Braxton1 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I was talking to one of my sniper friends the other day. He loads a LOT of rifle ammunition, so I asked him if he has used a Giraud trimmer. He told me about a trimmer available from Little Crow Gunworks that is a really cool alternative to a lathe-type case trimmer without going to the expense of a Giraud unit. The "Worlds' Finest Trimmer", or the WFT as it's called on their website, indexes off of the case shoulder, just like the Giraud, but it's powered by your electric drill. If you can use an electric pencil sharpener, you can use this. And $69 is a whole lot less than $425. http://www.littlecrowgunworks.com/wft.html They are available for .223/5.56, .308, and a lot of other calibers. I've got one on order and plan on driving it with my lathe. I figured that would be easier than having to hold a drill in one hand and a case in the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 WOW! Pretty nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Lots of people on ARFCOM and Snipers Hide have tried them and most like them. I have one for .308 and am planning to get one for .223 later. They are nice, but take a bit to get used to for feel of cut. They index off the sholder, which is nice and provides a good clean cut. You will still have to chamfer and de-burr, but for the cost difference between these and the Giraud, most are fine with that. I have done about (20) .308 shells with mine to try it and find that it is generally within +/-.002" on length, but, people say that gets better the more you use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 A small bench top drill press works great too with this type of shoulder referenced trimmer. I chuck up the trimmer in the drill press, and then hose clamp a corded hand drill to the press table with a chamfer tool chucked up. Its easy then to go from trimming to chamfering in just a matter of seconds. Delevers pretty good results. I use this rig for .308/.243 and .223 trimming. What I have found is that consistant resizing of the case is important (the shoulder is the datum), and twistng the case as it is in the trimmer helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
427Cobra Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 But the Giraud chamfers in/out at the same time, blasting ammo the WFT is a great trimmer, but for percision rifle ammo the Giraud is still king. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braxton1 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 For 400 bucks, I can drive a chamfering tool!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 This is the set-up I tried to describe. Not as fast as a dillon, but since I already had most of the stuff so it was fairly cheap and it is pretty quiet. The white thing around the chamfer tool is just a piece of PVC to act as a guard so I don't bump into the cutting edges by accident. I run the trimmer around 800-1000 RPM, and the chamfer tool runs fairly slow, guessing 300-400 rpm. Obviously, the trimmer I'm using is a different brand than what Mr. Braxton is talking about but the set-up would work for either brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braxton1 Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 This is the set-up I tried to describe. Not as fast as a dillon, but since I already had most of the stuff so it was fairly cheap and it is pretty quiet. The white thing around the chamfer tool is just a piece of PVC to act as a guard so I don't bump into the cutting edges by accident. I run the trimmer around 800-1000 RPM, and the chamfer tool runs fairly slow, guessing 300-400 rpm. Obviously, the trimmer I'm using is a different brand than what Mr. Braxton is talking about but the set-up would work for either brand. That is a neat set-up!! I particularly like the PVC guard on the deburrer. What do you use on the outside of the casemouth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I hold one of these in my left hand and after giving the case a light inside chamfer just give it a twist by hand to remove the outside burrs. It doesn't take much. http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/case-prep/case-prep-multi-tool.php Very handy tool, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianATL Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Are these better than the possum hollow trimmers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braxton1 Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Haven't used a Possum Hollow, but the two appear to work off of the same principle (carbide cutter indexing off of the shoulder). Looking at both of them, the Little Crow seems sturdier and even perhaps a bit "over-engineered" for what it does. When you add the Power Adapter to the Possum Hollow, you're around $49, compared to $69 for the L.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romokid Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I have a WFT and I have yet had to de-burr or chamfer. At the end of trimming you just give a little twist and that pretty much takes care of any burrs and I'm loading 55 gr FMJBT's so that is why I probably haven't had the need to chamfer. So far I have trimmed just over 2000 cases of .223 of LC brass and about 500 cases of .223 Win brass. I was originally looking at the possum hollow but after reading some of the people complain about the set screws stripping and having to keep re-adjusting it, I figured I would try the WFT. Once you have it set for your trim length, which took me a little bit as I'm a little nit-picky, it works great. I think the most cases I trimmed was a little over 400 in one hour. You do have to stop and make sure the shavings are emptied out, most of them do fling out of the holes. I would have loved to get a Giraud, but it wasn't in the budget at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron M Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 this reply is a little late but the Giraud is amazing and is very effortless. I have two at my job and I can trim 20+ cases a minute and they chamfer beautifully when setup properly. Their annealing machine is also a stroke of genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter115 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 I've been using one for almost a year and really like my WFT. Trimmed thousands of rounds of .223 so far without a single complaint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
392heminut Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 I have a WFT trimmer for .223 and a Possum Hollow trimmer for .308. They both get the job done but I think the WFT is a better trimmer. The Possum Hollow trimmer leaves scratches around the body of the case where it rubs while trimming. The WFT rotates internally so it doesn't do this. Probably just aesthetics and a non-issue as far as case life is concerned but that is really the only difference that I can see in the two trimmers other than the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxer1 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I have started using one of these for 223 and so far it is awesome about 2K done and no complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UW Mitch Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Very interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
427Cobra Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 For 400 bucks, I can drive a chamfering tool!! More time shooting and less time reloading, I can respect not being to afford the high end tools, but I will show no pitty to those who dismiss the usefulness of such tools based on price. Quoted from SnipersHide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 I guess it would depend on what "a lot" is to you but even though I can use a pencil sharpener I wouldn't want to use on to sharpen a 5 gallon bucket full of them. The dillon cost less than the giraud and on a 650 or 1050 will do 1800 an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
427Cobra Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 My annealing machine turned out great Mr Morris, I do very little blasting ammo shooting, 100 -1350 yards is my game, the Giraud is perfect for this type of shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Glad to hear it, send me a photo some time. Yeah, you don't run through bucket fulls of brass benchrest shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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