I have the Forester trimmer and personally don't care for it. I get erratic case lengths when I am in a hurry and don't CAREFULLY or even SEMI-CAREFULLY insert the cases in to the collet. I've been using the Lee case length guage but it does not work well with the soft Remington brass and is hard on the hands. I am not going to buy Norma brass so any ideas on a good quick trimmer that maintains plus or minus .0005" for a total of .001" accuracy????????

If you're bound and determined to buy a new trimmer, so be it. It's good for our economy. Or you could try adjusting how you use the Forster trimmer you've already got.

I've used this procedure for almost 40 years:
place the case head in the collet but don't tighten. Push the cutter head up against the case neck. This will seat the case head in the bottom of the collet step and the neck is centered in its caliber appropriate pilot. Now tighten the collet and proceed to shave off the excess brass.

My brass comes out right on the money using this procedure.

But you may still be in a bigger hurry. Have you looked into the old-fashioned trim dies where you grind off the excess like you were fitting a horse shoe, using a file? Or perhaps the electric case prep station like RCBS makes? Or the really expensive prep station that Sinclair International makes?

I like the Lee offering. Very simple and it ALWAYS cuts the case to the same length. Top is .223, middle is 300WSM and bottom is .30-06...

As I posted earlier, I am currently using the Lee Trimmer. The problem I have is with the soft Remington brass, the trimmer takes too big of bite and the case holder slips and lets the case pop out. Again because of the soft brass. With Winchester brass - no problems.

I will re-try the Forester but I get impatient with it!

Then you need a better set-up. Are you using the Zip-Trim thingy? I looked at that. Looks to me like the method for securing the case is not such that you can get a really tight grip on it. I'll post a picture of my trimming set-up. I made it from an old pencil sharpener, a piece of threaded rod I bought at the hardware store and an old 3/8-inch drill chuck. The rod was a bit long, so I took up the slack with a nut or two. I had to drill out the hole in the crank because it was too small for the thread on the rod. The rod is held tight just by friction, but I have never had it turn on me when it catches the case mouth. The bore in the base is a bit larger than the threaded rod and the rotating assembly wobbles a bit, but that don't slow me down any. I can mount, trim, chamfer inside and outside, and remove the finished case in just 24 seconds. Having the open-end wrench being just the right size to loosen and tighten the collar without ever having to put the cutter down really helps.

Don't have an old pencil sharpener? You could use two brass bushings held in a v-groove cut into two pieces of hardwood, the hardwood of such length to totally take-up any back-forth slop. The two pieces of hardwood are held together with screws. The handle could be made from a short piece of strap, two holes drilled in it, the holes threaded to fit the rod and a handle made up of a screw, several washers, a nyloc nut and another brass bushing. It would look like a mud fence, but it would work...


Trimmer:

In use:

Up close and personal:

I've done thou-thou-thousands of cases with this ugly duckling. Never fails. The base of the shell holder is steel. Take bazillions of trimmings to put a dimple in it. At what it costs to buy a new one when you see a dimple, go get another one and use it for another 50,000 cuts...

quote:

Originally posted by homebrewer:
I like the Lee offering. Very simple and it ALWAYS cuts the case to the same length. Top is .223, middle is 300WSM and bottom is .30-06...

It always cuts to the same length.......until the base gets a divot worn in it because it's made out of cheap metal.

I quit using mine because it wore out and started cutting the brass too short. IMO the Lee tool is fine for light duty use but if you need to cut a lot of brass it won't hold up, or at least mine didn't..........................DJ

quote:

I've used this procedure for almost 40 years:
place the case head in the collet but don't tighten. Push the cutter head up against the case neck. This will seat the case head in the bottom of the collet step and the neck is centered in its caliber appropriate pilot. Now tighten the collet and proceed to shave off the excess brass.

+1 except only about 35 years.

And Forster is introducing for 2010 a three-way cutter, for combo trimming and inside/outside chamferring.

http://accurateshooter.wordpre...mferer-from-forster/

I have used my Forster w/o complaint for many years, but will certainly investigate the new cutter.

The Wilson trimmer has an excellent reputation for accuracy and smoothness of cut. Sinclair has it in a couple of configurations besides the basic unit. Want a mic adjustment? They got it. Also have a carbide cutter option.

You can't go wrong with the Wilson with the mic. I am glad I got mine a few years ago and will never need another one.

I'll have to agree with others. I have used four other trimmers in the past. The last one I used is the last one I bought and the last one I will likely ever need... a Wilson.

