Giraud Case Trimmer

[Cosby]

Have you ever bought a new gadget that worked so well, you feel like you stepped out of the dark ages. That is how I feel about my new Giraud.

I have used several trimmers to trim .223. A Forstner hand trimmer, RCBS hand trimmer, Lee hand trimmer, RCBS trimmer with my drill attached and finally the motorized RCBS trimmer. They all worked but they had one thing in common-----SLOW.

It took me about 2 minutes to get the Giraud adjusted perfectly and then I trimmed about 500 cases effortlessly. The length stayed within plus/minus .002. Amazing and so easy.

Guys, thanks for the suggestion. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

[tightloop]

I am jealous, I want one, but have two manual ones and can't justify it in my mind yet...

[vettman1]

I've been thinking about getting one lately. How easy is it to go between different calibers? I'm all about having the best tool for the money, but at $370, I just don't know if I can justify it.

[straightshooter1]

The instructions are on Doug's site. It's pretty easy, essentially loosen nuts remove one caliber, stick another in and tighten. Then you have to make relatively minor adjustments to get it to the exact length to which you want to trim.

I love mine. I have 30'06 and 223 and it works superbly. I also have three Dillons and an RCBS power trimmer, since I do a lot of trimming in several calibers. This one trims and chamfers and deburrs all in a second.

There is another, longer thread here about these trimmers.

Bob

[slavex]

how are the cases held? I went to the website and it didn't really have good pictures. I am thinking of getting a Wilson setup from Sinclair, the full meal deal. From what I've read it's the most accurate trimming setup going. The cases are held by the body of the case, no collets or anything like that, that would allow the case to be out of square to the cutter.

[straightshooter1]

The easiest way to explain it, I guess, is to think of an electric pencil sharpener. Just shove the case is the hole, it stops when it gets to the right spot, trims, but is held so it can't trim too much.

The Wilson might be great for benchrest, etc. where you are trimming 20 or so cases. But it is going to be sloooooow! the Giraud takes a second or so per case. If you are shooting 223s or 308s, you have to have a lot of time on your hands to use anything but a Dillon, Gracey or Giraud trimmer.

NOTHING else compares.

Bob

[slavex]

so it must use a similar setup as the Wilson? I use an RCBS Pro trimmer right now, with a cordless drill on it. One problem I had was the drill turning too fast and the pilot heating up/rotating off center in the case mouth, and the mouths opening up. Not sure which was the problem, the heat generated or the possibility of off center rotating. Now I was using the 3 way cutter, so maybe just for trimming it wouldn't have been an issue. But since then I've slowed down how I do things tremendously. From looking at the Giraud it doesn't use a pilot, which I think is a good thing.

[George]

Neck length is what matters, not cartridge length actually. The Gracey and Giraud index on the case shoulder which is where the rifle case itself indexes in the chamber. With a Gracey/Giraud you get the exact same neck length every time no matter what the case length is. This way of trimming is actually more accurate than any trimmer that indexes on and pushes from the base end of the case towards a cutter unless you are uniforming the case base first ;-)

[RogerT]

Links please?

[yoshidaex]

Heres his webpage.