all magtec once fired brass

Most are coming out at 1.758/1.760 after resizing them. Starting length shouldn’t really matter right? If it’s set to trim to X then it doesn’t matter how much longer it is that X right?

I have emailed them too. Just thought I’d ask you as you have been using it
 
Starting length shouldn’t really matter right? If it’s set to trim to X then it doesn’t matter how much longer it is that X right?
depends on how far the die has pushed the shoulder back, rather than the overall length - as you suggested
a comparator will measure off the shoulder
 
depends on how far the die has pushed the shoulder back, rather than the overall length - as you suggested
a comparator will measure off the shoulder
Agree. I don’t have a way of measuring off the shoulder unfortunately, my comparator I have only has inserts for the projectile bit. Not shoulder.

It’s definitely something to do with shoulder. I’m sure of it. Pictures attached. One case trimmed to 1.751, started off at 1.764

The next one started off at 1.755 and after trimming remained at 1.755 lol

Looks to me like the shoulders are different on the two cases
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0740.webp
    IMG_0740.webp
    418.6 KB · Views: 10
  • IMG_0741.webp
    IMG_0741.webp
    342.3 KB · Views: 7
  • IMG_0742.webp
    IMG_0742.webp
    332.9 KB · Views: 4
  • IMG_0743.webp
    IMG_0743.webp
    356.4 KB · Views: 10
  • IMG_0744.webp
    IMG_0744.webp
    215.8 KB · Views: 10
I had the trimmer delivered today and absolutely cannot got the life of me get uniform trims!!

Set the trimmer to 1.750 for 223, put a case in there, trimmed it to 1.750, great.

Put the next case in there, trimmed it to 1.743, next case the same, 3rd case 1.750….

Now I’m thinking the case shoulders are different, even though they have all been full length resized.

Any ideas

Agree. I don’t have a way of measuring off the shoulder unfortunately, my comparator I have only has inserts for the projectile bit. Not shoulder.

It’s definitely something to do with shoulder. I’m sure of it. Pictures attached. One case trimmed to 1.751, started off at 1.764

The next one started off at 1.755 and after trimming remained at 1.755 lol

Looks to me like the shoulders are different on the two cases
Without properly measuring your shoulder bump when full length resizing you’re a little bit in the dark. Get the Hornady gauge to complete your kit and it should shed some light. If you’ve not set the die down far enough it might just be squeezing the base but not bumping the shoulder back creating inconsistent sizing. This is then affecting your COAL
 
The other thing, how well lubed are your case necks? Is there much resistance when you withdraw the expander ball from the case on the upward press stroke?
 
Without properly measuring your shoulder bump when full length resizing you’re a little bit in the dark. Get the Hornady gauge to complete your kit and it should shed some light. If you’ve not set the die down far enough it might just be squeezing the base but not bumping the shoulder back creating inconsistent sizing. This is then affecting your COAL
Just seems strange that I didn’t have this issue when I was using the Lee quick trim tool. I only moved away from that as the deburr bit jammed and chewed the case mouth up. Always had consists case length to be fair, rarely go off of Coal( I only check it’s not bigger than the mag size) and go off Cbto instead.
 
The other thing, how well lubed are your case necks? Is there much resistance when you withdraw the expander ball from the case on the upward press stroke?
Yeah pretty well, I make sure they are lubed outside and inside of neck mouth
 
Back
Top