OK, Tell me about Case Trimmers, Please

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I've been reloading for years now, without trimming a single case, but the time has finally come to buy a case trimmer.

I need to trim 303 British cases. I have a Lyman shell holder for 303 British that will fit in my little Lyman Spartan single stage press.

I don't think I need a power assist, I think I'll just be trimming a few at a time. A manual trimmer will be fine. Don't think I want one of those Lee things with the pull string either, just looking for a traditional design.

I'm looking at various models, Lyman, Hornady, RCBS, Redding. It looks like different ones need different accessories. Different trimmers use different methods to hold the case. Some don't need a shell holder, some do. Can I use my Lyman shell holder if the trimmer needs a shell holder, particularly if it is not a Lyman trimmer?

Specifically, I want to know which ones come with everything you need and which ones you have to buy extra stuff.

And which ones have the better way of securing the shell.

Looks like some of them come with a variety of pilots. 303 British is a little bit bigger than most 30 calibers, can I use a standard 30 cal pilot that comes with these things for 303 British?

Hints and Suggestions welcome.

Thanks

[Kinda Sudden]

Wilson case trimmer. Best way of holding the case, cuts perfectly square. You will still need a  case holder for each caliber.

[Button]

DWJ:
    U & I have alot of the same guns. Congratulations on holding out this long!
    I have a Lyman Universal case trimmer which will hold any calibre case without a shell holder & comes with all the pilots you'll need. Got it at a gunshow. The 30 cal pilot is fine for 303 Brit. IMHO, you don't need power. You will get a feel for how much brass will come off with each turn of the handle. Easy does it. I'll trim a big pile over the winter, for my 1942 Lee Enfield #4 MK1 and my #4T.
    The 1 thing my "instructor" neglected to tell me about trimming should have been the first thing he told me: you CANNOT go directly to your desired length. You must "sneak up on it". That's been my experience, anyway.
1. De-cap.
2. Measure case to see how much needs to come off. ( ie: ALOT or a little bit)
3 Lock case into trimmer & turn handle 5 times, applying GENTLE right to left pressure.
4 Remove case & measure. Now you know where you're at, roughly.
5 Repeat # 3 + 4 as often as necessary until you get the length you want.
6 GENTLY chamfer casemouth inside & out.
    There may well be better systems out there, but that's what I do. It moves pretty quick once you get rolling.
    If your cases have only been through YOUR gun, you should neck-size only.
    I don't even waste time trying to get the lock rings at the exact distance. I just feel my way into spec.
    This is not the place for a .303 Brit discussion, but PM me if this is a new calibre to you. I been beatin' my head on it for a while 
    Regards,
    Button

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[Count Sandor]

Driftwood:
I've been using an RCBS manual trimmer for about a year, and find that it works well for me. With RCBS you do have to have a specific shell holder - all listed in the Midway catalog (or other places). The RCBS trimmer does have easily adjustable stops, which makes the overall trimming chore a lot faster if you take the time to set it up. Using the method Button described, "sneak up" on one case, get it exactly right, then lock the stop adjustment in on that case. After that, its just a matter of swapping in a new case, and turning the handle until resistance goes away. Each case comes out the same length every time - I check about every ten or so with a case length gauge, have never had one out of spec. If you're only trimming one caliber, its a set-it-and-forget-it process. Since my son also uses our loading bench for several different calibers, I made up a master case for .45LC, put a bright red band around it so it doesn't get used for something else, and use it to reset the stop on the trimmer when I need it.

Count Sandor

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Boys

You're telling me the stuff I want to know. I'm leaning heavily in the direction of the Lyman trimmer because I don't need to buy separate shell holders with it. Somebody told me about a specific Lyman pilot for 303 British, but a couple of guys have said I can use the standard 30 caliber pilot. Someplace I have the specific Lyman pilot # written down.

I have never loaded a bottleneck rifle cartridge before, so this will be a new adventure for me. I have been gearing up, I have a set of Hornady dies, a shell holder, 150 new Winchester cases, and plenty of large rifle primers. Last week I picked up a pound of 5744 powder on the advice of several friends, and I have some cast bullets as well as some jacketed bullets on hand.

