Dillon Auto case trimmer

[swandme]

do you use it as a stand alone or mounted to your 650 ect.

Thanks

SWandMe

[recon215]

Standalone here and load hoser ammo on the 550 long range stuff on the rcbs single stage

[Showclear]

I use it on the 650!

It's loud with the vacuum going.

I use muffs with ear buds in place hooked to the Ipod.

I run big batches only considering the extra setup (vacuum)

800-900 rds in real short order.

It is the only trimmer I have used.

I like it.

Rich

[D.Hayden]

I use it on a 1050.. it's the vacuum that's loud, not the trimmer.. I have a very quiet vacuum (Fien).. perfect setup.. one pass (size/swage/trim) brass setup.

[swandme]

I use it on the 650!

It's loud with the vacuum going.

I use muffs with ear buds in place hooked to the Ipod.

I run big batches only considering the extra setup (vacuum)

800-900 rds in real short order.

It is the only trimmer I have used.

I like it.

Rich

Exactly where is it in place on the tool head and is it part of the progressive loading process or a separate tool head for just that ?

THX

SWandME

[3gunpinoy]

I have this unit for about 5 months now and before that it was a RCBS. This thing rocks. I am using it on a 550 and have a separate tool head that i use. positioned the trimmer at stage # 3 and a sizing / decap die on stage #1.

[mlmiller1]

I have one on my 650. I just use a separate toolhead.

It is a definite step up from a lee hand trimmer, for sure! You can trim hundreds of brass in a very short time with this trimmer & the brass feeder.

MLM

[jmorris]

I size and trim on a 650 and load on a 1050. I cut a board to fit at the base of my window (to keep the elements out while trimming) beside the reloading bench and cut a hole in it so I could run a hose from my vacuum out side to the trimmer inside.

[bigsaxdog]

use it on a single stage press along w/redding variable shell plate to control headspace very accurately, then onto the progressive. don't know how you can run it on a progressive, doesn't set headspace accurately, and if you are loading military brass w/crimped primers, best of luck. a 1050 to swages the pockets. does a 650 do this? maybe i'm wrong......

[jmorris]

Bottleneck rounds either headspace off of the shoulder or the belt. I don’t think Dillon even makes trim dies for any round that headspaces off the mouth. So, trimming will not affect head space unless you trim off the shoulder.

Station 1 on my 650 is a carbide size die, that sizes (sets headspace) and deprimes the case. On station 4, I have the trimmer adjusted just enough to hold the case while trimming (no additional sizing). Then on to the 1050 for the rest of the process.

The beauty of the Dillon case trimmer is that you can use it on a progressive press. If I had to handle every case I would use a Giraud case trimmer over the Dillon.

[SingleStacker45]

I use it with a separate tool head on the 550. It seems to work well. I wish it had the chamfering ability. I've been going back and chafering by hand. Otherwise it works well.

Mule

[Mr. Chitlin]

Bottleneck rounds either headspace off of the shoulder or the belt. I don’t think Dillon even makes trim dies for any round that headspaces off the mouth. So, trimming will not affect head space unless you trim off the shoulder.

Station 1 on my 650 is a carbide size die, that sizes (sets headspace) and deprimes the case. On station 4, I have the trimmer adjusted just enough to hold the case while trimming (no additional sizing). Then on to the 1050 for the rest of the process.

The beauty of the Dillon case trimmer is that you can use it on a progressive press. If I had to handle every case I would use a Giraud case trimmer over the Dillon.

I use this exact same process and it works great!!

[Chris]

How long can you run the trimmer before it starts to get too hot?

[jmorris]

It gets hot pretty quick, doesnt seem to affect anything. It’s hot during the first few hundred and feels about the same after 4000.

[jmart]

I start off with cases that are already deprimed.

I use a dedicated toolhead, using a 550.

Trimmer mounted in station #1. Trim die adjusted for desired shoulder bump. Essentially it's a tight-necked body die.

Lee resizer mounted in station #3. Die backed out some to not affect prior body sizing or shoulder position. The only purpose is to run the neck back over and expander ball to bring the neck back up a couple thousandths.

