Just started using my Dillon Electric Case Trimmer

[dickwholliday]

I got this thing along with some stuff i bought from a guy a year or two ago and it's sat on the shelf until now........it didn't want to run to start with but after i figured out that one of the brushes was missing, i got it going by sawing the other brush into two pieces and it started right up.....by the way i called the good ole boys at Dillon and you guessed it.....new brushes are on the way at no charge.....i even tried to give them a credit card but the rep wouldn't take it....

The only trim die i've got is 308 and i've got a bunch of Commercial brass and LC match brass so not having to do the primer pocket swaging really makes the case prep process go fast......i guess i should order a trim die in 223 but i've never trimmed a 223 anyway for use in an AR....My AR's just don't seem to care.......i'm sizing using a Dillon 650 with a carbide die in station 1 and the trimmer in station 3

i wondered about chamfering the necks like my RCBS three cutter will do and the Dillon won't do but so far i'm not having any issues with that with the 200 or so i've loaded so far.......

This is a great piece of equipment....D I C K

[benos]

With the RT 1200, There's only one scenario in which you'll have to chamfer the inside of the neck: For 308/30.06 MILITARY brass with FLAT BASE bullets. Due to the Trimmer's 4800 rpm motor and carbide blade, the trimmed brass is absolutely burr-free.

be

[dickwholliday]

With the RT 1200, There's only one scenario in which you'll have to chamfer the inside of the neck: For 308/30.06 MILITARY brass with FLAT BASE bullets. Due to the Trimmer's 4800 rpm motor and carbide blade, the trimmed brass is absolutely burr-free.

be

Hey Brian....thanks for the note........as i stated this unit was used and i did start to notice a pretty good burr on some on the inside of the case neck........i looked to see what might be causing it and noticed that there was a worn area where the carbide blade trims the case.....i tried to flip it to one of the other two surfaces and could see the same sort of wear.......the carbide blade used in this unit is a standard industrial lathe tool cutter and i went to a buddies machine shop and he had some of the same one on hand......he gave me a few so i should be good for years to come....i've since done a couple of thousand and every now and then i'll stop and run a sharp object in the case mouth to check for a burr and there is none....good shoot'n........D I C K

[S-Hurt]

After reading your post I thought it was time for me to buy the 1200 Dillon trimmer. Your right ... it's not hard to set up or use. Thanks for your post.

[Ground Loop]

I've been waffling around, and the end-of-year price jump was reason enough to get in.

Like it so far!

I use 55gr FMJBT bullets, and the lack of inside chamfer didn't bother them at all.

Just don't get your fingers pinched against the brass mount while seating. It's sharp now!

[h2osport]

I have one waiting to be used. What kind of tolerance/run out are you guys getting with it. I want to be able to use it on my 300 win mag, but ansxious to see if it will be precise enough.

[RiggerJJ]

When you trim with the Dillon trimmer, make sure all of the stations on the shell plate are populated, it will help keep length uniform. Also, keeping the handle on the loader down for 1-2 seconds each stroke will help too.

jj

[DogmaDog]

So with the Dillon trimmer, is it possible to load rifle ammo with just one pass through the press (I'm using a 550b)?

i.e. can you size, trim, de-prime and prime at station 1,

charge at station 2,

seat at 3

crimp at 4, and be done????

Or do you still need to do some brass processing between sizing and trimming and loading?

Question 2: How consistent are the results with the Dillon Trimmer, compared to, say, the Giraud?

DD

[Canuck223]

Due to the Trimmer's 4800 rpm motor and carbide blade, the trimmed brass is absolutely burr-free.

be

The flip side of this is that when you do notice burrs or tags left on the cases, it's time to rotate to the next cutting surface.

Edited May 4, 2009 by Canuck223

[High Lord Gomer]

So with the Dillon trimmer, is it possible to load rifle ammo with just one pass through the press (I'm using a 550b)?

i.e. can you size, trim, de-prime and prime at station 1,

No, there is no de-priming with the trimmer.

charge at station 2,

seat at 3

crimp at 4, and be done????

Or do you still need to do some brass processing between sizing and trimming and loading?

With two stations used on the first toolhead, I:

- deprime and resize at staion 1

- trim at station 3

Then swage using the Dillon swager...

Run through the vimbrating cleaner to get off the case lube

Then on the 2nd toolhead

- Neck size and deprime (to clear flash hole) at station 1

- drop powder in station 2

- seat on 3

- crimp on 4

Question 2: How consistent are the results with the Dillon Trimmer, compared to, say, the Giraud?

I can't compare to the Giraud, but I get very consistent lengths with my Dillon.

[benos]

Since the Giraud was brought up, I'll throw this in here. I had a customer who chose the Giraud over the Dillon because he was worried that the no-chamfering Dillon trimmer would be a problem. Giraud advertises the chamfering pretty hard - and since the Dillon doesn't - in the end he went with the Giraud.

But since we've heard from this thread that the non-chamfering Dillon doesn't actually cause any problems due to burrs, as long as the blade is sharp, to me, using the Giraud seems like it would add an extra step to the whole loading process. Because you have to run the brass through the press once, to full-length size the brass, then hand-hold-trim in the Giraud, the finish loading in the press. With a Dillon, you'd get the trimming done with the re-sizing.

And please understand, this isn't a Dillon vs. Giraud thing. Doug Giraud is a great guy (I've talked to him on the phone) that makes a great product. I've talked to a few guys who really know their stuff and they are big fans of the Giraud trimmer.

be

[dhenry132]

I have 2 Dillon 12oo's The last one has 25000 on it before I had to turn the blade. Make more holes in the the suction thing that goes around the bottom of the trimmer. Pulls more air and helps the trimmer run a little cooler. Runout 2-3 thousand

Edited May 8, 2009 by dhenry132

[DougCarden]

One thing to remember with the Dillon unit.......When you pull the handle down and it cuts/trims the case, hold it down for at least a two count....1001...1002....