The rifle we're talking about is a Lee Enfield No.4 Mk1* made by Savage in 1942 and marked US Property. So far, I have put a couple of boxes of commercial ammo through it and it has performed quite well.

I'm really not looking for pin point accuracy here, my eyesight ain't good enough for that anyway. I just want to make up some moderate cast bullet loads to fool around with in this nice old rifle.

Which actually brings me to a question. When trimming brass, do you trim it before sizing it or after sizing it? I seem to recall fooling around with this a little bit back when I was first learning to reload pistol ammo, and it seems to me that after sizing, the brass had grown a tiny bit in length from what it was before sizing. So does it make sense to trim after sizing, so it ain't gonna grow anymore?

Thanks

[Arcey]

There was a time when I went thru a lot of .223 cartridges. Size then trim. I found out the hard way.

When you settle on what you want try it both ways. Just a few.

[Kinda Sudden]

Bent rims from extraction as well as rims that are not concentric (they almost never are) will all effect how the case is trimmed and if it gets trimmed square. This, along with cases that are not concentric (banana shaped) will also get drag marks inside the case mouths from the pilot. With the Wilson trimmer, none of this takes place. No pilots for drag marks and the case is held by the body of the case. This is a much better way to trim. Just food for thought

[Gun E Bear]

Look for one of the RCBS trim dies. These are like a hardened size die with the top cut off. You use a file to take off the extra length. If you are only going to be doing 1 caliber and only shooting it in 1 gun, you will probably never have to trim the cases a second time.

Gun e Bear

[Trailrider]

Howdy, Driftwood,

You might want to check into Forster case trimmers.  They've got manual ones that can also be used with a battery-powered drill or another style can be used with a drill press.  As to the former, they are essentially a mini-lathe, with a hardened end cutter on a horizontal shaft.  The case is inserted into a collet at the opposite end, and the collet tightened down with a T-handle.  There are several sizes of collets, but each size handles a range of cases.  The cutting end has a center hole into which you insert various sizes of pilots.  You can by a set of pilots, and also order custom sizes.  (I order a .414" for use with sized .44-40 brass, before expanding and flaring.)  I think the website is www.forster.com, (too lazy to look it up right now), but you should be able to find it readily enough.

Hope this helps.

[Hell-Er High Water]

Driftwood,

I have been using a Lyman Universal Case Trimmer for many years now and I am completely satisified with it.  I use it on a variety of different cases from the 223 up through the 45-75 Winchester (I even figured out how to get a 50-70 case into it for trimming).

It is easy to use and adjust and if at some time in the future you feel that you need it, a power adapter is available.

The Lyman web site has good description of it and a complete set of instructions that you can view and download.

If you decide to go this route, I'm sure will be pleased with it.

HHW

[Dr. Bob]

I've only used the die type with a file and it is real consistant!   Even I can't mess this one up.

[w.b. masterson]

Howdy,
I know you specified a manual trimmer.  I used the RCBS/Lyman type trimmer for years with varying success.  As one of the guys above stated, with this system you have to sneak up on the desired length.  I have now gone to the Dillon trimmer.  This model sizes and trims brass in one quick and easy step.  Once you set the lock ring, it will repeat that length repeatedly.  It's not inexpensive and each caliber requires a size/trim die, but it's the best system I've seen on the market.  Dillon backs up their products extremely well.  My brother bought some used Dillon equipment which included a tumbler with a burn-out motor.  Dillon took the tumbler back and sent him a brand new tumbler to replace it.  By far, the best company on the market that I'm aware of.  I guess it comes down to volume.  If you're just trimming a few cases, use a manual system.  But if you're trimming several thousand like I do for high power rifle shooting, you'll buy a Dillon.  In the long run, I'd rather be shooting than reloading.

BAT

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

I want to thank everybody who replied to this thread for the valuable input they gave me. After much consideration I decided to go with the Lyman Universal Trimmer, mostly because it did not require specific shell holders for different calibers. Midway was all out, so I ordered one from Cabellas. It showed up a few days ago. I also have the .31 caliber pilot on order direct from Lyman along with a nice new inside/outside deburring tool. As soon as the .31 pilot shows up I hope to start playing with my new Case Trimmer. I will report on my results.

Thanks again for all the information, I value everybody's contribution.