If I were in the market today for a precise trimmer, it would be the Wilson from Sinclair with the micrometer.

My second choice would be the Forster.

Well if I was in a big hurry to trim cases I'be using some thing electric like the new Hornady prep center or a Giruad or Gracey trimmer. Tough to screw up with any of these products. FS

"I've used this procedure for almost 40 years:
place the case head in the collet but don't tighten. Push the cutter head up against the case neck. This will seat the case head in the bottom of the collet step and the neck is centered in its caliber appropriate pilot. Now tighten the collet and proceed to shave off the excess brass."

My brass comes out right on the money using this procedure.

I use the same procedure as "onefunzr2" but use the Hornady case trimmer. Never a problem!

The Giraud trimmer IMHO has no equal. I have owned a Gracey, and traded it for a Giraud and never looked back. It will trim, chamfer, and debur you brass in less than two seconds, with no effort at all. http://www.giraudtool.com/prod02.htm

I'll pass on the Giraud, it looks like a great unit but it also looks like it would cost me a small fortune to tool it for all of my sizes.

No body seems to like the Lyman with the universal chuck but I do.

quote:

I have the Forester trimmer and personally don't care for it. I get erratic case lengths when I am in a hurry and don't CAREFULLY or even SEMI-CAREFULLY insert the cases in to the collet.

No trimmer can compensate for a non-attentive operator. I have used the Forster heavily for 35 years with no problems other than the standard model is not large enough for the 50-70.

Giraud trimmer for bulk work, incredibly fast and accurate.

Wilson/Sinclair ultimate micrometer trimmer for 1 - 100 cases.

The new Forster trimmer cutter at the SHOT show looks very nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Kenati:
I'll have to agree with others. I have used four other trimmers in the past. The last one I used is the last one I bought and the last one I will likely ever need... a Wilson.

If I were in the market today for a precise trimmer, it would be the Wilson from Sinclair with the micrometer.

My second choice would be the Forster.

+ a ton. Wilson will make custom case holders for cheap and get it done in 2 weeks door to door. I needed a 450Marlin case holder.

I wanted to try the flex tip offerings and that requires shortening the brass a decent amount. Wilson trimmer cut away like a champ. End result was square.

My take on the Giraud vs the Wilson is

Giraud = picky to set up, VERY fast, OAL vary a little bit

Wilson/Sinclair setup = max precision, pretty slow--less expensive, but still pricey.

The Giraud is damn fast, and great (not excellent) quality. Doug is a GREAT and EXCELLENT guy. It does what it is supposed to do, but it is a little bit of a PITA to set up for a new case size, you almost always burn up a couple cases getting it just right. It indexes off of the shoulder, and you will get varying lengths corresponding to the shoulder--if you would rather have dead on lengths, something like the Wilson/Sinclair unit is more accurate.

I use the Giraud for volume case prep, and when I am looking for max precision, I use the Wilson.

I would not spend the money on the Giraud again, but I would buy the Wilson again in a heartbeat....different methods for different voume applications for me.

The micrometer adjuster for the Wilson trimmer (available from Sinclair) is very nice, and very expensive ( > 2X the price of the Wilson trimmer itself!), and entirely unnecessary for accurate trimming. It does make it easier to set the trim length, but it does not make any difference when it comes to repeatable, dead-square case trimming.

Without the fancy Sinclair accessories, the Wilson trimmer is still amazingly simple and easy to use with fantastic results, at a price that is cheaper than any other lathe-type trimmer.

Andy

No love for the RCBS? It's a little quicker than the "twist to lock" case trimmers and it trims cases dead nuts. Add the power adapter and your cooking with gas. Next best thing to a Gracey.

I'd rate them like this:
1) Giraud
2) Gracey
3) RCBS w/3 way cutter and power adapter
4) 3-way cutters w/out power
5) plain RCBS
6) everything else.

Those 3-way type cutters really save a ton of time.

The twist-to-lock method of a lot of these trimmers causes callouses/blisters on my fingers/hand after a while.

I used my Lyman Universal trimmer to trim 250 cases of .358 STA cases this weekend while watching the Football playoffs. I have a drill adapter for the crank end. The one size fits all case holder is worth it's weight in gold in my opinion. Good shooting.

For volume trimming, it's a Gracey with an after market carbide cutter blade. This blade relieves the setup problems with the as shipped two piece cutter.
For all else the Wilson trimmer can't be beat.

muck