Posted: 1/5/2007 6:05:11 AM EDT
New thread instead of continuing to hijack the other one I havent started to reload yet, but have been picking up gear a little at a time. I have a Dillon 550B that I will at first be loading .223 and .45. I also have an RCBS Rockchucker that I will use for working up loads. I didn't realize till recently that I will need a case trimmer. Might as well get an electric one. Which one would you guys recommend? The dillon one? RCBS? My problem is that on a lot of things I tend to try to "cheap out" by getting the cheapest POC around. It wont work right, then I have to get the good one costing me twice in the long run! I'm trying to avoid that on this! I'll be using it for mainly .223 and .308
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Chuck, unless you are reloading for dead nuts accuracy, I wouldn't worry about a case length trimmer. I've got a hand crank job that works fine for my bolt rifle reloads. An electric one is nice if you're reloading 1000s of rounds at a time for matches. Brass life out of a semiauto rifle is not that great - not as long as out of a bolt. I'd concentrate on getting loads and loads of once fired brass and wait after reloading them through several cycles before I'd get an electric case trimmer. That's one of those things that are nice to have, but not necessarily a must have for plinking ammo. Just my opinion. I'm sure Ndenway or Scottstre will have an even better perspective that I do about them. 
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I've got a homemade one that cost like $10 to make, used a old sewing machine motor, momemtary switch and the lee holder and case length guage, direct drive style, its much faster than the hand cranks or doing by hand, but for 223 cases it gets old quick, the lock ring wants to cinch down on the cases pretty often, tight enough in fact that I have to use a pair of pliers to loosen it, I've found it works much better with medium sized cases like the 22250 on up, I've been talking with acman about the gacey or guirad, but they're expensive, they're for the guy that does thousands upon thousands of cases a year, I've got approx. 5k of 223 brass that needs trimming and I can't justify the cost for one right now, I'm looking at the possum hollow trimmer (advertised in sinclar catalog) and a way to motorize it like my current set up, would still have to chamfer the mouths afterward though, and I'm thinking that would negate the time savings of my current set up, if your only doing a hundred to so at a time, the lee or possum hollow would easily get you by, you can chuck either up in a drill or press to save yourself wear and tear on your fingers. |
WRONG With a dillon it is a must that the cases be the same length otherwise it will fuck up the amount of powder that is droped...... If you cut all your cases to length your powder measurer will be within 1/10 of a grain ever time....... I know because the first time i reloaded rifle brass i had this problem... called dillon told them my PM wasnt working .. first question are all your cases cut to one length i said no..... he said do that it will solve your problem and it did...... hot link to the shit i'm saving for the above right now........ it is the shit  
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Chuck you'll be good to go cut your cases to length..... my 550B manages to make 223 and 308 ammo that are well inside 1" at a 100....... and i cant shoot for shit so don't think you cant get good ammo out of a progressive..... as a matter of fact it's been quite a while but i read about a BRshooter who's using a dillon now wish i could remember the article think it was in the blue press but not for sure.... |
Chuck, Mr. "Tactful" ACman is probably right if you want really accurate ammo from a Dillon. Throwing a load for plinking and throwing a load for utmost accuracy are two different creatures to me. I have never loaded rifle cartridges from a Dillon - I want each individual powder charge for a rifle cartridge weighed instead of using a powder drop. It may be my choice of powders too. Because I use mostly extruded powders instead of ball powders (which work much better on a powder drop than extruded).But I would go with what ACman said if you are going to get real serious about reloading Because at some point in time, YOU WILL end up with a case trimmer if you reload long and often enough. |
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Since the OP has a Rockchucker and a Dillon 550B, I'd agree with Dan that he can probably get away without trimming brass for a while depending on how much once fired brass he has. If he's loading blasting ammo he can use the Dillon and accept the variance that goes along with untrimmed cases. If he's doing precision stuff he can use the Rockchucker. Ultimately you're going to have to get some kind of trimmer though. Let me start out by saying I absolutely hate trimming cases. To me it's ten times worse then any other step in the reloading process. I started out using my dads 30 year old el cheapo completely manual setup. It took approximately 10 hrs work spread out over a week to trim 1000 .223 cases. Then I still had to chamfer and debur. There was also significant OAL variance. Eventually I saved up and bought the Giraud tool ACman posted the link to. No kidding, I can now do 1000 cases in about 40 minutes, the Giraud chamfers and deburs too, and there's very, very little OAL variance. Like all good reloading stuff, the convenience and speed come with a cost, and the Giraud is pricey. However, if you've got to trim cases in volume I'd say it's the first thing to buy after your press and dies. Nothing else will save you as much grief per dollar spent as that Giraud trimmer. I know I also said the Lyman DPS 1200 was a good buy, but forget the powder measure. Buy a Giraud first. |
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You don't need a Giraud unless you are loading rifle cases in quantity, a manual will do just fine for 99% of the people who reload. Here's a good trimmer that should do what you need. www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=715371 My Giraud should be delivered next week!
