Just picked up a new CZ 527 Varnmint in 204 ruger and have discovered that my favorite company for making case trimmers does not make a pilot for that case.

And after calling them, they said they no plans to change. It's just a few thousands, Good grief.

Any recommendations.

Buy a .22 cal and spin it til it fits.

If you know anyone with a lathe, it's about 30 minutes worth of work to turn one. If you make it out of drill rod (O1), it doesn't need to be heat treated to last a lifetime. Bill Mc, PM me.

poor mans lathe - its called a drill. get a 22 pilot, chuch it in a drill and hold a piece of emy against it. won't take but a few seconds to trun it down.

The Lee pilot has a body just under the case neck width. It also has a pin that from the trimmer to where the pin contacts the shell holder going thru the flash hole.

So we're talking about the diameter of the pilot and the length.

I do have a friend that owns a tool and die company. Maybe I could get a pilot close to the 204 specs and have him reduce it.

Maybe that will work. trim the pilot down to a size that will fit a resized case and the shorten the little pin.

Trim length is determined from where the pilot screws into the trimmer to where the pin contacts the case holder.

Here's a 22-250 case, the 22-250 pilot and a 204 Ruger round.

Crud.

I checked one more thing and found that the Lee cutter heads blades are too wide. They won't trim anything lss that .22 caliber.

Buy the lee trimmer for the 204 caliber. The total cost should be under $10.

Lee doesn't make anything for the 204.

I'll buy a 204 pilot for the Forster since my SIL has one and I'll just use his.

The lee trimmer head will trim .204 brass. I made a pilot from a 22-250 lee pilot and it worked great. Maybe the one you have is a little large and you could mic a few to find one a little smaller.

Kinda hard to mike mail order stuff.

Guess I can start looking for local stores that stock Lee trimmers.

Without the pilot, a 204 Ruger neck will fit in between the cutters.

I built my 20 Tactical before the 204 came out, so I had to fabricate a lot.

I use a lyman trimmer, and I just made a pilot for it out of a nail. Didn't even use the lathe, I just took a nail a little large, ground down the tip to a round ogive, then chucked it in a drill press and hit it with some sandpaper for 30 seconds until the case fit, and then used a dremel on it while it was still spinning to grind down the stub that fits into the cutter on the trimmer. Longest part of the project was finding an appropriate nail but the whole thing took less than 10 minutes start to finish.

Bill Mc: First of all you are using the WRONG case trimmer!
Sell... no, throw away, what ever piece of crap you are using now and get the best trimmer available - the Wilson!
I had used them all before I found the Wilson many years ago. And then I dealt with countless friends who were unhappy in some way or another with every imagineable make and model of case trimmer on the market.
The Wilson solves ALL troubles.
The Wilson is by FAR the best and most reliable, accurate, repeatable and squarest cutting trimmer available.
Period!
Don't throw away your present model (someone might find it and begin their life of misery with it!) use a torch on it.
Destroy it.
Immediately.
Then buy the wonderful Wilson tool and don't look back.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy