Best Case Trimmer

[EBWhite]

Well, I've got my RL550B...

Now i need a good case trimmer. I hear the L. E. Wilson is good but it seems kind of expensive having the buy the different case adapters and time consuming to get the cases in the adapters...

What should i go with? I want someone easy (wilson seems easy) and halfway good on time..

thanks
eb

[NRAhighpowershooter]

As a High Power match shooter I average 6K rounds in just matches and practice a year.. that doesn't count my other rifles and such.. Usually I'm prepping 10K rounds a year.. I find the Giraud trimmer to be a better trimmer.. Expensive, yes, around $365plus additional pilots for different cases... if you don't shoot that much. then the Forester trimmer might meet your needs.. $109.20 get you their original trimmer with 6 pilots and 3 collets.. granted it is a handcrank trimmer but for %25.20 you can get the power adapter to use with a drill or such...

[EBWhite]

The first ones a little to rich for my blood right now. I don't reload enough to need it. I was reading the midway reviews and the forester did not get too high. The wilson did and people said it was more accurate. I head the rcbs and others are junk...Forester and wilson were the best- wilson does not use the collets and such either...So between those two brands???

[Matt-man]

I too use a Giraud and it's on a whole different level than all the others. I've done 400 cases on it in one hour - trimmed, chamfered, and deburred - without too much trouble. Yeah, it's expensive, but you asked for the best...

The Giraud replaced an RCBS Trim Pro. I had the 3-way cutter head on it and was using a cordless drill to power it. Set up like that it's pretty good, but the Giraud's still 3-4 times faster.

Edit to add: I don't know what you heard about the RCBS, but I had no problems with it. I liked the lever release for the shellholder because it's faster than the twist-lock kind like the Forster has. The 3-way cutter head trims, chamfers, and deburs all at once so it's a major timesaver. The power drill adapter is only about $8 and saves your arm.

[phish]

I used a trimmer sold by Sinclair Intl. before I upgraded to the Giraud. It can be chucked into a hand drill and is much faster than the hand crank units. I would link it, but Sinclair's website seems to be on the fritz atm.

sheesh, now you got "jumped" by three highpower types

[phish]

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=05-7X&type=store

[EBWhite]

okay lets get back to basics...

I prefer something that i can do all the steps at once. Trim, chamfer, and deburr... Looks like the RCBS pro trim might be the ticket- however, it got subpar reviews on midwayusa.com...how easy was it to setup and get accurate trims? I just don't want something that is a PITA... The 3 in 1 seems nice though! why did you stop using the pro trim?

I'd like to buy the right one first , instead of doing the buying and trying game...thanks guys!

[phish]

... The 3 in 1 seems nice though! why did you stop using the pro trim?

It's all about volume and throughput which the Giraud can do in spades. Doug Giraud is a highpower shooter himself, which is why he wanted something better than what was currently available.

The RCBS unit may suit your needs if you don't normally load 2-3 thousand rounds per year. My log book for '05 shows me putting 2088 rounds downrange, and my schedule was "light" compared to the hard core shooters.

[Pthfndr]

Another +1 for the Giraud. Ok, I also shoot HP with an AR.

But, I also shoot milsurp silhouette matches at Sac Valleyand FMJ isn't allowed for that. I switch rifles every few months and will practice 4-6 times with ech rifle between matches at 100-200 rounds per session. so far have used .303, 7.62x54, 8x57 Mauser, 6.5x55 Mauser, 7.5x55 Swiss (for THREE different rifles) and have loads for 7x57 Mauser and 30-06. I also shoot Long Range tactical with .308 and 6.5, and prone matches with 6.5 and 7.5 Swiss.

I figure I reload around 1000 per MONTH. With the Giraud Trimmer I can easily do 500 cases in 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes. The Giraud Trims to length, deburrs the outside and chamfers the inside all at the same time, in one easy step. And it holdes the case lenth tolerance to +/- .001" ALL the time. I'm still using the first of of nine cutting edges on blade that came with it and have probably done over 20,000 cases. I have shell holders for everything and they're worth every penny in time saved. It takes about 2 minutes if I'm taking my time to change shell holders to a different caliber.

If you want to see how easy it is to use go look at this. Sorry about the quality but I was holding my digital camera in one hand while trimming with the other.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v47/Pthfndr/?action=view&current=GiraudTrimmer.flv

[Matt-man]

I prefer something that i can do all the steps at once. Trim, chamfer, and deburr... Looks like the RCBS pro trim might be the ticket- however, it got subpar reviews on midwayusa.com...how easy was it to setup and get accurate trims?

I didn't have any problems. The 3-way cutter takes some trial and error but once it's set it seemed to stay set.

The 3 in 1 seems nice though! why did you stop using the pro trim?

Too slow. I was spending too much time trimming cases.

[mrkubota]

another vote for the Giraud here too! http://www.giraudtool.com
I used to use a Gracey motorized trimmer (http://www.matchprep.com), but it too was too slow and underpowered for practical use on .50bmg cases. It works fine with smaller cases, but the Giraud still is a better deal overall.

Here's a video of me trimming .10" from a .50bmg case while prepping it to be formed into .50DTC. The Gracey would take 4 times longer to do the same:

http://www.daplane.com/50bmg/video/giraudtrimmer.mpg

'Normal' trimming takes just a few seconds!