Initially I had trouble with the trimmer motor spinning the trim die on the toolhead at startup. That motor has some torque. Kind of defeated the purpose of precisely setting the trim die for shoulder bump. I hate Dillon lock rings, they're too small and they don't grip well enough (I actually broke a lock ring trying to get it torqued down tight enough). I ended up using a Lee lockring on the bottom of the toolhead (relieved on one side so the cartridge advance/star wheel doesn't contact it when the ram is fully raised) coupled with a Dillon lockring on the top side of the toolhead. And all of this is locktited down, so now when I kick the motor on, everything stays put. Kind of a PITA getting to this point, but it does work fine now and I'm very happy with it.

It cuts pretty cleanly, minimal if any chamferring/deburring required afterwards. Worlds better than my old Lee trimmer pilot setup, but that's the difference between a carbide blade spinning at 6K rpm vs a couple hundred rpm in a hand drill. My de-lubing, post-resizing tumble session seems to knock any micro burrs off of the neck, and on my separate loading toolhead, I start off with a Lee Universal Flaring die in station #1 to just kiss the interior of the mouth and knock off/iron out any remaining interior burrs. Stations 2, 3 a 4 are reserved for powder charging, seating and crimping.

[00bullitt]

I have the Dillon and while fast as hell to trim 500 cases...I hate the follow up chamfer/deburr process. I use the RCBS case prep center and it takes forever. The Giraud will save alot of time over the Dillon set up but each piece of brass is handled and it is used like a pencil sharpener. The case mouths look beautiful when finished on the Giraud. Very few cases come out of the Dillon that do not need deburring/chamferring. But the upside to the Dillon is hands off trimming for large volume of cases when using a casefeeder. The downside is all the hands on work afterwards. For a little more money.....the Giraud is pretty worth it in my opinion especially if you are prepping large batches. If you are just doing about 5-600 at a time the Dillon works fine for me.....but I do want a Giraud

I use a seperate toolhead and have a Redding neck sizer in station one that deprimes and sizes the neck. The Dillon trimmer is in station 4 that sizes the body and sets the proper shoulder.

I tumble after trimming and prep just before loading.

To reload....I have another toolhead with a Dillon universal decap die in station 1 to clean the flash hole of any tumbling media or debris. Then prime/charge,nothing in 3,seat in 4 with an Redding seater and crimp with a Dillon crimp die in 5.

[jmart]

I have the Dillon and while fast as hell to trim 500 cases...I hate the follow up chamfer/deburr process. I use the RCBS case prep center and it takes forever. ....

I use a seperate toolhead and have a Redding neck sizer in station one that deprimes and sizes the neck. The Dillon trimmer is in station 4 that sizes the body and sets the proper shoulder.

I tumble after trimming and prep just before loading.

To reload....I have another toolhead with a Dillon universal decap die in station 1 to clean the flash hole of any tumbling media or debris. Then prime/charge,nothing in 3,seat in 4 with an Redding seater and crimp with a Dillon crimp die in 5.

My experience is the trim die squeezes the neck down more than a neck die/exp ball. I doubt your finished neck size is the same as what comes out of station #1, instead it's a bit tighter (maybe .002). Essentially your station #1 serves as a depriming station, at least that's what I've found out with mine. That's why I have my trim die in station #1 and my resizer/exp ball in station #3. But with this setup, I either have to start with deprimed cases, or I would have to use a depriming die in station #1 of my 2nd toolhead, and then prime at that point. That could work for larger calibers, but with the small mouth diameter of a resized .223 case, I like to deprime after they been shot rather than after they've been resized.

You might want to try measuring a neck sized case coming out of station #1, and then remeasuring the neck after it comes out of your trim die and see if any additional sizing is occurring. Just a thought. Also, try shooting some cases that haven't been deburred or chamferred against some that have and see if it makes any difference. It might with FB bullets, but with anything that has a boattail I would submit you can get by w/o performing these extra case prep steps.

Edited September 23, 2008 by jmart

[Mull]

I use it on a 650 on a seperate tool head for 223/5.56.

1. Put dirty cases in tumbler.

2. Lube cases and put in automatic case feeder.

3. Station 1: Old lee die adjusted to do nothing but deprime. Even the rod is machined down so it does not neck size.

Station 3: : Dillon trim die and trimmer. The 1200B does chamfer the outside.

4. Put brass in tumbler to get lube off. There is not much of a inside burr after this.

5. Station 1 of loading tool head is a neck size only die.

Brass processed with almost no effort on my part.