This will cut the brass and while still down, will clean up any burrs that are on the mouth of the case. We had spotty trims intially when we just went up and down with the handle, but by playing wth the stroke action.... we found that by just holding down on the handle for a little bit would make the mouth of the case nice and smooth.....

you just have to be a little patient....

DougC

[RiggerJJ]

Be careful when setting up the Dillon trimmer, there is a very close tolerance between trimming the case and trimming the inside of the bottom of the die...I don't have any idea how I know that...it just came to me...

and +1 on what Doug says, at least a 2 count when the loader handle is all the way down. and as I said above keep all stations with dies populated to keep the trim length uniform.

The Dillon trimmer gave me BETTER accuracy (in AR15s) than Gracy trimmed cases, BTW... so I do not de-burr and chamfer. The Dillon trims that clean. After resizing and trimming (with one loader head) I tumble the cases to remove lube and this step also removes any flashing that might be left on the case mouth. I then put in another head (with universal decapper to remove tumbling media in the primer pocket) in my loader and make em into ammo...

jj

[Texasredneck]

So with the Dillon trimmer, is it possible to load rifle ammo with just one pass through the press (I'm using a 550b)?

i.e. can you size, trim, de-prime and prime at station 1,

charge at station 2,

seat at 3

crimp at 4, and be done????

Or do you still need to do some brass processing between sizing and trimming and loading?

Question 2: How consistent are the results with the Dillon Trimmer, compared to, say, the Giraud?

DD

I'm lazy. So is there no way to process and load without changing tool heads? Even on the 1050? Could you not set the 1050 up to go from tumbled once fired brass to de-primed, swaged, sized/trimmed, primed, charged, seated and crimped?

I want to process copious amounts of once fired brass in as few steps as possible. Am I crazy?

[shooterready]

I hate to say this, but you are crazy

You need to take the lube off the cases, IMO.

Isn't rifle fun!

[Texasredneck]

I hate to say this, but you are crazy

You need to take the lube off the cases, IMO.

Isn't rifle fun!

I thought I was....but they told me the medication would help...

If these semi's cause me to go through that much ammo, then why do I want a pre-86 FA weapon?

[benos]

So with the Dillon trimmer, is it possible to load rifle ammo with just one pass through the press (I'm using a 550b)?

i.e. can you size, trim, de-prime and prime at station 1,

charge at station 2,

seat at 3

crimp at 4, and be done????

Or do you still need to do some brass processing between sizing and trimming and loading?

Question 2: How consistent are the results with the Dillon Trimmer, compared to, say, the Giraud?

DD

I'm lazy. So is there no way to process and load without changing tool heads? Even on the 1050? Could you not set the 1050 up to go from tumbled once fired brass to de-primed, swaged, sized/trimmed, primed, charged, seated and crimped?

I want to process copious amounts of once fired brass in as few steps as possible. Am I crazy?

According to Dillon, it isn't possible to trim and load in one Toolhead, even on the 1050.

be

[Texasredneck]

[

According to Dillon, it isn't possible to trim and load in one Toolhead, even on the 1050.

be

Then I guess I'll stick with a 650 if I can't do it all in one step....

I'll just order the swaging tool and process it after I size/decap and trim, before loading in the 650 with case feeder.

[charliez]

I can't tell exactly as I have the 650, not the 1050. But reading/looking at the 1050 manual it looks like you could fit the RT1200 trimmer in station 2.

Can anybody with a 1050 tell us whether:

1. You could use a deprimer/sizer in station 1

2. RT1200 trimmer in station 2

Then proceed as usual (3. swage, 4. prime, 5. mouth bell and powder drop, 6. open, 7. bullet seat, 8. crimp & eject).

That would allow a one pass with 1 toolhead instead of 2.

Edited August 12, 2009 by charliez

[RiggerJJ]

station 2 on the 1050 is the deswager...

jj

[ppknut]

I'm also relatively new to reloading. Just purchased the Dillon 1200 trimmer to use on my 550. Trying to get it set up, for use in reloading .223, .308, and 30-06.

Is there some reason one couldn't set up the trimmer with the following set-up?

Sta. 1: Deprime, resize, and re-prime.

Sta. 2: Trim

Sta. 3: Drop powder

Sta. 4: Seat bullet (assume no crimp).

Just an idea I had.....What am I missing here except not using a crimp in the final product?

[Religious Shooter]

I don't think there would be enough real estate above the plates.

I would think the motor's body and the powder measures body would get in the way of each other.

And given how hot mine gets, I'd be kind of leary having something that hot next to gun powder.

Of course I could be wrong.

[ppknut]

You know.....it just occurred to me; The fail safe rod operates off (attaches at) Station 2. I guess if I tried to use the powder drop at at Station 3, there'd be nowhere to hook up the rod. That seems to answer that. doh

[High Lord Gomer]

I'm also relatively new to reloading. Just purchased the Dillon 1200 trimmer to use on my 550. Trying to get it set up, for use in reloading .223, .308, and 30-06.

Is there some reason one couldn't set up the trimmer with the following set-up?

Sta. 1: Deprime, resize, and re-prime.

Sta. 2: Trim

Sta. 3: Drop powder

Sta. 4: Seat bullet (assume no crimp).

Just an idea I had.....What am I missing here except not using a crimp in the final product?

In addition to the powder rod and the proximity of the trimmer to powder...

1. After depriming I run mine through the swager.

2. I like to clean mine again before loading to get the case lube off/out.