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Posted: 5/3/2010 12:50:59 PM EDT
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Case trimming was always a pain in the ass for me and was the one step of case preparation that was the most time and labor-intensive step. I had looked around for some alternatives. Both the Dillon and Giraud were cost-prohibitive for me because 1) I'm a cheap bastard, and 2) The idea behind reloading is to shoot more for the same amount of money, not acquire a collection of specialized tools. I decided to go with the LEE motorized system, and that was ok, but my wrists would get very tired, and my fingers would be cramping after batch processing 100 or more cases. I trim after every loading to insure that I don't run into an overpressure situation, and to insure that my cases chamber easily, every time. So I put my mind to it, went to Harbor Freight, and bought one of their foot control switches when they ran it on sale. I also got a piece of wood, some metal strapping left over from a previous project, and went to work. I measured and cut the wood, and attached it with three deck screws to the underside of my reloading bench. Then I used the metal strapping to attach a single speed 3/8" drill to the portion of wood sticking out from the bench.
I plugged the drill into the foot switch and the switch into the wall. Then I zip-stripped the drill trigger into the "ON" position. Now when I pressed on the foot switch, the drill kicked on. I installed the LEE case spinner and case lock ring, chucked a case in and pressed down with my foot. I inserted the ball handled cutter with case length gauge and trimmed the case. Eureka! No more wrist fatigue. Camfering and deburring are equally easy. You can even use 0000 steel wool to fine deburr. When I'm done I simply move the drill to the underside of the board, loosen the screws on each end under the bench and swing it under until I need it again. 
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I'd use a green pad instead of steel wool, because you may impregnate just a little steel into the cartridge which theoretically could cause corrosion. I also trim the same way you do except I hold the drill by hand. I then add one more step when I trim bottle necked cases for the 1st time and uniform the necks with a Hornady Neck Turner. You only need to do this once to eliminate cases with unusually thick necks, or necks that very a lot in circumferance and or those that are thicker near the mouth or the shoulder. I do this after length trimming and deburing of course.
The results I get in low S.D. readings over my chronograph by doing this must be seen to be believed. For instance I recently tested 4 loads in 300 Win Mag, 2 of which were in the single digits the other 2 were in the teens. You must be careful to not remove too much brass though. I don't like to cut a neck less than .0125 even though many necks go as thin as .011. Thicker is usually better too, unless you're shooting a bench gun "which I do not". Then you'd want to match your loaded neck diameter to your chamber. But we average guys can make improvements by utilizing some B.R. techneques without going hip deep in it and neck turning does this. |
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I do that with "low volume" calibers. I shoot a lot of .223 (not a lot compared to some people here...  ) but when I process it's 500-1000.
That Lee trimmer gave me blisters, and all sorts of aches & pains 
Being frugal (not cheap)... I just couldn't justify the Girard at this time. I found out about the Possum Hollow trimmer on here & looked into it. For $35 (I think) from Midway, I decided it was worth a try. It has been flawless for me. It is consistent for me (some people have complained). I trimmed 500 cases in about 30 minutes just last week. If you get tired of tightening that lock stud... look into one. I use mine on a floor standing drill press, but it would work just fine with you set up. |
| I was doing the same thing and got extremely tired of the lock stud bit for every round. It's still better than the Zip Trim, but slow and tedious nonetheless. I got a Possum Hollow now, I did 600 .308 trimmed, chamfered and deburred in roughly 2 1/2 hours. It would have taken all day chucking each case individually. |
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I use a 39 dollar Harbor Freight tabletop drill press head, turned upside down with the chuck facing up
I put a Lee cutter/pilot assembly in the chuck, and hold the brass shell holder/lock assembly using vice-grips clamped to the hex drive extension. By spinning the cutter I don't have to start/stop for each piece of brass. I also have a Dillon RT-1200 for bigger jobs. |
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NIce idea and wished i knew about the possum trimmer! I'm getting tired of pulling the handle on my lee zip doing 300+ .223's and 200's of .30-06, soon I will have .308. I'm gonna order one for both cartridges.
sorry to hijack but does anyone know of any debur, chamfer tool that does the job on one side instead of having to flip it around all the time? |
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Quoted: Quoted: Pretty inventive. <removed> dryflash3 Don't be a hater.  Mark, You forgot to mention that a caliber change cost about $5.00 (Once) and will take 10-seconds. I use a drill press for any rifle brass I need to trim other than 223 for which I have a dedicated system. I go ahead and lightly touch the case mouth with a champhering tool while the brass is chucked. A Scotch-bright (Green Pad) Will quickly polish off any residue from the case shoulder with a couple of slow turns. |
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that one requires rcbs trim pro case trimmer, I'm looking for something you can put on the drill and keep it running as you feed case after cases. |
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Quoted:
NIce idea and wished i knew about the possum trimmer! I'm getting tired of pulling the handle on my lee zip doing 300+ .223's and 200's of .30-06, soon I will have .308. I'm gonna order one for both cartridges. sorry to hijack but does anyone know of any debur, chamfer tool that does the job on one side instead of having to flip it around all the time? Actually the "drill adapter thingy" (which is required otherwise... what's the point )...
will hold the chamfer/debur tool... (Lymans... I think). After trimming, you take out the trimmer tool... (your setting isn't affected) put the chamfer tool in and chamfer all your cases... takes as long as trimming... fast. Then flip it over & do them again. I personally don't do that... my RCBS tool doesn't fit. I used to chuck it in a drill and do them, but I feel that I get a better result by hand. I chamfer/debur, clean/uniform the primer pockets, and inspect/sort the cases at that point. It doesn't take that long or that much effort & I use that step as my final inspection before priming & storing. Just what I decided to do the last few batches I did. For me, it was always the trimming that was the most time consuming and dreaded part. With the possum hollow... I almost look forward to it... almost. 
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Quoted:
I only press the foot switch when I need the case to spin, swapping out cases takes about as long as the processing, which gives it time to cool down. I've had that cheap drill over 20 years. It's been dedicated to case trimming for about the last five. You should be fine, I have a harbor freight drill attached to an RCBS case trimmer I need a foot control switch 
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