Motorized Case Trimmers?

[Tokarev]

Hello.

I am interested in gathering opinions/experiences from board members regarding the various motorized case trimmers that are currently on the market. I know about the Dillon but want something that doesn't require chamfering and deburring as a complete and separate operation.

From what I've found, I have three choices:

1) RCBS Trim Pro -- The least expensive but slow, from what I'm told. That might not be too big an issue depending on how slow slow really is.

2) Gracey -- This one seems nifty because they also sell a primer pocket reamer, neck turner and a few other gizmos that use the same motor. This one's priced a little higher than the RCBS.

3) Giraud -- Expensive at close to $500 but it also claims to have a production rate of about 500 cases an hour. Not too shabby, if attainable.

TIA!

[smokshwn]

Really your choices come down to the giraud or dillon. The gracey is ok but for the money the giraud is better. The RCBS isn't even in the game IMO.

The giraud by all accounts is excellent at what it does however it adds one more round of handling the case that is unnecessary with the dillon.

If you take your time when feeding the case into the trim die and keep the trimmer sharp, the dillon will leave a clean case mouth that in my experience doesn't require deburring/chamfering.

[jaredr]

to the original poster - hard to answer what is the "best" motorized trimmer without a little more info on the intended application. For high-volume loading of boattail bullets (where your cartridge does not need to be chamfered), i would say the dillon unit is the "best" - I can mount in directly in the press and trim automatically as I do all of the other brass processing with a dedicated brass prep toolhead. i use one on a 1050 and can get around 1500 cartridges prepped per hour, and even at that rate the case mouth's all come out very clean. Since I only load boat-tail bullets, the lack of an inside chamfer does not bother me.

If you're loading flat-base bullets, or for whatever reason need to have a chamfer cut on the inside of the case neck, the giraud would be a better bet as the dillon cannot chamfer, I have no personal experience with the giraud, but glen zedicker and others who are serious high power shooters have given it high praise.

there are other options as well. The most affordable is probably the possum hollow trimmer that chucks into a 3/8" drill and it indexes off of the case neck.

[Religious Shooter]

I was going to buy a giraud/gracey to chamber/deburr/trim for precision rifle. But using the Dillon and a neck expander I get .75-1 MOA with my bolt guns. Good enough for me.

The Dillon leaves a really nice cut. Way nicer than any of the hand-trimmers I've used. With the hand-trimmers you have to chamfer/deburr because they aren't anywhere near as sharp as the Dillon. With the Dillon... you don't really have to.

But there are two things that can help mitigate the lack of a chamfer function in the Dillon: tumble the brass after trimming and using some kind of a neck beller/expander in the reloading process.

The thing the Dillon definitely has against for it is the caliber selection. For example there is no 6.5 Grendel, 6.5x47 Lapua, .260 Remington, etc. trim die.

And the Dillon squeezzzzeesss the hell out of the neck.

[jmorris]

I know about the Dillon but want something that doesn't require chamfering and deburring as a complete and separate operation.

I don't deburr or chamfer after using a Dillon and have yet to have any issues. It's nothing to size/deprime and trim 1800 in an hour.

Edited November 9, 2010 by jmorris

[DWFAN]

Will the dillon go on any standard progressive press ?

[smokshwn]

Yes .... the Dillon mounts up to the sizing die which is the standard size for most presses.

[427Cobra]

I have a Giraud that I use to trim\chamfer 223 260 and 308 brass with, it was well worth the money I paid for it and I highly recommend it, get a blade and case holder for each caliber you load for and get some Forster or Hornady die lock rings and setup time on a caliber change is less than 1 minute, and with the lock rings your adjustments stay the same, 10 cases a minute are the norm for now.

[technetium-99m]

I use and like the Possum Hollow trimmer very much, after trimming I just dump them into the tumbler for an hour or so and I have no problems with the necks later.

[smokshwn]

I have a Giraud that I use to trim\chamfer 223 260 and 308 brass with, it was well worth the money I paid for it and I highly recommend it, get a blade and case holder for each caliber you load for and get some Forster or Hornady die lock rings and setup time on a caliber change is less than 1 minute, and with the lock rings your adjustments stay the same, 10 cases a minute are the norm for now.

To give you an idea on rates, I have a toolhead setup for trimming on my 650. It is pretty easy to process 750-800 pieces of at a rate that gives me very clean necks. You could easily go faster if you were loading boattail bullets and not so concerned about having a super clean neck for loading. For me the bonus is that I don't have to handle each individual case. Just a little lube and dump them in the case feeder.

Edited November 21, 2010 by smokshwn

[Shadowrider]

I use and like the Possum Hollow trimmer very much, after trimming I just dump them into the tumbler for an hour or so and I have no problems with the necks later.

Does it cut the necks square? I've been looking at these too, because I have a bada$$ Dewalt drill. Also wondering about using it in a drill press.

[technetium-99m]

Square enough for me, my 223 will easily hold under MOA out to 300 yards using it. I just bought an el cheapo drill press and leave it chucked up in there all the time.

[foilhat]

I use and like the Possum Hollow trimmer very much, after trimming I just dump them into the tumbler for an hour or so and I have no problems with the necks later.

Does it cut the necks square? I've been looking at these too, because I have a bada$$ Dewalt drill. Also wondering about using it in a drill press.

Square enough for me, my 223 will easily hold under MOA out to 300 yards using it. I just bought an el cheapo drill press and leave it chucked up in there all the time.

It works well for me also. I bought the Possum Hollow trimmer and a cheap drill press. I think I spend around $70 for cheapo press, but I have been able to trim thousands of cases on it.