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I never claimed to be tactful.............. I think it's fairly important that he knows that using untrimmed brass will throw his powder charge off.... especially if hes using a hodge podge of brass like i did when i first started ..... Sorry dan..... you can call rifle ammo loaded on a dillon plinking ammo all you want but it don't make it so...... It will load good ammo a hell of a lot faster than you can on a single stage 
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| Just a quick follow up. Everything I've read or been told is that trimming sucks. Manual trimming sucks big time. Most people are telling me to go with an electric trimmer. While that Giruard (or however the hell its spelled) looks good, doesnt it only do 1 caliber? I'd like something more universal. Like the RCBS powered one. One with its own power source. Oh, I currently have 2000 once fired LC to load. So standing in front of a manual one for a week isnt really an option. |
The Giraud comes set up to do one caliber. You buy case holders for the different calibers that interchange. The case holders are $30 each. Swapping case holders and getting everything set just right is a bit of a pain. Probably a 15-20 minute job, and you'll probably overtrim a couple cases in the process of getting it set. However once it's set, you'll run through your 2000 cases in about an hour and a half. |
Never meant to say you were wrong, ACman.  I've seen benchrest guys load at the range with spoons, no scales, and shoot fairly accurate groups.  I never got that lucky!  Believe it or not, I've had a Dillon for over 20 years. Started out with a 400 (model no?), sent it in and moved up to a Dillon 550. I've loaded tons of pistol ammo on Dillons, but VERY few rifle rounds. Two years ago, I gave away over 5000 rds of 308 brass when I moved, mostly GI. And a couple of thousand 223, all GI, and hundreds of 30/06 GI brass. I only kept brass that was fired in my bolts. To me the Dillon was made for cranking out tons of ammo. I was more into quantity with the Dillon than dead nuts accuracy. For me, accuracy comes from a Lyman case trimmer, Hornady dies, an RCBS press, Redding scale, and utmost care in case preparation, primer, powder, and bullet loading. I need to get my reloading stuff set up again. I've got hundreds of rifle rounds to load, not thousands. But if I was doing the THOUSANDS that you and Scottstre were doing, I'd probably get that case trimmer too.
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5k of .223 brass.... I've have a problem of getting a consistant length out of my .308 brass. It is driving me up a fkn' tree. I set my trimmer, and commence my work, and I get a variance of up to .010 (or is that .001? I'm not really a math person) Well, I think I finally figured out the problem. The FAL rifle has a nasty habit of grabing a hot shell with it's extractor claw and RIPPING it out of the chamber after each shot. This puts a nice little warp in the extractor grove on the head of each case, thereby fucking up each shell's outside dimensions in that area. Tip for those who are seriously OCD - and I mean diagnosed by a pyscho - don't get into reloading. |
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I've got the rcbs power trimer.... had it for about 9yrs cause i figured out real quick triming cases sucks It's allright for doing medium sized groups of brass in the couple hundred range...and it works fine...... but i've never loaded in quanity for an ar simply because of the task of case triming..... I curentyly have at last count and buying spree over 20k of once fired lc brass no way am i going to attempt it with the rcbs... any sugestions for the equivelant of the giraud for removing the crimp in the primer pocket????? i havent even looked into it yet...... i've just been gathering components for a mad dash at reloading a shitload for the ar all at one time.... |
RCBS makes a case prep center, includes a primer pocket reamer, and it's electric! www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=565099 |
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check out this thread, the dude that manufactures the Giraud responded to questions about his product. jobrelatedstuff.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=9&t=533311 |